Medical staff get to wear PPE. As for grocery workers:
My wife's a teacher. She was back in school for a day last week, with a much smaller class of children. The first thing one of her children tried to do on seeing her was give her a hug. I doubt this happens to many grocery workers.
In September she'll spend about six hours a day in a poorly ventilated and inadequately sized classroom with 30 children. Neither she nor the children are allowed to wear masks or gloves. From the single days she has been in each week, she's watched children unable to maintain social distancing in the classroom or the playground. They cough, sneeze and wipe their noses on their hands and then touch everything. That's what kids are like.
Having three young kids myself and a parent who is a teacher, I know how "gross" kids are first hand.
>Neither she nor the children are allowed to wear masks or gloves.
I understand why the children won't be wearing any PPE - my 3yo would never keep a mask on for more than 15 minutes. Why is your Wife not allowed to at minimum wear a mask?
Nurses largely have the PPE needed to deal with covid and have been trained to do so. Store workers have far less exposure than a teacher trying to wrangle 30 kids for 8 hours a day.
Grocery store workers don't spend 8 hours a day in a crowded room with kids who won't keep their PPE on, won't adequately wash their hands, want to give their teachers hugs / high fives, etc. Cashiers get to stand several feet away from those checking out, can put up plexiglass barriers, can slow down the checkout process a bit to sanitize between customers.
Hospitals are designed to prevent infectious disease spread. They plan for mass sanitation, employees wearing PPE, minimizing disease vectors. My wife's hospital has changed their policy to no outside visitors even on non-COVID floors. You can't do that in a school.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to downplay the sacrifice essential employees are making right now; they absolutely deserve hazard pay among so much else for putting themselves at risk for the benefit of everyone else. I asked my wife at the beginning of this if she wanted to quit, and we'd find a way to make it work, and she said "I'm a nurse, I signed up for this." That's just her mindset; she's been trained to work in a contagious environment and her hospital has many ways to help keep her safe. Asking teachers to take on that responsibility in addition to what we already ask of them, while being inside a petri dish of disease spreading is 100% irresponsible to everyone involved.
Well I would say even a grocery worker is safer because
* They are generally working in a much larger space like a big store, so not confined into a small classroom
* The small space teachers are in are filled with kids that are obviously the most unhygienic. Try as they will, it's way more risky than being filled with adults(ok lots of adults that are less responsible than a 5 year old, I know) who are wearing masks and attempting to keep distancing
I don't know if they're at more or less risk and I don't know the stats on how many of them have chosen not to work, but if I had to guess I'd say that nurses feel a sense of duty as part of their chosen line of work and that grocery workers are easier to replace for those that chose not to work.
MarcScott|5 years ago
My wife's a teacher. She was back in school for a day last week, with a much smaller class of children. The first thing one of her children tried to do on seeing her was give her a hug. I doubt this happens to many grocery workers.
In September she'll spend about six hours a day in a poorly ventilated and inadequately sized classroom with 30 children. Neither she nor the children are allowed to wear masks or gloves. From the single days she has been in each week, she's watched children unable to maintain social distancing in the classroom or the playground. They cough, sneeze and wipe their noses on their hands and then touch everything. That's what kids are like.
leetrout|5 years ago
BINGO. That's what has bothered me the most and I've talked a lot to my wife about what we can do to mitigate the risk.
> Neither she nor the children are allowed to wear masks or gloves
How is that enforceable? Seems like they shouldn't be allowed to mandate no masks given the documented health risks.
Phillips126|5 years ago
>Neither she nor the children are allowed to wear masks or gloves.
I understand why the children won't be wearing any PPE - my 3yo would never keep a mask on for more than 15 minutes. Why is your Wife not allowed to at minimum wear a mask?
vmchale|5 years ago
searine|5 years ago
Nurses largely have the PPE needed to deal with covid and have been trained to do so. Store workers have far less exposure than a teacher trying to wrangle 30 kids for 8 hours a day.
collegecamp293|5 years ago
sfteus|5 years ago
Hospitals are designed to prevent infectious disease spread. They plan for mass sanitation, employees wearing PPE, minimizing disease vectors. My wife's hospital has changed their policy to no outside visitors even on non-COVID floors. You can't do that in a school.
Don't get me wrong here, I'm not trying to downplay the sacrifice essential employees are making right now; they absolutely deserve hazard pay among so much else for putting themselves at risk for the benefit of everyone else. I asked my wife at the beginning of this if she wanted to quit, and we'd find a way to make it work, and she said "I'm a nurse, I signed up for this." That's just her mindset; she's been trained to work in a contagious environment and her hospital has many ways to help keep her safe. Asking teachers to take on that responsibility in addition to what we already ask of them, while being inside a petri dish of disease spreading is 100% irresponsible to everyone involved.
TheCoelacanth|5 years ago
AnimalMuppet|5 years ago
mrlala|5 years ago
* They are generally working in a much larger space like a big store, so not confined into a small classroom * The small space teachers are in are filled with kids that are obviously the most unhygienic. Try as they will, it's way more risky than being filled with adults(ok lots of adults that are less responsible than a 5 year old, I know) who are wearing masks and attempting to keep distancing
3pt14159|5 years ago