An underreported section of society assigned to clean up after us is fearing sickness, meager wages, a lack of paid sick leave, and potential widespread exposure to the coronavirus pandemic in offices, homes, planes, and medical facilities.
And, amid the fears nationwide, janitors are getting more and more calls to clean up potentially contaminated areas, The Wall Street Journal reported.
"We are the bottom rung," Yancy Betterly, 45, a janitorial business owner, told the Journal. "We are an afterthought of an afterthought. Nobody really talks about the janitors."
Maids and housekeepers total nearly one million U.S. workers at around $11.43 an hour and janitors and cleaners are just a tick higher in median wage at $12.55, the Journal reported from May 2018 federal statistics.
Most lack health insurance and need to work, even if they are sick, particularly amid the uptick in requests for their services, according to a Miami janitor.
"I go to work anyway because for me to lose a day of work is very hard," Elsa Romero, 56, told the Journal through a Spanish translator.
"I'm very scared about catching the virus, but I am praying to God that nothing will happen," she said. "I live by myself. I pay all my bills. I don't want to be a burden to my daughters."
The busiest places in the U.S. nowadays are supermarkets, as people – some potentially infected – flood store aisles and engage in panic-buying among mass shutdowns nationwide. Also, many restaurants relegated to takeout and delivery fear getting their customers sick through food delivery services.
"For restaurants, it's cooking equipment and eating surfaces," ServiceChannel CEO Tom Buiocchi told the Journal. "Shopping carts are a huge problem in grocery stores."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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