Several times today, the issue came up regarding what a conundrum the working poor face when forced to keep a child with flu-like symptoms out of school for a week.
With the CDC recommending seven days of home isolation for any child exhibiting a flu-like illness, we discussed in staff meeting what a difficult scenario this must be for parents who work in low-wage occupations that offer no sick time or personal time to care for their sick children.
As Barbara Ehrenreich so deftly illustrated in her seminal book, "Nickel and Dimed: On (Not) Getting By in America", the working poor are employed in occupations where not being able to come to work is almost ubiquitously grounds for instant termination.
So, when a single mother of three who cleans offices for a non-unionized cleaning company, she lives in fear of a child falling ill and missing school. Since her other family members also work in jobs they must protect by never missing a day of work, this "nickeled and dimed" wage earner is between a rock and a hard place when the school sends her feverish child home and demands that he or she not return for seven calendar days.
I am in no way stating that the CDC is erroneous in its recommendations for protecting the public from sick individuals potentially infected with the H1N1 virus, but we must not overlook the plight of the poor and the working poor when mandating sick days for children whose parents are at such risk of losing the little employment they have.
Now, government cannot solve every problem for every citizen at all times, but when we are mandating such a strict policy of isolation from school during a time when every person with a job desperately needs to retain that job in order to survive, there is a missing piece to the economic puzzle that must be examined, if not addressed.
Many workers are woefully unprotected from being laid off or fired when they miss a day of work for reasons well beyond their control, and the H1N1 virus may very well prove to be a problem for many workers on the edge of the wayward economy.
5 comments:
I read Nickle and Dimed while working on the 2004 presidential campaign in DC. It was perfect timing while I did my part to get rid of the evildoers in the WH who were busy gutting worker's rights. What is it about America not supporting the working poor, not supporting working single moms? Where is the day care? Where is the right to time off to take care of sick child or spouse? I feel ashamed and angry that our country is so lacking with this particular social net.
I keep asking this question to everyone around me; Arnt we overreacting to swine flu?
Like okay there is this problem out there, however we shouldnt go freaking mad/crazy about it that we should stop living or enjoying self!!
Jay,
I actually do not think that the public health and emergency preparedness infrastructure is overreacting. Perhaps the media and people themselves are overreacting, but not the powers that be.
Swine flu is a novel virus of unknown origin that has a vast opportunity to mutate, go underground, and resurface more virulently than ever.
Epidemiologists have been predicting for years that a influenza that "jumps species" from animals to humans could indeed be the source of the next global pandemic (akin to 1918), and such a pandemic is almost guaranteed to occur some time in the next century. (Read "The Coming Plague" by Laurie Garrett)
For an interesting example, let's look at Katrina and the response by FEMA and the gov't. Despite the predictions that the storm could be big, FEMA and the Bush Admin were quite laid back in their preparations and response, and many people suffered and died as a result. Now, if they had overreacted and been hyper-prepared for a storm that actually didn't do much damage, would we have blamed them for being ready just in case? No. But do we blame them for not being better prepared? you bet.
So, in light of the fact the novel viruses and infectious diseases are emerging around the world on a regular basis--many which are resistant to current medications and of unknown strains---isn't it better to "overreact" and have the infrastructure in place just in case things should mushroom quickly?
It is predicted that H1N1 may go underground for a few months and reemerge stronger and more resistant over the summer or next fall. Wouldn't you rather we were ready for that eventuality, rather than sitting back and waiting for the proverbial feces to hit the fan? You can be sure that, if little was done in response to H1N1 and it got out of control very quickly without us being ready to respond, a whole lot of finger-pointing would be going on.
This is just food for thought, and I appreciate your comment very much.
There was a story on NPR about restaurant workers who do not have health insurance or sick time, coming to work sick all the time. Having waitressed to pay for nursing school, I get it. I also read "Nickeled and Dimed", and could relate to those desperate workers who do not have a choice, but to work sick. More worker protections would be great. I doubt if small businesses could afford paying sick time, or health insurance for it's workers. Many businesses would collapse if that were mandated. Should the government pay for it? Not sure if we can afford that either.
Swine Flu is spreading steadily no doubt as per the reports of WHO. Yet I would also say that people are panicking a little too much.
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