Late last week, the President of the United States gave public health experts and responsible Americans alike heartburn by suggesting that working people may end up getting better by going to work — even if they think they may be infected with coronavirus.
“So if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better, just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work, some of them go to work, but they get better,” he said, in an interview with Fox News.
Obviously, this sort of talk is completely irresponsible and should not be taken seriously – especially by people with compromised immune systems or those who end up coming in contact with people with compromised immune systems. However, as we know, a large swath of the American people do take the president’s words seriously and many of his of supporters — like this woman — do not believe that coronavirus is real because they “don’t trust anything the Democrats do or say”.
President Trump and his surrogates — like Director of the National Economic Council, Larry Kudlow — have turned the recognition of deadly disease into a political football and are endangering public health, either wittingly or unwittingly, with unclear or erroneous information that counters what public experts are saying.
For those with more discerning minds who do, in fact, recognize the public health threat this type of outbreak creates, they are confronted with a practical question: If I feel like I may be sick, or if I may have come into contact with someone who is, can I really afford to stay at home? The answer to that question for 7 in 10 low-wage workers in the United States is: no. In fact, 34 million working Americans have no access to paid sick days at all. This means that even if people are taking the outbreak seriously, they cannot monetarily afford to take the precautions necessary to keep themselves and their loved ones — or your loved ones, who are also at risk of catching disease from them — safe.
The United States is unique in this way. It is the only industrialized nation without any federal paid sick leave policy. The extent of the US federal sick leave policy is the requirement in the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) that requires that companies with 50 or more full-time employees allow their workers to take time off – unpaid. This, of course, offers no paid sick leave for people at all. It also provides no unpaid leave for individuals who work at small businesses. According to the Small Business Administration, as of 2015, small businesses employed 47.5 per cent of the United States’ private workforce, so basically half.
In the absence of federal law mandating paid sick leave, legislatures in Arizona, California, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, Washington state, Washington DC, and 22 other jurisdictions have stepped up to mandate that businesses, when operating within their jurisdiction, provide their workers with paid sick leave. Even in the absence of mandates from state governments, many businesses have instituted policies of their own, like Stubbs BBQ in Austin, Texas.
There are good reasons why it behooves businesses to provide this kind of earned benefit. Workers who are forced to work when sick display tendencies referred to as “presenteeism”. This phenomenon occurs when employees work while sick and they simply go through the motions rather than doing much useful – which is estimated to cost the US economy upwards of $160 billion per year.
These kinds of laws are frequently opposed by large trade associations, as are many other sensible policy prescriptions like raising the federal minimum wage from $7.25. However, when put in place, they have proven to help individuals as well as the business community. The owner of the aforementioned Stubbs BBQ, Ryan Garrett, is quoted as saying, “I’ve seen firsthand what this [paid sick leave] can do to morale. It means the world to the people I work with, and it is 100 per cent the right thing to do.”
It’s one thing for news organizations, public officials, friends, family or neighbors to warn individuals to stay home if they feel sick. It’s another completely for the federal government to ensure that, if they choose to do so, they will not have to go without the wages they depend on to pay their bills.
Paid sick leave is not only the right thing to do for working people. It’s the right thing to do for public health.
Matt Rogers is Chief Strategist at Politidope, Inc. and Chief of Staff to Virginia State Senator Dave Marsden