Local Labor Impacts from COVID-19

The local labor force in many different sectors has been affected by COVID-19 (Adobe)

My assignment was to “give a layman’s breakdown of the labor impact locally from COVID-19”.  I have chosen several examples affecting our workforce here in Key Biscayne, focusing on those directly on the firing line such as first responders, hospital workers, airline personnel, drugstore and grocery clerks, and small business owners and their employees.

FIRST RESPONDERS

Key Biscayners are fortunate that the men and women of the Fire and Police Departments are well trained, well equipped and service-oriented.  As with first-responders everywhere, each time they answer a call to assist someone they are putting their own, their colleagues’ and their families’ health at risk.  Nevertheless, they answer the calls, caring for our well-being.

HEALTH CARE WORKERS

These are the people at the epicenter of this pandemic.   This morning we received an email from a doctor who recently moved from Miami to Atlanta.  This extract tells his story, which typifies what is happening in many hospitals throughout the country.

Congratulations on having great neighbors! It is really important for all of us to help each other, be kinder and more patient as this virus outbreak worsens. I am working in the hospital that is at the heart of the outbreak in Metro Atlanta, in between Fulton and Cobb counties; Grady Memorial Hospital. It is the largest public hospital in the state, very similar to Jackson Memorial in Miami. We see the worst of the worst cases here. Right now, our ICU floor is filled to max capacity. We have run out of all the supplies you hear about on the news; gowns, masks, wipes, gloves, etc. All the basics are used up and we are having to reuse a lot of the protective gear. We are not as bad as other parts of the country though. South Florida is on track to become another major epicenter of cases. I am really worried that state and local governments across the country are going to collapse under the pressure their local medical systems are going to place upon them. For example, in our hospital, now all patients with any foot and ankle condition that show up in the ER get patched up and referred to our clinic to be seen on an out-patient basis. We cannot admit anymore foot patients or we risk taking supplies and personnel from the ICU floor’s stocks. Broken ankle? It gets a cast and a call sheet to contact our clinic for a future appointment. We have had to suspend all of our surgeries, including for Charcot joint disease reconstruction, because they cannot spare the anesthesia staff or the ventilators. I am less worried about the virus itself and more concerned about how it delays treatment for everything else.

AIRPORT PERSONNEL

We know about flight attendants and their constant risk of exposure, but we may be less aware of other aviation workers at risk of infection. Examples include baggage handlers, aircraft maintenance and cleaning crews, and terminal employees.  Although passenger air travel is greatly reduced, the air cargo industry remains active, essentially.

GROCERY AND DRUGSTORE CLERKS

These are the folks who still come to work, with or without kids at home. They keep us provisioned and up to date on medicines, encountering anyone and everyone who depend on them, without knowing the risk from personal proximity.

SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS AND THEIR EMPLOYEES.

Apart from risk of infection, another obvious coronavirus consequence is economic. Self-isolation is at once essential to curtail the spread of COVID-19, and calamitous to business owners and their employees. The economic hardship and loss, and related insecurities and deprivations, will remain as collateral damage affecting households and all sectors of the economy after the COVID-19 threat subsides. And yet consider the restaurant owners and their employees.  In-place dining is eliminated, but many still operate for pick-up and delivery, helping us maintain some semblance of normalcy and even comfort.

Whether in the path of direct risk of exposure to the COVID-19 virus, or collaterally in jeopardy of serious and lasting economic harm, much  of the Key Biscayne workforce  is impacted.  Recovery will be hard. It remains to be seen the extent to which the hardship might be lessened by the central bank stimulus measures and by the CARES and paycheck protection legislation recently signed into law.