Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

The coronavirus continues to spread and more and more countries are taking stricter and stricter steps to contain it as best as possible. With the health crisis in swing, people are debating what might be helping the Covid-19 virus spread. Some of them believe that it’s less a matter of personal hygiene and more a question of wealth.

One Twitter user who spent 9 years managing a pizza place shared their opinion about how restaurant workers in the United States, as well as other food and service industry professionals, might add to the corona-crisis.

According to them, this may happen because a lot of food and service industry workers aren’t able to afford health insurance, wouldn’t be able to take sick days if they get ill, and may end up spreading the virus to others at their workplace. In other words, the Twitter user believes that poverty is the coronavirus’s greatest ally. Scroll down for Bored Panda’s interview with NomeDaBarbarian.

One Twitter user shared their opinion about how poverty might help the virus spread across the US

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

The person explained that a lot of the people working in the food and service industries do not have health insurance

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Bosses expect their employees to work even after they had an accident

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Some believe that fine dining might put even more pressure on their employees

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Quite a few people working in the US service industry have it tough; some of them get penalized for resting

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Bored Panda spoke to Twitter user NomeDaBarbarian about their insights regarding the people working in the food industry and the coronavirus. The Twitter user stated upfront that they’re not a medical expert and said that it’s important to listen to them. “The most important thing to do to stay safe personally is to wash your hands thoroughly and regularly, clean electronics that you touch regularly, and do everything you can to avoid touching your face.”

According to NomeDaBarbarian, there are several things that can be done to make sure that people working in the food and service industries have access to health insurance and can take days off if they get ill. “Unions. Labor organizing. An actual left-wing movement in this country; the core of the Democratic party is center to center-right by most world metrics. Decades of long-haul work.”

“At present, it’s not just the individuals not having protection that’s the problem, it’s the entire structure of our service industry. Every small business is ‘lean’ staffed, meaning there’s no redundancy to cover sick people,” they explained. “Even if every person who got sick had insurance they could use, the act of them collectively calling out sick would cripple those businesses. This pressure keeps people (as is evidenced by the responses to my story) from being able to call out even in countries with much stronger safety nets.”

They continued: “It is my personal read of history that the way we are organized, which is a technology, is becoming obsolete. I’m not arrogant enough to claim to know what would be a better system, but I know ours is breaking.”

The response could be better

In the Twitter user’s opinion, the US government’s response to the corona-crisis could be much better. “120 people tested in NYC, and 106 of them turned out positive? That means that most people who should be being tested aren’t. Instead of South Korea’s roadside drive-through test centers, instead of Italy’s massive and coordinated response, we’re… Well, by all accounts, doing nothing.”

“We can’t even test all the people we know were in contact with a positive case and who currently have symptoms. My home state, Colorado, just had a woman visiting Aspen from Australia—on returning home, she tested positive. The people who were in contact with her here are developing respiratory symptoms. The CDPHE said, ‘Pitkin County health officials are working on a plan to get symptomatic people tested.’ Tests aren’t available. Precautions beyond ‘personal responsibility’ aren’t visible. Even those personal precautions aren’t being sufficiently communicated, or followed.”

Helping others stay safe

We also wanted to know what precautions NomeDaBarbarian was taking to steer clear of the coronavirus. “I normally get around by bike and mass transit; I’m cutting down on the latter and taking more time to get to work or any of the other places I need to go. Working in the restaurant industry, ironically, prepared me more for this—I already wash my hands habitually, and now I’m stepping it up. I’m avoiding touching my face or eyes. I’m working on potential plans with my crew at work should any of us get sick, as we have immunocompromised folks on-staff. If we get them sick, they die, so we’ve all got to be careful.”

“That’s the core of it, and something I need to stress—I, by and large, am already safe. I’m young, relatively healthy. Insured. It’s unlikely that I’ll personally be in any danger,” the Twitter user noted. “The work I’m doing isn’t to keep myself safe—it’s to keep myself from making others unsafe. I can survive this, but my coworker, the fifty-something-year-old former rocker who just watched his first grandkid take their first steps, can’t. His lungs are shot, and if I get him sick, he dies. That’s the core of it. Herd immunity. We’ve got to keep each other safe.”

Health crisis and economic turmoil

The internet user’s tweets got more than 10.6k likes and were reshared a whopping 5.8k times. Their opinions about income inequality were supported by a lot of readers, some of whom thought that the situation was “terrifying.”

The virus has spread further in the US over the weekend. At the time of writing, there are more than 565 confirmed cases of people infected with the coronavirus in the country. The death toll from the illness now stands at 22. 19 of these occurred in Washington state which currently has the highest number of ill individuals.

At least 8 states have declared states of emergency, including Washington, California, Florida, Kentucky, New York, Maryland, Utah, and Oregon. And even some Congressmen, including Ted Cruz and Paul Gosar, are self-quarantining after having interacted with an individual who later tested positive for the virus.

Meanwhile, the world economy continues to take hard hits as global trade and security suffer. The S&P 500 futures slid down by 5% on Sunday evening; Dow futures fell 4.9%; Nasdaq Composite futures were down 4.8%. In other words, we’re witnessing some economic shocks that we haven’t witnessed since the last recession.

Some people shared their own experiences working in the industry

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: XianJaneway

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: Lily_Warrior

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Poverty is a complex problem

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Some bosses can fire their employees at any moment

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

A lot of adults end up working jobs that some see as being meant for high school kids

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Universal paid sick leave might help alleviate the spread of the virus

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

A lot of people are hard-pressed to continue working no matter what

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

The coronavirus continues to spread in the US

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: NomeDaBarbarian

People shared their experiences working in the food and service industries

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: queer_hellenic

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: queer_hellenic

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: sweater_wesley

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: genteelhart

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: genteelhart

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: LexGoyle

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: KnippleKnight

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: seemathewombat

Manager Who Worked In The Food Industry For 9 Years Explains How Coronavirus May Kill People Due To Poverty

Image credits: eridukid

Storytelling, journalism, and art are a core part of who I am. I've been writing and drawing ever since I could walk—there is nothing else I'd rather do. My formal education, however, is focused on politics, philosophy, and economics because I've always been curious about the gap between the ideal and the real. At work, I'm a Senior Writer and I cover a broad range of topics that I'm passionate about: from psychology and changes in work culture to healthy living, relationships, and design. In my spare time, I'm an avid hiker and reader, enjoy writing short stories, and love to doodle. I thrive when I'm outdoors, going on small adventures in nature. However, you can also find me enjoying a big mug of coffee with a good book (or ten) and entertaining friends with fantasy tabletop games and sci-fi movies.

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I'm a visual editor at Bored Panda. I kickstart my day with a mug of coffee bigger than my head, ready to tackle Photoshop. I navigate through the digital jungle with finesse, fueled by bamboo breaks and caffeine kicks. When the workday winds down, you might catch me devouring bamboo snacks while binging on the latest TV show, gaming or I could be out in nature, soaking up the tranquility and communing with my inner panda.

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What do you think ?

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Daria B 4 years ago (edited)

Poverty will kill Americans infected with Coronavirus, but still the loudest ones will blame the Chinese (and everyone who looks like east Asian). I hope I'll be proven wrong about this one. I really do. It's already happening in various European countries. These are difficult times. Let's not lose our minds.

21points

Bill 4 years ago (edited)

The empty cart is always the loudest.

7points

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Al Jones 4 years ago

I agree. Even if it were proven beyond any doubt that poverty like in this post was a huge contributing factor to the spread of the disease, I still think the rich will find a way to sweep it under the carpet.

4points

NeverGoWoke 4 years ago

Empty barrell makes the loudest noise.

3points

Tina Hugh 4 years ago

Nah, our politicians will be blaming Republicans, Democrats, racism, political correctness, and every policy or attitude they think they can score points with. Online trolls will blame Millennials, Boomers and people who look like their ancestors might have come from Asia. Sensible people will be sensible. I wish we would elect some of them.

1point

Suzi Gauthier 4 years ago

Well, we keep voting in the business. They are just so smart in making their own money that we think they will clean things up. Sorry, businessmen are in business to make money, whether they are working as a politician or CEO. And their friends are all doing the same, so they help each other out. If you want more of this, vote for Trump or Biden. Biden's not a crazy, but he's owned by corporate America. It will just be more of the same.

13points

Tina Hugh 4 years ago

Preach!

0points

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dev mehta 4 years ago

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Jillian Jones 4 years ago

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Biljana Malesevic 4 years ago

It's the same in Serbia, maybe even worse. People work with food sick and contagious, and not only they don't want to lose money and take sick days, they literally CAN'T. They are not allowed to. It's horrible. Once, I wanted to take something in bacery and the woman working there was clearly very very sick, she was barely standing. I just left, and didn't touch anything. Sounds like a coward, but I can't do anything there and I am single mom. I can't risk it. But someome will buy pastry there and get the flu and infect their whole family. It's awful! People need to have right to get sick days!

11points

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