Protect those on Canada’s front lines

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/05/2021 (1763 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

On Tuesday morning, I was getting ready for work, when my phone rang with my child’s school name flashing on the screen.

Why are they calling me at 7:41 a.m.?

It was the principal. He was calling to let me know someone in my daughter’s class had tested positive for COVID-19 and the school believed my daughter had been a close contact. We needed to self-isolate immediately, and wait for more information and instructions to follow. I was annoyed and felt inconvenienced by having to self-isolate in my home with my partner and child for two weeks. Working from home with a child in tow is nearly impossible, even when she spends much of the day with eyes glued to a screen.

However, the more I thought about it, the more I realized my inconvenience and experience is dripping in privilege.

Not once after receiving that phone call did I worry about not being able to work. I can work, I just need to make adjustments to the way I do it, with the largest being my six-year-old co-worker playing Roblox in the same room.

Not once did I panic about having access to buy groceries online at the sometimes inflated prices baked into some delivery apps.

So long as we stay healthy, we will be OK.

Not everyone who gets the call telling them they or someone in their household has been exposed to COVID-19 and they have to self-isolate is lucky enough to be able to make the shift to work from home. For a lot of people, the call is crushing and far more than an inconvenience.

It means people who can’t work from home because their jobs are in sectors where it is impossible to do so are likely unable to earn income during that time (unless, of course, their employer offers paid sick leave). Or, they opt to work through their symptoms because they can’t afford not to.

Many people working on the front lines of this pandemic are working in low-paying jobs, and have a higher risk of getting sick because they are working with the public. According to the Canadian Union of Public Employees, less than half of workers in Canada have employer-paid sick days, and it’s closer to one-quarter for workers making less than $25,000 a year.

This needs to change.

We have all relied on the people who are working on the front lines of this pandemic to keep our society running.

They’ve been the oft-unsung heroes, going about their jobs while COVID-19 and variants of concern invisibly lurk. They’ve had to continue on, in spite of the dangers of public work in a pandemic.

If we’re being honest, I’d venture to say most of us never fully realized the incredible impact front-line workers contribute to our community, pandemic or not. They deserve a healthy workplace and the peace of mind knowing they will be OK, at least financially, if they are sick and can’t come to work.

According to researchers, Canada, Japan, and the U.S. are the only industrialized countries that do not provide universal access to paid sick leave.

Ottawa has rolled out the Canadian Recovery Sickness Benefit for people who are sick or need to self-isolate due to COVID-19. The weekly payment is $450 after taxes, and recipients who qualify are only entitled to four weeks of compensation. The program is a temporary solution set to end in September. It’s a start, but our government needs to do more to invest in the health and safety of front-line workers now and well beyond COVID-19.

It shouldn’t be a privilege to stay home and self-isolate when you’re sick, especially during a global pandemic. We know doing this is the key to slowing the spread of COVID-19, and keeping ourselves and our community safe.

Paid sick time should be provided now, and continue after the pandemic is behind us.

shelley.cook@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @ShelleyACook