Can we agree that people in Georgia are not better groomed than others in America?
Could we also agree that no amount of hand sanitizer can substitute for physical distance between a manicurist and client to prevent a lethal virus transmission?
And, much as we might miss our pork, wouldn’t we all eat tofu or fish for a while to save workers in meat-processing plants?
These are the kinds of choices facing states considering pulling back on social distancing before COVID-19 has run its course. Some, like Georgia, are choosing recklessly, prodded by protesters claiming their American freedom to do as they please. But all it takes is one infected person to start the dominoes falling again.
Georgia is reopening gyms, tattoo and massages parlors, hair and nail salons, against the advice of the president and Atlanta’s mayor. Trump administration guidelines require two weeks of falling infections. And a University of Washington research institute that analyzes states’ data says Georgia should not reopen until June.
But no one in federal government is threatening action against Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp. The president concludes Kemp’s gotta do what he’s gotta do. Dr. Deborah Birx, President Donald Trump’s circumspect coronavirus coordinator, says obliquely, “It will have to be on a community by community opening because there are different communities and different places, even in Georgia.” She doesn’t know how social distancing guidelines will be maintained, she added, “but people are very creative.”
For Iowa, the institute sets June 26 as a reopening date, though Gov. Kim Reynolds has hinted some parts of the state may be ready sooner. But from meatpacking plants to long-term care facilities, Iowa still has hot spots. And the lack of solid, information about how many people, in which institutions, have contracted the virus or died makes it hard to share her confidence.
Black Hawk County had 366 confirmed cases of COVID-19 through April 23, and its board of health called Tyson Foods’ Waterloo plant the biggest source, asking the company to close, which it eventually did. Reynolds had said that the nation and world need our pork, and repeated that if people are sick, they should stay home. But by the time people feel sick, it’s too late for them. And in the close quarters of a processing plant, there are limits to what handwashing can do.
Only hard data from those facilities can abate fears. But Smithfield Foods, another meat-producer that was forced to close its Sioux Falls, S.D., plant after a large outbreak, says on its website it won’t confirm cases to media “out of respect for our employees’ legal privacy.”
Long-term care centers saw more than half the COVID deaths earlier this month. “It’s so important we take every precaution at our long-term care facilities,” Gov. Reynolds said. But some Iowans had to raise concerns that the state wasn’t requiring patients being released from hospitals into their center for post-acute care to first get COVID-19 testing. A woman whose mother lives at Briarwood Health Care Center in Iowa City contacted me, saying the center requires negative test results, and even then quarantines everyone for 14 days in a separate staffed area. But a hospital had threatened to stop sending people there if they insisted. The hospital said it was following Iowa Department of Public Health guidelines.
I reached out to IDPH COVID-19 spokesperson Amy McCoy on April 13, a day when Reynolds had said 53% of deaths had involved cases from long-term care centers. McCoy replied the next day that IDPH is recommending all incoming admissions be tested. She didn’t say when that started, but the daughter and two area hospitals confirmed that that was new.
Contract workers are another group that has had to fight for safety measures. I communicated with four who are working temporarily at Wells Fargo’s Jordan Creek location in West Des Moines. The company calls them a “contact center” or “call center” team, though their work ensuring quality is by computer. They’re on six-month contracts and spoke on condition of anonymity to avoid reprisal. All worried about a lack of safeguards, inconsistencies and poor communication. They said Wells Fargo has frequently changed its direction about where and when they can work, while regular employees mostly work from home.
Steven R. Carlson, a Wells Fargo corporate spokesman, said 80% of contact center employees and contractors (with six months or longer) at Jordan Creek now work from home. He said company-provided safety measures include seating them at least 6 feet apart and monitoring their social distancing; having the area cleaned three times a day and staggering staff and shifts. He said more than 3,000 bottles of hand sanitizer, 400 canisters of disinfectant wipes and 1,000 masks and bandannas had been recently shipped to the center.
The contract workers agree there is more space, but notice no marked improvement in cleaning. They do get free prepackaged lunches at the cafeteria. And they say after bringing their own masks, they were given some two weeks ago. But as the photo one sent shows, they look like a child’s project.
One woman said concerns were shared with their recruiting company and up the Wells Fargo chain of command, where they were told that if they didn’t like it, they could leave.
So those of us whose biggest problem is going stir crazy working from home still have it pretty good. State and local leaders should pay closer attention to the most vulnerable — the elderly, immigrant and contract workers — who suffer most when corners are cut. And let’s not rush to lift restrictions and potentially waste all those weeks of sacrifice. Neither polished nails nor pork chops are worth it.
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ABOUT THE WRITER
Rekha Basu is a columnist for the Des Moines Register. Readers may send her email at rbasu@dmreg.com.
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©2020 Des Moines Register
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©2020 Des Moines Register
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