"People want to talk about this virus as an equal opportunity pathogen, but it& #39;s really not. It& #39;s going right to the fissures in our society."

Smartphone data shows low-income workers don& #39;t always have the privilege to stay home during coronavirus. 1/ https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/04/03/us/coronavirus-stay-home-rich-poor.html">https://www.nytimes.com/interacti...

Many jobs that are now essential — grocery workers, health aides, delivery — are lower-paying and don& #39;t provide health insurance. Workers might be happy to have a job now, but it presents risks. This divide is what @DeniseDSLu, @gabrieldance & I wanted to analyze. 2/

There have been great stories about this, including this one about continued ridership on the New York subway. What our story today provides is real-time evidence that this is not an anecdotal concern, and that it holds in metro areas across the U.S. 3/ https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/30/nyregion/coronavirus-mta-subway-riders.html">https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/3...

Not only that, but we can see that wealthier people had a head start of several days in being able to stay home. Remember, days are crucial in this pandemic.

Seeing some of this data, I feel like I& #39;m looking at people dying in the future. It& #39;s terrifying and sad. 4/

I talked with essential workers for this story. One, Adarra Benjamin, is a home care aide in Chicago. She is worried but hanging in there. "We& #39;re all in this together," she told me. I wish we could all be more like Adarra and that people really felt this way for everyone. /end

Oh, people working from home shouldn& #39;t feel guilty! The guy quoted in the story working from home in Chicago is lovely, and lucky to work from home. I& #39;m working from home! Desk jobs of all sorts, which tend to pay more, are better suited for WFH and so shifted there earlier.