So I talked to ~ 20 essential workers about what it's like and how they're feeling. It truly was not what I expected. Here are some of their stories.

(Thread) https://www.vox.com/covid-19-coronavirus-explainers/2020/4/23/21228971/essential-workers-stories-coronavirus-hazard-pay-stimulus-covid-19

Melanie, a caregiver at an assisted living facility for patients with dementia and Alzheimer's, makes $12 an hour and says she can't quit because her heart wouldn't let her. But she wishes her boss would check in on her.

A respiratory therapist in Texas talked about helping put a coronavirus patient's family on FaceTime to say goodbye.

My conversation with a Queens hospital social worker was interrupted by clapping for someone being taken off of a ventilator.

Sandra, a manager at a New Mexico Family Dollar, stows away toilet paper and paper towels for elderly customers who come in when they get their social security checks. She also posts DIY hand sanitizer recipes in her store for when they run out.

A Walgreens worker in Brooklyn spends $20 on Ubers to avoid public transportation and makes $15 an hour. He also sometimes sneaks hand sanitizer bottles he's tucked away for himself to old people.

A Target worker was just really confused on why everybody was being so nice to her compared to before this, also very thrown by the yeast craze.

Anyway, I don't know what the takeaway is, except we should reevaluate who is essential and how we value them, not just now but always. And when we talk about what's going on in the economy, these are the people living it — including the Great Toilet Paper Hoard of 2020.