CAMILLA,* 27, Oakland,
McDonald’s night-shift worker,
mother of three children ages 1½, 6,and 8► what happened first wasthat my
baby displayed symptoms, and weboth
tested positive. Soon after, my partnerand
8-year-oldgotsick.I knew I wasgoingtoget
sick because my store did not provideus
with any real PPE. They told us to usedoggy
diapers or coffee filters.
I wanted to continue working,butmy
jo b provided no safety. It was basically,
You have to take a risk, and that’son you.I’ vebeenhomefor eightmonths.We all
li vein a bedroomin a sharedhome,and
havingto takecareof a babywhilemy
8- year-olddoeshomeschoolinghasbeen
nearlyimpossible.
I havea 6-year-olddaughterbackin
Guatemala,andI haven’tbeenableto sup-
porther—it’sveryhardto dealwiththat.
Wefeel a lotof pressurecoveringthecosts.
The onlysupportI’vereceivedis through
communityfoodprogramsand$500in
ai d throughan NGO.I’vebeenlookingfor
ni ght-shiftworkso my partnercantake
careof my childrenwhenhe’snotwork-
ing,butit’shardto findnight-shiftwork
th atis alsosafe.I don’tknowwhatI’m
su pposedto do.TCASSANDRA, 48, former editorial director,
and SUZANNE, 40, designer, Tennessee,
former colleagues at a marketing firm► CASSANDRA: I came from a really corpo-
rate environment and felt that I never fit
in. When I got to this company, I was like,
Thisismyplace.Theseare my people.
Then the pandemic hit. At first, it seemed
like everything was going really smoothly.
But they kept piling on more work, and by
July, I was saying to the president of the
company, “We’re barely surviving. You
need to hire more people immediately.”►I wasfurloughedfromMarchtoAugust.WhenI wentback,weweretested every week
andhaddailytemperaturechecks,butitseemedlikeI wastakingtoobigof a chance in
bringinganythinghometomyson,whohasasthma.TheshowI wasworking on came
toanendinlateOctober,andI decidednottoresume.NowI’mteachingyoga to a pod of
threepeople.It’sbeenoneofthebestexperiencesI’veeverhad—comingtogether with
othersandhavingcommunityduringthistime.I’verealizedI havechoices. I thought
I waslockedintotheindustryuntilI retired.Havingmoretimeonyourhands to use for
avisionofyourownisa realgift.There’sstruggle,butthere’sa lotofgratitude.CHRISTINEHACKETT
49,EastVillage,setdecorator,
motherof a 16-year-old*Names with an asterisk have been changed at the request of the subject. Photograph by Justine Kurland