“It’s a story of a vulnerable workforce caring for a vulnerable population, and what happens in COVID,” said Dr. Madeline Sterling, an assistant professor at Weill Cornell Medical College, and one of the few researchers to study how COVID-19 has affected home care workers. “There needs to be policy changes that better serve them.”
Beyond protective gear, health insurance and sick leave, other inequities further heighten the risk for home care workers, Sterling said. In general, they are much more likely to rely on public transportation, which increases the risk of infection. The pandemic means older clients are more likely to need to stay home. Workers run errands that take them out of the house and into crowded, indoor spaces – pharmacies and grocery stores, for instance – adding another layer of risk.
Many home care workers don’t get formal training on COVID-19, meaning they’re on their own in deciphering what risk they face and how to navigate it.
All of those problems remain unaddressed, Sterling said, and if the pandemic worsens this fall, as expected, they’ll take on heightened significance – even if the absence of federal or state data makes it impossible to track how bad things get.
“These are folks who provide personal care, medical care, emotional support,” Sterling said. “Despite being integral, they are often left out of the conversation. A lot of what they do is unrecognized.”
- Originally published in USA Today.
