New Ways of Working During a Global Pandemic

Due to Covid-19 many of our daily lives have changed drastically. We’ve gone from reading beautiful smiles, to trying to read eyes because of wearing masks. We’ve gone from seeing our peers, classmates and teachers, and families in person whenever to communicating with them through social media, FaceTime, and Google Meet.

Our lives are so different than what they were just a year ago. But it’s not just our personal lives that have changed. How we do our jobs have all had a major shift as well. Whether a teacher , health care worker, fast-food employee, or working in a warehouse or on an assembly line, almost every job has had a to make a big or small changes for safety measures to keep employees and the consumers safe and happy.

People around the world including working Americans have had to take the measure of social distancing to help to stop the spread of the corona virus. Educators and students are no longer able to be in their usual environment of the classroom and have now been taking their classes to online through google meet going on nine months! Both students and teachers have had to adjust to using new technology and some teachers are trying to make their online classes somewhat like being in a classroom.

Now with everyone using technology for work more than ever before we wonder how that will change things going forward. For Angela Glenn, English and journalism Teacher at Kenwood High, she thinks the online tech will change how we do education when we go back in the school building. “I think we’re going to utilize technology so much more than we ever did before.” She continues saying, “as students select to stay home and/or do classes online I could see leaders seeing it as a way to help solve overcrowding issues and large class size problems as some may choose to continue their education online from home.” This may happen because some students prefer online classes; some may choose to do school online because it works well with their schedule with their family or possibly job obligations, and others might learn better through technology without all the distractions.

Face mask have become a necessity during the pandemic, especially if you’re a frontline worker giving customers their service in person. 19-year-old Ernest Wondee a DM3/ HVAC worker has to go to customers’ houses to install air conditioning. Being this close to people in there homes makes it difficult to social distance, so face mask and gloves are a big part of keeping him and customers safe. “Whenever I walk into a home the owner has to wear a face mask and so do I, but I have to keep my mask and gloves on even when it starts getting difficult to do my work,” he explained. For jobs that require workers to work in close proximity to your customers, safety procedures may be way difficult to keep up with because it takes both the costumer and service provider to make the process safe and successful now.
Health care providers have to work closer to the virus than others because they work with different people with different type of illnesses and liabilities. Some may be minor illnesses and some major, but worse of all some may have Covid-19. At the end of the day healthcare providers may have loved ones to go home to and they worry they may put their loved ones at risk to help others.

Juliann Lewis, a 19-year-old healthcare worker, has to go from home to home taking care of elderlies, while being at college and later coming home to her grandmother and sister. “When I go to homes that I’m working at I always ask questions like in these past 14 days have you or anyone in your family been out of the state of Delaware or have you been in contact with someone that has Covid.” She goes on by saying. “I make sure I take their temperature, also making sure I sanitize the area, wear gloves and face shield around them because they’re older and more vulnerable to the virus, but also for my safety too.” Making sure her patients and herself are safe and healthy is a big part of her job.

Heading into the ninth month of the pandemic and many question if and when jobs will go back to normal? To avoid future mutation of the virus and if it’s a reoccurring illness like the flu, will will these safety procedures become a permanent way of working? “Keeping our customers safe is our first priority. Even after Covid-19 washing and sanitizing hands before and after serving customers is top on the list, to prevent spreading of illnesses whether it’s coronavirus or not,” shares Frederick Neewary, an employee at DAP Inc Express. Covid may completely change how we work from now on, but the assurance that customers and employees can stay safe and satisfied mean a lot, and many are willing to do what they need to in order to provide that.

As a teen employee myself at a fast food restaurant I believe the safety measures we are taking as a country and service providers is necessary because at the end of every shift, no matter what jobs we’re doing during this pandemic, we all have a family to go home to and their health and ours, along with everyone’s else, is important so we shall do as we must for the safety of all.