Pharmacy Workers Are Coming Down With COVID-19 -- But They Can't Afford to Stop Working

At his home in the Bronx, where he lies in bed with a fever, Jose Peralta keeps replaying the scene in his head. It was Monday, March 16th, the start of an unusually hectic week at a Walgreens in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. Peralta, a senior pharmacy technician, was on his way to take a break when he noticed a familiar customer waiting in line to pick up medication.

“I thought, Gee it would be nice to help this guy,” Peralta said. “We’ve all been trying to minimize exposure and make sure that people don’t have to spend too long in the store.”

Returning to the counter, Peralta chatted briefly with the customer only a few feet away. Even though he was working at the center of the nation’s coronavirus outbreak, Walgreens hadn’t given him gloves or a mask, he said.

A few days later, during routine calls to customers about medication ready for pickup, Peralta learned that the customer whom he had helped had tested positive for COVID-19. Peralta notified his manager that he may have been exposed to the virus. The manager checked with headquarters and told him to keep working, Peralta said.

Toward the end of March, Peralta and two colleagues started to come down with telltale symptoms: A loss of smell and taste. Fatigue. Body aches. He realized that he might be laid up for weeks — far longer than his sick pay would last.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/pharmacy-workers-covid-19-cvs-walgreens-981204/