Opinion: The views in this post do not represent Estradinglife or its affiliate. They are the opinions of the autor. Nothing more.
The entire world is in mourning and fighting an enemy that seems persistent. I am talking about the coronavirus pandemic that causes covid-19 disease. It is unfortunate that we are going through these horrible times. Almost 40 thousand people around the world have died already and close to a million tested positive.
Table of Contents
- An overview of preventative methods
- Your current situation
- What can you benefit if you decide to go to work?
- What else can happen if you go to work?
- Your company and state do not decide when and how you die
- Should you put your life on the line to do the job you love?
- What would happen if you don’t go to work?
- Bottom line
1. An overview of preventative methods
In order to reduce the spread of the virus, many countries are under lockdown especially where the virus devasted the most like Italy and Spain.
Other countries decided not to completely have a lockdown. Instead, they decided to use preventative measures and have lockdowns when situations get out of control. The methods that are currently being used include but are not limited to:
- Wash your hands regularly with soap and water
- Do not touch your face
- Respect personal distancing and avoid gathering of more than 10 people
- Stay home when you are sick
- Avoid contact with people who are sick
- Cover your cough and sneeze
- Wear a mask
- Clean and disinfect frequently used surfaces like door handles
- etc.
The main question is: Should you go to work if your city is not under a lockdown?
Why are these methods not effective 100%? Picture these. You went to the bathroom in a public building and washed your hands as advised. On your way out, you open the door by touching a doorknob touched by thousands of people like you. Some of them washed their hands and others did not. You are probably going to have the virus if one or more of those people who did not wash their hands had the virus and left it on the door. This system would work effectively only if every person wash their hands. You know humans. They will not.
What about this other scenario?
We are advised to cover our coughs and sneezes. Good idea. An infected person coughs in a public area and covered his/her cough. What happens when you cover your sneeze or cough? It is not like you have specialized equipment that covers your cough and captures everything (air-wise) you release. Whenever you cough, you still release the virus in the air (if you are infected) even if you cover your cough. However, you reduce the distance covered by air from your mouth by covering it. Therefore, some of the people around you might still get infected because you will leave the virus in the air. In this case, having a great distance (social distancing) between you and other people around you will help prevent infections. For this reason, everyone should apply all proposed preventative methods for effectiveness and better results.
2. Your current situation
At this moment, we are assuming that you do not have the virus. Of course, if you had the virus, you would not be thinking about going to work or outside all. You would need to be quarantined.
Since you currently don’t have a virus, your chance of dying from it is 0%. You cannot die from a virus you don’t have. If you decide to protect yourself from now on by following all preventative methods and quarantining methods; you will most likely not get the virus (theoretically). As a result, your chances of surviving the pandemic will increase. We are assuming that your family members will do the same thing. You will need to be on the same page for this to work.
Your current financial situation
You are safe without a virus and you have a job. Your job is everything that helps you pay your bills, put food on the table for your family, etc. It is understandable. Let’s assume that your net worth is $10,000. Unless you work in financial services, education, banking, or politics (where you think you are making the difference), you will have to be at work to be paid. In other words, if you cannot do your job remotely, you will not get paid. I am talking about all of you blue-collars out there and white-collar employees who can’t work remotely. Your net worth will decrease over time if you don’t work. This is very bad news.
3. What can you benefit if you go to work?
Of course, we know your benefit if you decide to go to work. You will get paid. Let’s assume that you make 20$/hr. at your current job. If you go to work today and work 10 hours, you will make $200. That is good. Your family can now have food for a week. Since you made $200, you’re now worthy $200 more than you were a day before. That is a positive thing about your net worth and your financial security.
Is there anything else you could benefit from working? There are a lot of other things that we are not interested in at all, like socializing with our buddies, etc.
4. What else could happen if you go to work?
If you have cases of coronavirus in your area, there are chances that some of your coworkers might have been contaminated with the virus without knowing it. If you end up socializing with them or get close to them, or they violate the coughing rules, etc.; you will get the virus. Oh, no. Now your chances of dying from the virus increased dramatically.
Can you die from covid-19?
According to this paper published by Kenji and Gerardo on CDC, the death rate from covid-19 reached as high as 12% in Wuhan where the virus started.
It is difficult to estimate the death rate as it changes from locations, access to medical care, age, personal health, etc. However, we do know that some countries have been hurt very bad like Italy which currently has almost 106,000 positive cases with 12,428 deaths according to NPR. This is more than an 11% death rate.
What about in the USA. By the time this article is being written, the total positive cases in the USA have reached 186,000 with 3,800 deaths. That is around a 2% death rate.
So, what then?
The main point is not to calculate the chances of dying in every country. Instead, it is to show you that there is a chance of you dying if you get the virus. In cases you decide to go to work and get infected there, you would have increased your chance of dying from 0% to some percentage. Whether it is 1%, 5%, 20%, etc.; it does not matter. The exact percentage is not the main issue here. We are saying that once you get the virus, you will be forced to solve problems that you would have avoided (including dying).
What if you don’t get infected?
It will be awesome if you go to work and come back without the virus. The money you made will secure meals for your family, take care of your bills, and increase your net worth. That is a win. How long will that last? A real close friend of mine was asking me, who will pay your bills if you don’t go to work? That is a very good question. To be honest with you, I was not able to answer this question.
However, I do think that given the infection rate of the virus and the complexity of detecting someone who has it; it would be foolish to go to work thinking that you will not be infected. I compare this to going to the casino thinking that you will be at the house even if you know that almost everyone loses. Should I go to work knowing that there is a high chance of dying involved to make money for my landlord? Would the rent matter after I am dead from the virus? I don’t think so.
5. Your company and state do not decide when and how you die
There are many companies out there who put in place safety measures for their employees. They have increased resources, redesigned entrances into the buildings, provided social distancing guidance, etc. These are good things. Companies are trying so hard to meet their customers’ orders while keeping you and me safe.
However, all measures they put in place, are preventative and do not work 100% as anticipated. We are humans, people do violate rules every single day. You tell them to wash their hands, they choose not to. What about covering their coughs? They don’t do it. The other thing is: How can you implement social distancing rules at a job that requires employees to be closer, to interact, to work in a team, or bump in each other, etc? Do you see? Some of these companies are protecting themselves in the case some lawmakers investigate their contribution to deaths related to the virus. They are also trying to stay in business as long as possible.
I guess many of us are trying to keep our heads above the water including companies.
If your state or city has not proceeded with a lockdown and your company did not close; you are probably not allowed to stay at home unless you are sick. What if you want to quarantine yourself from now on? Your company might get mad and their quarter deliveries might go down without your presence. Should you put your life in danger to meet your company’s goals? I will let you answer this question. If your company does not care about your safety, you are not supposed to be working there.
6. Should you put your life on the line to do the job you love?
Maybe you love your job so much to a level where you cannot see yourself without doing it. There is nothing wrong with loving our jobs. Matter of fact, we do our jobs better when we love them. We get creative when we like what we do. If you love your job and want to continue doing it for the rest of your life, stay home and let the virus pass. You can always go back to it after the storm is gone. In order words, you will not be able to do the job you love after the virus kills you.
7. What would happen if you don’t go to work?
In the beginning, we assume that your net worth is $10,000. This net worth includes your car(s), cash, and other assets you hold after all your liabilities are taken care of. Without working, your net worth will start a downtrend due to existing expenses without income to cover them.
Poverty knocking on the door?
At some point in the future, you will run out of money. Your pockets will be empty, your accounts will dry from expenses, and your family will go hungry. You will probably die from hunger. You could also become homeless if situations are not cleared out fast. Your landlord will not let you live in their rental property without paying them. This is inevitable and it is a shame to all of us unless we get some type of assistance. That is the main reason many people are still showing up to work knowing that they could die from it. They have been given a chance to the virus because they cannot face situations on the other side (alternatives). It is an understandable and harsh reality.
8. Bottom line
Going to work or not going to work right now is becoming a moral problem. It is the most difficult question many of us must answer. It boils down to how much money in reserve you have and how long they can last you without working. Unfortunately, many of us do not have a bunch of cash sitting in our accounts. Besides, there is some business that must keep running to ensure the safety of others. The safety of those who must show up to work no matter what. These people include doctors, nurses, people who sell us the food we eat, etc. They need proper PPEs to continue working. We must produce everything they will need for them to take care of our loved ones who have the virus and other illnesses.
If you have chances of surviving without working at all, do not go to work. This will protect you from the virus and reduce the rate of infections in your area. As a result, fewer people will die from the coronavirus. However, if you are essential personnel where your presence saves more lives, you should consider going to work. I am not talking about the job you do and benefit corporations. Moreover, if you think you cannot handle what is on the other side (what you could face if you run out of money), you can still go to work.
You must follow all preventative measures implemented by your government, state, and city whenever you are in public or at home. Take a step further to protect yourself, loved ones, and others in general. None will care if you show up at your local store in a full-body suit, mask, and gloves. It does not matter what you do to protect yourself and everyone around you if you do not hurt anyone in the process.
