How Covid-19 has affected the working class around the United States but more in depth on how Covid has affected the working class of Eureka, California

Covid has affected a lot of people in a lot of different ways, some people lost their jobs because of “downsizing”, some people had to work from home to keep their job, some people were out of work for a few weeks because them or their family got covid and some people never really got affected by covid. In Eureka, California we were all on lockdown for awhile because we had a lot of cases of covid, workplaces had to make a change in order to be able to pay their employees. Many job sites around Eureka “downsized” in order to be able to pay their valued workers. Another big change in the workplace we saw in Eureka was a lot of places had their employees work from home.

While doing research on this subject I interviewed my mom. When covid was at its worst in Eureka California my mom was working at United Indian Health Services (UIHS) as a pharmacy technician. My mom never got fired because of “downsizing” and my mom was only forced to work from home when my family got covid and in that sense she was lucky. While I was interviewing my mom I asked her how business was at the clinic when covid was at its worst in Eureka and she said “business was really slow, the clinic has a lot of elderly patients that frequently come in and there was a gradual change in people that came in the clinic.” Then I proceeded to ask her if the patients weren’t coming in that much, how did people get the services they needed and she replied with “Our clinic was super flexible with providing our services to our patients, we had a variety of ways you could get the services you needed. We provided our patients with the option to book an appointment online and the doctor would meet with you over a google meeting, you could book an appointment online and you could come in right when your appointment was to cut down on the waiting time in the lobby or you could be scheduled with a normal appointment.” After hearing her answer to that question I realized that the reason UIHS stayed strong through all of this was because they were flexible with how they provided their services. The last question I asked my mom was obviously you guys had to make changes to the clinic in order to make it safer and more clean for people when they come in, what did you guys do to make UIHS a more clean place? She replied with “I’m not for sure on this one but it seemed like UIHS hired more janitors and designated more people to clean, we had people vacuuming all the floors and sterilizing chairs and tables it seemed like 24/7. All workers were also required to sterilize our own work place every day before we clocked out.” I then realized really how much covid really did change the working environment at UIHS.

When I was doing my research on this project, I found a lot of information about the downside of people working from home. From what I’ve researched the biggest downside to people working from home is the distractions that people have at home. While researching I came across pewresearch.org which said “Half of parents with children younger than 18 who are working at home all or most of the time say it’s been difficult for them to be able to get their work done without interruptions since the coronavirus outbreak started. In contrast, only 20% of teleworkers who don’t have children under 18 say the same. Mothers and fathers are about equally likely to say this has been difficult for them.” This really puts in perspective how many workers have children under 18 at home and how many people struggled while working at home due to them having children. Another statistic from pewresearch.org shows that “The shift to remote work has been easy for many workers; younger workers and parents more likely to have faced challenges Overall, a majority (56%) of adults who are working from home all or most of the time say, since the coronavirus outbreak started, it has been very easy for them to have the technology and equipment they need to do their job. An additional 30% say this has been somewhat easy for them. Those who worked from home before the coronavirus outbreak may have an advantage in this regard. About two-thirds (64%) of workers who worked from home at least some of the time before the pandemic and are doing so all or most of the time now say it’s been very easy for them to have the technology and equipment they need to do their job. This compares with 50% of current teleworkers who rarely or never worked from home prior to the outbreak.Having an adequate workspace at home has also been easy for most teleworkers – 47% of those who are now working from home all or most of the time say this has been very easy, and 31% say it’s been somewhat easy. Here again, those who worked from home prior to the pandemic may have an edge over those who are newer to teleworking. While roughly half (51%) of those who worked from home at least some of the time before the coronavirus outbreak say it’s been very easy for them to have an adequate workspace, a smaller share (42%) of those who didn’t work from home prior to the outbreak say the same. When it comes to their ability to meet deadlines and complete projects on time, most teleworkers say this has been easy for them, with 43% saying this has been very easy and 37% saying it’s been somewhat easy.Those working from home are finding it somewhat less easy to get their work done without interruptions and to feel motivated to do their work. While a majority say it has been very or somewhat easy for them to be able to get their work done without interruptions, roughly a third say this has been somewhat (24%) or very (8%) difficult. Similarly, while more than six-in-ten teleworkers say it has been very or somewhat easy for them to feel motivated to do their work, more than three-in-ten say this has been difficult for them (29% somewhat difficult, 7% very difficult).”

In conclusion covid affected so many work places around the United States and remote working was useful for some and really stressful and not easy for others. I think the only covid has bettered in the workplace is the clean atmosphere workplaces have. covid hit Eureka, California really hard and moving forward I think workplaces will maintain that clean atmosphere to prevent not just covid but other viruses and flu’s that may occur throughout the years.