Despite facing a per capita coronavirus death rate more than twice as bad as the United States, Boris Johnson is already laying the groundwork to get the United Kingdom back to work. Although his plan is far from perfect, there’s one stipulation that should be accepted as a likely guideline for workers: namely, that those who can work remotely will still be expected to.
Much of Johnson’s plan is centered around mitigating crowding on public transit. While that focus wouldn’t be a real cause for concern in a lot of the U.S., it’s certainly worth considering in New York City, where essential workers still rely on public transit.
Mainly, the benefit of asking those who can work from home to continue to do so is the mere mitigation of human contact. Sure, it’s easy to maintain a 6-foot radius and wear a mask while shopping in a mall or picking up takeout, but do we really expect every office in the country to spread desks 6 feet apart and every worker to spend ten consecutive hours wearing a mask? Far easier is simply asking those who can to continue to work from home and let those who can’t go back to work.
This is as medically sound as it is economically necessary.
More than half of all low-income workers polled by Pew Research report having someone in their household lose a job or take a pay cut as a result of the coronavirus. Fewer than one-third of upper-income earners say the same. Whereas fewer than 1 in 5 upper-income workers say someone in their household has lost a job outright, nearly 2 in 5 lower-income earners say the same. And, predictably, while 3 in 4 upper-income earners report having at least a three-month rainy day fund, fewer than 1 in 4 lower-income earners say the same.
So, we know that the workers who need income the most are the ones disproportionately losing their hours or jobs. Our nation’s highest priority shouldn’t be making sure that people who can work from home get back to the cushy comfort of their office cubicle. It must be getting those people back to work immediately while continuing to suppress coronavirus transmission by having those who still can work remotely continue to do so.
There are no easy solutions to this bind and certainly no perfect ones. But, as far as harm mitigation goes, both medically and economically speaking, this stipulation seems obvious.
