In the usa, much of the workforce is paycheck to paycheck and does not have paid leave or short term disability, and health issues are a common cause for bankruptcy. So the following is applicable to a lot of people who probably are not in this (rationalist/lesswrong) community:
If you don’t work, you don’t get paid, so you don’t make rent. If you get quarantined by the state after a positive test, you don’t go to work, you don’t get paid, and you don’t make rent. If you don’t make rent, you probably will not have a place to live. If you end up in the hospital, you will probably go bankrupt, and may not have a place to live when you get out. Therefore with the incentives in front of you, take the following advice: ‘do as you would normally, go to work no matter how you feel, do not under any circumstances get a coronavirus test, as that might provoke some authority to put you in a position where you cannot get paid.’ This is particularly relevant if you live in a state that decides to be aggressive and punitive about quarantining.
Walmart appears to have realized this and is taking measures to adjust the incentives, but it’s probably too little too late.
I also expect red states to adopt punitive legislation and pundits representing those communities to not understand why it makes things worse (I’ve seen right wing blog comments that go something like this: hurr in the days of bubonic plague communities in Italy bricked up houses around infected families, we r not hard enough nowdays durrr).
For the rest of us, recognize that when you interact with a gig worker or any other member of the public with those incentives, they have a high risk of exposure from the community, are unlikely to use PPE (not part of the uniform, not affordable, etc), and regardless of whether they are showing symptoms, will probably work until either prohibited from doing so, or physically unable to due to symptoms.
I’d prefer to live in a community that took effective large scale action (lock down access to vulnerable groups, mass test the healthy, and create strong incentives to self-isolate), but I don’t so whatever.
In the usa, much of the workforce is paycheck to paycheck and does not have paid leave or short term disability, and health issues are a common cause for bankruptcy. So the following is applicable to a lot of people who probably are not in this (rationalist/lesswrong) community:
If you don’t work, you don’t get paid, so you don’t make rent. If you get quarantined by the state after a positive test, you don’t go to work, you don’t get paid, and you don’t make rent. If you don’t make rent, you probably will not have a place to live. If you end up in the hospital, you will probably go bankrupt, and may not have a place to live when you get out. Therefore with the incentives in front of you, take the following advice: ‘do as you would normally, go to work no matter how you feel, do not under any circumstances get a coronavirus test, as that might provoke some authority to put you in a position where you cannot get paid.’ This is particularly relevant if you live in a state that decides to be aggressive and punitive about quarantining.
Walmart appears to have realized this and is taking measures to adjust the incentives, but it’s probably too little too late.
https://corporate.walmart.com/newsroom/2020/03/10/new-covid-19-policy-to-support-the-health-of-our-associates
I also expect red states to adopt punitive legislation and pundits representing those communities to not understand why it makes things worse (I’ve seen right wing blog comments that go something like this: hurr in the days of bubonic plague communities in Italy bricked up houses around infected families, we r not hard enough nowdays durrr).
For the rest of us, recognize that when you interact with a gig worker or any other member of the public with those incentives, they have a high risk of exposure from the community, are unlikely to use PPE (not part of the uniform, not affordable, etc), and regardless of whether they are showing symptoms, will probably work until either prohibited from doing so, or physically unable to due to symptoms.
I’d prefer to live in a community that took effective large scale action (lock down access to vulnerable groups, mass test the healthy, and create strong incentives to self-isolate), but I don’t so whatever.