 Politico put together a really interesting graphic where they actually go through and they map which people, which workers specifically are the most at risk for contracting COVID-19. Now as you probably suspected, it is the lowest wage earners in America. So this is a group of about 24 million workers. This includes cashiers, nursing assistants, paramedics, and they usually make less than $35,000 per year. So the people who are the most vulnerable are the least well off, which makes for an absolutely disastrous predicament because if you catch COVID-19, there will be medical expenses. There's a story that just came out where one survivor of COVID-19 was billed $35,000 in total. That's an estimate and I'm paraphrasing the story, but it's it's a really bad predicament. So what they do here on this graph is they map it out. So as you can see vertically, this is the salary and horizontally, they have the amount of contact and people in the 50 to 100 range of contact, they are moderately at risk and the most high at risk. Now, obviously, you know, the one that stands out are registered nurses, you know, physical proximity scale is 94. So they are getting a lot of physical contact, almost three million individuals in this country are registered nurses and they make $70,000 per year. That's better than a lot of people, but certainly nowhere near enough, given the risk that this job poses to their health. Now, one that is towards the low end, but they're still high at risk are heavy and tractor trailer truck drivers. They're at 42 on the physical proximity scale. Now, what I found not surprising are these areas, low wage jobs, a retail salesperson, they're fairly high on the physical proximity scale at 69 and we have 4.4 million people in this industry and they're getting $24,000 per year, barely over two grand a month. And they are putting their lives at risk cash years, 75 on the physical proximity scale 3.6 million people here and they're getting $22,000 per year, less than 2000 per month to put their lives on the line elementary school teachers. Thankfully schools are shut in some states in my state of Oregon, they're shut until the end of April, but 79 on the physical proximity scale, and they get $59,000 per year. Personal care aids, there are multiple people in my family in this industry, physical proximity scale 86. So people who aren't making that much money, if they end up contracting COVID-19, then they're going to be worse off. If they're able to survive it, they will be burdened with debt. If they don't have insurance, or maybe they have insurance, but it's not great insurance, it doesn't cover everything. So the fact that we have to worry about this and not just worry about, you know, trying to protect ourselves, you know, we have to worry about the aftermath with regard to bills and healthcare, it makes this type of crisis that much worse. Now let's look at some of these other categories here. So we have nursing assistants, 28,000 per year, 91 on the physical proximity scale. First line supervisors of food preparation, very high proximity, 95 on the physical proximity scale, highly at risk. Hair dressers, hairstylists, cosmetologists. These are people who are in close contact. There are barbers, you know, cutting our hair, make 24,000 a year and look at how at risk they are. This is really, it's crazy. Waiters and waitresses, 78 on the physical proximity scale. Cooks, 81 on the physical proximity scale. Social and human service assistants are in contact with the public often. 79 on the physical proximity scale. Bus drivers, school or a special client, 84. Medical assistants, obviously high risk, not much money, $33,000 per year. Like this is, this is insane. Let's see here. Emergency medical technicians and paramedics, 97, very high risk. They make 34,000 a year. That's just insane. Dental assistants, 99 on the physical proximity scale. And they make 38,000 per year. And my niece just became a dental hygienist. She finished school, got a job, ready to start life, got engaged, got laid off just this week. Has to postpone the wedding, worried about now not being able to pay rent. Like I don't know what to tell young people. You know, my generation millennials, we graduated into the Great Recession and that was bad. But now zoomers are graduating into another recession, possibly a depression and a global pandemic. Like it keeps getting worse and worse for each successive generation. So let's look at the higher income level here. So general and operations managers, you know, they're mid range here when it comes to physical proximity. So management probably going to be better off, certainly more so than their workers. We have computer systems analysts. By the way, I will put this link into the description box so you can look at it. I think it's fascinating. The lowest risk are artists, physical proximity scale. They're out of nine. So artists, you know, people who stay home, they're better off. Podcast hosts, you know, people on YouTube, if they do this full time, you know, we're better off. So you have to find other ways to help others, you know, who aren't. Engineering teachers, post-secondary, let's see. Administrative services managers, everyone in management and upper management is like up here and they're better off. Generally speaking, first line supervisors, mechanics. My dad was a mechanic always in contact with people. Teachers, high risk. Supervisors, police and detectives, high risk. Veterinarians at high risk. Physical therapists, high risk. I mean, yeah, that's the highest risk imaginable because you're touching people like you're close, you know, you're in their face. Veterinarians, you know, even though animals can't contract covid, like dogs, pets, you're in these small rooms as they check out your pet. But what's interesting is I had to take my dog to the vet and we just waited in our car. They came out, got him, took him in, came out with the bill. I gave him my card, went back in, self-quarantine. It worked out great. So I'm glad that businesses are, you know, finding ways to keep social distancing and, you know, safely conduct business because they shouldn't put their lives at risk. We have janitors and maids kind of mid range there on the on the scale and they don't make very much money. Like what you kind of see here is that there's a cluster. That's in the low earning area. And the highest risk, right. So in the right bottom quadrant, if we imagine, like this is where you don't want to be and it looks like the most people are here. The highest risk, you know, food prep workers, cashiers. So I'm not, I'm not, you know, talking about this to scare you. If you are in retail or cashier, a lot of people I know are cashiers because I came from retail and fast food. But let me just say that your life and well being is more important than your job and the economy. Just know that, know your individual self-worth. And if you are choosing to go to work because you really feel like you don't have a choice, please take precautions to protect yourself. Try to practice good sanitation habits. Absolutely do not touch your face as you grab or bag people's groceries. Um, if people cough, don't feel ashamed to like step away from them because you have to protect yourself. You are at a high risk job now in a global pandemic. And a lot of people just, they disregard these types of low age workers. They don't think they should make a living wage. They don't think that they're worth anything. They think this is unskilled labor because anyone can do it. Well, no, not everyone can do it. And a lot of people are unwilling to do it, but a lot of people, they do it because they don't have a choice. And so we have to make it known that their lives are valuable. OK, the people bagging groceries are needed for society to function, right? The retail workers, the fast food employees, like they are important to our economy. So it's about time we start treating them with the respect that they deserve. So, yeah, I'll link to this down below and you can take a look. I've stared at this now for a while. It's fascinating. There's a lot to this graphic. But, yeah, low wage workers at the highest risk. And that's it's not surprising, but still very terrifying.