VOA常速英语:新冠病毒爆发, 超市员工的防护问题

Grocery store shoppers practice social distancing rules, put in place to prevent the spread of the deadly coronavirus. They wait in long lines and follow other strict guidelines to help contain the virus. This mask here is a little bit comfort, you know on the ears it's a bit tight over here bandage its pretty much the same thing because were not protecting the things that were breathing in its more what were breathing out, thats keeping the other people safe. Regulations by the US Centers for Disease Control, limit the number of people in stores to 20% of the pre-pandemic numbers. But experts say measures have fallen short and come too late, especially for grocery store workers.

There have been over 3,000 cases of employees who work in supermarkets that have covid-19, there have been 41 deaths.They have not been given masks, they have not been given gloves, their union has insisted about that. In mid-april Google dedicated its main page banner to grocery workers who are the least protected from a virus theyre constantly exposed to. I don't think anyone realized even the authorities didn't realize how serious this was. Even I didn't understand at first until we saw how many people were seriously sick. Its very hard to determine whether anyone is sick, grocery stores don't have temperature readers installed at the entrances. Employees disinfect trolley handles, wash floors and take credit and bank cards from customers at the checkout counter. Customers wear gloves and masks and many entered grocery stores only when they need basic necessities but the workers have no choice.Employees like Wanda Evans, a Chicago area Walmart employee who died from covid-19. His family is suing the retailer for allegedly not doing enough to protect workers. In a statement Walmart said its heartbroken by Evanss death and listed safety measures. The retailer said it took in response to the pandemic. Now supermarkets and other retailers are finding it harder to get workers. A supermarket I want to say wasn't an easy job but it wasn't a very stressful job for many people. Now its become very stressful and we also see a lot of people not wanting to go to work. But in the case for a lot of employees, it's not about the extra $2.00. It's not about you know getting laid off from a restaurant and you know going to work in a supermarket very often. They would make just as much money going on unemployment.Delivery driver Execelso Sabulao practically forced his father to leave his supermarket job and said he would support his parents on his own. I guess the part that I'm afraid of the most is going inside the store and picking up those bags, you know opening the fridge and the chiller because I don't know if people you know people who are working and that they call it shoppers, they hopeful shoppers, I don't know if one of them is infected. Right now Sabulao says he doesn't have a choice but what he does have is disinfectant, gloves and hope. For Elena Wolf in New York Anna Rice VOA news