在冠状病毒大流行的第一周或者更确切地说，在它引起的恐慌中，安东尼做了一个噩梦。他说：“I woke up numerous times because I was dreaming I couldn’t put s*** on the shelf fast enough and people were basically rioting,”（我醒了无数次，因为人们总是在骚乱和自己无法将。。快速的放在架子上）

        这位34岁的老人在圣安东尼奥市的一家杂货店工作，尽管大多数人口已转变为在家工作，但他的工作无法远程完成。安东尼是全球动荡不曾包括运动裤和电视会议的单调混合物的重要工人之一，而是因为没有其他人而使每天的生活变得异常残酷。

        噩梦已经停止，但每天仍然令人筋疲力尽。 

        詹姆斯（James）是一位31岁的芝加哥工程师，与这个故事中的许多人一样，要求匿名进行坦率的讲话。他的公司去年裁员，不必要的员工将被遣送回国，但他工作的制造工厂仍在正常运转。

        他说：“我从事该行业已经九年多了，可以说过去的两周是我职业生涯中最紧张的时期。”

        在田纳西州的诺克斯维尔，杰伊·威格利终于恢复了工作。尽管现年53岁，在医疗器械制造业中进行质量控制的他是“必需的工人”，但上周他的妻子病了。她发烧和咳嗽，幸运的是，她能够接受冠状病毒检查。测试返回阴性，但是当他们等待结果时，Wigley必须在家工作。这不是他第一次这样做，但这种流行病使人感觉与众不同。

        他说：“这次不知道为什么感觉更加生动：不知道她的健康，不知道我是否也需要接受检查，不知道接下来几天或几周会带来什么。” “但是当我现在回想起来，一周后，我发现我们都处在一个不为人知的情况下，我已经开始意识到这一点。我们都面临着更不知比我们习惯以这样的方式存在生活“。

        现在，当他醒来时，他会感觉与生活中不确定的现实有更好的联系，但是与大多数人不同，他仍然必须出门，开车上班和上班。

每天上班都非常矛盾

        威格利说：“我在某些方面感到内，因为我一天的大部分时间都没有改变或改善，例如上下班。我大部分时间都保持惯例。”

        通勤对于那些被认为是必不可少的工人来说是轻而易举的。工人们说，在全国各地，开车的汽车很少，因此开车时间几乎减少了一半。当然，如果您稍微靠近一点，就已经可以看到美国许多家庭待命订单的影响。 

查看照片

一名通勤者在波士顿乘火车时，除了一些基本工人外，都遵守全职在家的命令，并戴上防护口罩。（照片由杰西卡·里纳尔迪（Jessica Rinaldi）/《波士顿环球报》通过盖蒂图片社提供）

        伊利诺伊州51岁的药剂师阿特说：“看到餐厅和酒吧里所有黑暗的窗户和封闭的标志真是令人震惊。” “您知道其中一些地方不会再开放了。”

        “这完全像一部僵尸电影。空荡荡的架子，空荡荡的道路，”安东尼说。他承认最近观看“ 28天之后”可能是一个错误。 

        当然，并不是每个人现在都愿意离开家。在全球范围内报告最多的冠状病毒病例中，美国刚刚超过中国 -而且检测还不够。待在家里是最安全的选择，如果您增加了担忧的理由，那么出门上班就更加容易引起焦虑。

        “每天上班对我来说都是极度矛盾的，”工程师詹姆斯说。他的妻子怀了第一个孩子，怀孕了13周。她能够采取最严格的预防措施-当然，除了定期与没有暴露在外的人接触外。“我们的焦虑水平接近妄想症，特别是考虑到总的受害者每天都在攀升。”

        在宾夕法尼亚州，年仅29岁的科里（Cory）工作的杂货店已经向其员工发放通行证，解释了为什么他们在路上的情况，以防他们被迫往返基本工作岗位。

每小时仅需支付$ 15，即可使几乎某些疾病发作

        现在每天早上上班时，Matthew Fratiani都会首先在医疗检查区停下来进行体温测量。如果超过某个阈值，他将被送回家。到目前为止，他一直很清楚。

        在克利夫兰选举委员会办公室工作的大多数人都享有带薪行政假。但是，由于28岁的弗拉蒂亚尼（Fratani）正在处理邮寄选票，他仍在上班，等待俄亥俄州国务卿听取有关何时推迟选举日的消息。

        他们还在俄亥俄州哥伦布的子商店检查员工的体温，当时26岁的洛根·怀特（Logan White）是经理。他们更早关闭了并且已大量提供洗手液。

        “但是说实话，我们在狭窄的空间中一起工作，我们无能为力。如果我们中的一个人得到了，将很难阻止这种扩散。”他说。

        圣安东尼奥市的杂货店限制了在任何给定时间都可以进入的顾客数量，除了洗手液站外，他们还安装了塑料防护罩以保护收银员。他们还提供了针对极端情况的财务考虑，在所有不确定因素中尤其受欢迎：每小时额外支付2美元的危险津贴，并放宽了加班规则。加上经济不景气，这是一种每周工作60小时的诱因，与所有留在家中的医疗建议和社交媒体提醒人们实行自我保健的做法形成鲜明对比。 

        安东尼说：“我们开玩笑说，我们就像'切尔诺贝利'迷你系列中的矿工一样。” “同事们意识到我们每小时要花15美元，几乎要冒一定的疾病风险。”

        在冠状病毒爆发期间，杂货店开业。这是一项重要业务，在大流行期间面临着大量需求。（照片由Lauren A. Little / MediaNews Group /通过Getty Images阅读Eagle）

        工作中周围的人对他们的个人福祉从未如此重要。同事们的预防意识和社区责任感是他们最大的安全网-或不是。 

“我与福克斯新闻大佬们的建筑工人一起工作，因此他们基本上像我们总统一样认真对待它，”康涅狄格州一名31岁的建筑销售代表罗比说。“基本上，这是一个骗局和一个玩笑，直到突然之间，它才令人恐惧。但是，许多人仍然认为这很有趣。令人不安。”

“不过，我主要担心我们的司机。他们将是抓住并传递给我的人。”他继续说道。“我们送到医院等等，他们说这就像是一部僵尸电影的前十分钟。”

与公众合作并感到恐惧

        对于服务行业的人来说，不仅要关注他们的同事的习惯；也是所有的客户和客户。尽管公司制定的政策和冠状病毒覆盖率的提高提高了工人的安全性，但即使是最近，有些人仍然感到极度危险。

        宾夕法尼亚州杂货店工作人员科里说：“在这种疯狂的初期，显然没有人真正认真对待过这个问题。” “随着新闻不断报道这种情况，而且每天都在恶化，越来越多的人在商店内洗牌，越来越多的人甚至失败了，即使我们被指示要采用最基本的习惯来帮助他们战斗病毒。”

        他估计自己的商店的销售额是正常销售额的三倍，新订的订书钉一进库便卖光了。

        安东尼说：“直到几天前，您仍然经常听到客户说，'这还没那么严重'，或者'这整个事情都会爆发。” “我们现在没有听到太多。对于牛奶，鸡蛋或厕纸缺货，我们也没有太多抱怨。”

        杂货店的工作人员经常为继续工作而领取危险报酬，但他们冒与未如健康专家建议那样认真对待冠状病毒大流行的顾客打交道的风险。（汤姆·威廉姆斯/ CQ-Roll Call，Inc摄影：Getty Images）

        对于很多人来说，在体育界的剧变迫使人们对该国进行更广泛的评估之前，广泛传播的COVID-19爆发的威胁似乎已经遥不可及。几名工人将NBA赛季的停赛和NCAA锦标赛的取消称为真正的警钟。

        安东尼说：“但我仍然看到老年人购物。” “我们设立了一条面向老年人的送货热线，其他公司正在进行“老年人购物时间”，但是许多老年人已经习惯了自己的方式，但仍然希望自己购物。从字面上看，这将杀死他们，我们所能做的就是观察。”

他们会将病毒带回家吗？

        “我始终如一的感觉是对将病毒传播给他人感到内。我也一直感到不知所措，”詹姆斯说。“要平衡我对家人的关注与承担支持他们的风险之间的平衡非常困难。”

        在某些方面，回家是最恐怖的部分。每个人现在都感到恐惧-在没有历史先例或对其中任何一种情况没有清晰认识的情况下感到绝望或无助-但对于许多重要工作者而言，最大的担忧是感染该病毒并将其无意间传播给他人。在房子外面工作意味着在整个世界和他们所生活的人们之间充当潜在的危险线程。 

        科里说：“我仍然为工作感到内，因为工作的性质很可能会导致一些糟糕的事情发生。” “但是我为可能危害我的家人而感到内，因为我可以卖给人们一些鸡翅。”

        他们表示的另一大恐惧是接下来会发生什么。不是与病毒有关，而是与社区中日益绝望的情况有关。

        詹姆斯说：“我只是向上帝祈祷，我们在此之前看不到骚乱，抢劫等等。” 

        安东尼说：“我更担心生活在全副武装的国家。” “我看过'Purge'电影，我知道当社会崩溃时会发生什么。”

曝光过度和价值低估

        上周，有328万美国人申请了失业救济金，是之前的最高纪录五倍。很难说哪一种是两种弊端中的较小者：两种情况可能导致的经济损失，即无限期地不付薪水，或在大流行期间上班可能带来健康风险。但是，至少与我们交谈过的一些人感到幸运的是，他们当中的一员。

        安东尼说：“唯一光明的一面是，我不觉得我的很多朋友都对经济感到焦虑，因为我们知道在所有这些期间我们都有稳定的薪水。” 他已经能够拿起Clorox的湿巾和卫生纸来寄给较脆弱的亲戚的护理包裹。

        许多重要工人表示，他们很感激能在大流行期间继续提供工作支持他们的工作，但他们担心其家庭面临的健康风险。（照片由Aaron Ontiveroz / MediaNews Group /丹佛邮报通过Getty Images提供）

        这是洛根（Logan）等其他食品服务工作者的回应。他说：“我很幸运，因为我知道我是否不积极工作，我的雇主不会支付我的薪水。” “我过着相当不错的薪水，所以这对我来说并不理想。除非政府暂停所有法案，否则我将除了继续工作并继续使自己面临更大风险之外，没有其他真正的解决办法。”

        每小时多付2美元的危险津贴可能不足以弥补这一风险。除此之外，一个国家正在经历大流行而转移的优先事项凸显了一种经济分层，这种分层远比我们想承认的要随意得多。 

        洛根说：“多年来，食品行业一直处于困境，并告诉我们我们不应该再花更多的钱，因为我们的职业不是'合法的'。” “但是现在当推push推，时，我们就是那些被迫工作和剥削自己的人。我们被告知我们的工作是“基本”的，没有像“基本”员工那样得到报酬。”

        虽然有些人仍在工作，但他们讨厌坐在家里泡电影马拉松，但大多数人还是很清楚这种系统，即使到现在，它们仍然低估了他们的价值。 

        “我为我能为很多人的生活带来切实的改变感到自豪。我现在做的事情比某些营销主管的收入要高出我十倍，”安东尼说。“但这也让我感到愤慨–当这一切都结束时，这位高管仍然会赚到我的十倍。我很愤慨什么都不会从根本上改变。”

本新闻来自雅虎新闻                                                                      网友昼夜颠翻译

【因为我的英文水平有限，所以有很多词不达意的情况，所以我将英文原文放在文章下面          有条件的可以直接阅读原文】

下面是来自雅虎新闻的原文

'Like a zombie movie': Essential workers brave coronavirus pandemic in quarantined America

For the first week of the coronavirus pandemic, or more accurately the panic it wrought, Anthony had nightmares. “I woke up numerous times because I was dreaming I couldn’t put s*** on the shelf fast enough and people were basically rioting,” he says.

The 34-year-old works at a grocery store in San Antonio, and although most of the population has transitioned to working from home, his job cannot be done remotely. Anthony is one of the essential workers for whom the global upheaval hasn’t included a monotonous blend of sweatpants and video conferences, but rather the same daily routine rendered eerily apocalyptic through the absence of other people.

The nightmares have stopped but still every day is exhausting. 

James — a 31-year-old engineer in Chicago who, like many in this story, asked for anonymity to speak candidly — feels similarly. His company had layoffs last year and nonessential staff have been sent home, but the manufacturing plant where he works is still operating at normal capacity.

“I have been in the industry for nine-plus years and I can honestly say the last two weeks have been the most stressful period of my professional life,” he says.

In Knoxville, Tenn., Jay Wigley is finally getting back to work. Although the 53-year-old, who does quality control in the medical devices manufacturing industry, is an “essential worker,” last week his wife got sick. She had a fever and a cough and was fortunately able to be tested for the coronavirus. The test came back negative, but while they were waiting for results, Wigley had to work from home. It wasn’t the first time he’d done so, but the pandemic made it feel starkly different.

“Not knowing was so much more vividly felt this time: not knowing her health, not knowing if I would also need to be tested, not knowing what the next days or weeks will bring,” he says. “But when I look back on that now, a week later, I see that we are all in a not-knowing situation, and I had a head start realizing that. We are all faced with much more I don’t know than we are used to living with in such a present way.”

Now when he wakes up, he feels better connected to the uncertain reality of life, but unlike most, he still has to go outside, go to his car and go to work.

‘Coming to work every day is extremely conflicting’

“I feel a little guilty in some ways,” Wigley says, “because so much of my day is unchanged, or bettered, such as my commute. I get to keep my routines, mostly.”

The commutes are a breeze for those workers who have been deemed essential. Around the country, workers say driving times are cut almost in half with so few cars on the road. Of course, if you look a little closer, the effects of the nation’s many stay-at-home orders can already be seen. 

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A commuter wears a protective face mask as he rides the train in Boston amid stay-at-home orders that apply to all but essential workers. (Photo by Jessica Rinaldi/The Boston Globe via Getty Images)

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“It’s jarring to see all the dark windows and closed signs at restaurants and bars,” says Art, a 51-year-old pharmacist in Illinois. “You know some of those places just aren’t going to open again.”

“It totally feels like a zombie movie. Empty shelves, empty roads,” Anthony says. He admits that recently watching “28 Days Later” was probably a mistake. 

Of course, not everyone is comfortable leaving the house right now. The United States just surpassed China for the most reported coronavirus cases globally — and that’s with insufficient testing. Staying home is the safest option, which makes having to go out for work all the more anxiety-inducing if you have increased cause for concern.

“Coming to work every day is extremely conflicting for me,” says James, the engineer. His wife is 13 weeks pregnant with their first child. She is able to follow the strictest precautions — except, of course, regularly being exposed to someone who is not. “Our levels of anxiety are bordering paranoia, especially given how the total victims climb every day.”

In Pennsylvania, the grocery store where 29-year-old Cory works has issued passes to their employees, explaining why they’re on the road in case they get pulled over on their way to and from essential jobs.

‘Risking almost certain illness for $15 an hour’

Every morning when he arrives at work now, Matthew Fratiani stops at the medical screening area first to get his temperature taken. If it’s above a certain threshold, he’ll be sent home. So far, he’s been in the clear.

Most of the people who work in Cleveland’s Board of Elections office have been put on paid administrative leave. But since Fratiani, 28, processes mail-in ballots, he’s still going into work, waiting to hear from Ohio’s secretary of state about when the postponed Election Day can take place.

They’re also checking employees’ temperatures at the sub shop in Columbus, Ohio, where 26-year-old Logan White is a manager. They close earlier and have made hand sanitizer abundantly available.

“But truthfully we are working in a tight space together, there’s not much we can do. If one of us gets it, it would be very hard to stop the spread,” he says.

The grocery store in San Antonio is limiting the number of customers who can be inside at any given time, and in addition to the hand sanitizer stations, they’ve installed plastic shields to protect the cashiers. They’re offering financial considerations for the extreme circumstances as well, which is especially welcome amid all this uncertainty: an extra $2 per hour in hazard pay and a relaxation of the overtime rules. Taken together with the collapsing economy, it’s an incentive to work 60-hour weeks, in grim contrast to all the medical recommendations to stay home and social media reminders to practice self-care. 

“We've joked that we're like the miners in the ‘Chernobyl’ miniseries,” Anthony says. “Co-workers are realizing we're risking almost certain illness for $15 an hour.”

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Grocery stores are open amid the coronavirus outbreak, an essential business that is facing heavier demand during the pandemic. (Photo by Lauren A. Little/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle via Getty Images)

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The people around them at work have never been more important to their personal wellbeing. Co-workers’ sense of precaution and community obligation is their greatest safety net — or not. 

“I work with construction workers who are big Fox News guys, so they basically took it as seriously as our president did,” says Robbie, a 31-year-old construction sales rep in Connecticut. “Basically that it was a hoax and a joke until suddenly it was terrifying. Many still think it’s something funny, though. It’s unsettling.”

“I mostly worry about our drivers, though. They would be the ones to catch it and pass it to me,” he continues. “We deliver to hospitals and such and they say it’s like the first 10 minutes of a zombie movie out there.”

Working with, and fearing, the public

For people in a service profession, it’s not just their co-workers' habits they have to be concerned with; it’s also all the customers and clients. And while company-instituted policies and increased intensity in coronavirus coverage has improved the safety of workers, even recently some felt exposed to extremely risky behavior.

“It was apparent in the early days of this madness that no one really took the issue seriously,” says Cory, the Pennsylvania grocery store worker. “As the news kept reporting on the situation and as it continued to worsen each day, more and more people shuffled through the store, and more and more people failed even the most basic habits we've been instructed to employ in order to help fight the virus.”

He estimates that his store is doing three times the normal sales, with new shipments of staples selling out as quickly as they come in.

“Up until a couple days ago, you’d still routinely hear customers saying, ‘It’s not that serious,’ or ‘This whole thing will blow over,’” says Anthony. “We don’t hear it so much now. We also don’t get as many complaints about being out of stock on milk or eggs or toilet paper.”

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Grocery store workers are often receiving hazard pay for continuing to work, but they risk dealing with customers who take the coronavirus pandemic less seriously than health experts recommend. (Photo By Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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For a lot of people, the threat of widespread COVID-19 outbreaks seemed distant or overblown until the upheaval of the sports world forced a broader reckoning on the country. Several workers cited the suspension of the NBA season and the cancellation of the NCAA tournament as a true wake-up call.

“But I still see elderly people shopping,” Anthony said. “We have a delivery hotline set up for the elderly, other companies are doing an ‘elderly shopping hour,’ but many older people are set in their ways and still want to shop for themselves. This is literally going to kill them and all we can do is watch.”

Are they bringing the virus home?

“My consistent feeling is overbearing guilt about transmitting the virus to someone else. I also feel overwhelmed, all the time,” James said. “It is extremely difficult to balance how concerned I am for my family with the risk I have to assume to support them.”

In some ways, coming home is the scary part. Everyone is afraid right now — feeling hopeless or helpless without historical precedent or a clear sense of how any of this plays out — but for many of these essential workers, the biggest concern is contracting the virus and inadvertently spreading it to others. Working outside the house means serving as a potentially dangerous thread between the world at large and the people they live with. 

“I feel guilty for still working because of the legitimate possibility that the nature of the job will result in some bad shit happening,” Cory says. “But I feel even more guilty for possibly endangering my family just so I can sell people some chicken wings.”

The other big fear they expressed is what will happen next. Not with the virus, but with the increasing desperation in their communities.

“I just pray to god we don't see riots, looting, et cetera before the end of this,” James says. 

“I'm more worried about living in a heavily armed state,” says Anthony. “I've seen ‘The Purge’ movies, I know what happens when society collapses.”

Overexposed and undervalued

Last week, 3.28 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits, shattering the previous record five times over. It’s hard to tell which is the lesser of two evils: the potential economic destitution of going without a paycheck for the indefinite future or the health risk of going into work during a pandemic. But at least some of the people we spoke to felt fortunate to be among the latter.

“The only bright side is I'm not feeling the economic anxiety a lot of my friends are since we know we have a steady paycheck coming in during all this s***,” Anthony says. He’s been able to pick up Clorox wipes and toilet paper for care packages he sends to more vulnerable relatives.

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Many essential workers said they are grateful to have jobs that will continue to support them during the pandemic, but are worried about the health risks for their families. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/MediaNews Group/The Denver Post via Getty Images)

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It’s a sentiment echoed by other food service workers like Logan. “I’m lucky, because I know if I wasn’t actively working, my employer would not pay my salary,” he says. “I live pretty paycheck to paycheck, so this wouldn’t be ideal for me. Unless the government suspends all bills, I will likely have no real solution aside from continuing to work, and continuing to put myself more at risk.”

An extra two bucks per hour in hazard pay probably isn’t enough to compensate for the risk. Beyond that, the shifting priorities of a country going through a pandemic underscores an economic stratification that’s far more arbitrary than we like to admit. 

“For years, the food industry has been s*** on and told that we don’t deserve more money — that our careers aren’t ‘legitimate,’ ” Logan says. “But now when push comes to shove, we are the ones being forced to work and exploit ourselves. We’re told our jobs are ‘essential’ without getting compensated like ‘essential’ employees.”

And while some people still going to work begrudge their peers for sitting at home soaking up movie marathons, mostly they’re hyper aware of the system that undervalues them even now. 

“I'm proud that I'm actually making a tangible difference in a lot of people’s lives. That what I do right now is more important than some marketing exec making 10 times what I make,” Anthony says. “But that also makes me resentful — that when this is all over that exec will still be making 10 times what I make. I’m resentful that nothing will fundamentally change.”