JOSH JOHNSON

A father’s story

Josh Johnson’s greatest fear is being separated from his 14-yearold daughter. His gigs as a wedding photographer dried up as the coronavirus pandemic took hold. And, though he’s also an Uber driver, riders became scarce.

The 44-yearold Acworth resident worries his apartment complex will evict him for unpaid rent. With little income, he might have to move to his parents’ home in Maine, putting him more than 1,000 miles from his daughter. She splits her time between him and his ex-wife.

But he reassures his daughter: “Everything is going to be OK.”

Gig workers such as Johnson could qualify for unemployment benefits for the first time under new rules approved by Congress. He applied. But, for more than two months, he has waited for payments or at least notification that they will eventually arrive. “It is not possible to speak to anybody, to be told anything.”

His debts are growing.

“Up to this point, people I owe have been very understanding, but this can’t go on forever,” Johnson said.

More Uber work is available, he said, but he’s limiting how often he drives. If he earns more money, he won’t be able to qualify for unemployment benefits, he said. And the more he drives, he feels he risks exposure to the virus and passing it to his daughter and his exwife, a nurse in a hospital neonatal intensive care unit.

“I just imagine all those preemie babies riding around with me in the car,” he said.

“It is tough because you don’t know what the right thing to do is,” he said. “There is a degree of wanting to have a good work ethic and getting out there, but maybe the right thing to do is to stay at home. But the bills have to be paid.”