Standing in harm’s way
Essential workers on the front lines of COVID-19 >> They keep groceries on shelves, bus routes running, law and order, and so much more at the risk of their own safety.
As much of California took a position behind the closed doors of home, sheltering in place in an effort to reduce the spread of the deadly coronavirus, others took their stance on the front lines. Day care workers, police officers, grocery store clerks, gas station attendants, firefighters, community advocates, journalists, nurses, doctors, bus drivers — all working jobs considered essential to keep life on the outside going.
Janette “Netti” Billingsley, 60 Owner of Free To Be Me Child Care, Livermore
For 33 years, Billingsley has operated her child care center, which is licensed for up to 230 infant, preschool and school-age children, riding the highs and lows that come with the business. She’s comforted children who cry for their parents, negotiated truces during toy battles and watched loving bonds form between her teachers and their charges.
The parents who bring their children to Billingsley become part of one big family.
But in mid-march, when the mandatory shelter-in-place order went into effect, it meant Billingsley could accept only children of other essential workers. The daily census at the centers dropped dramatically. She’s had to close one location, likely forever, and the other one, which once saw 150 children a day, now has on average six to eight.
“It’s been rough,” Billingsley says. “Really rough. The nights are the worst.”
That’s when sleep eludes her and all the worries she has shouldered refuse to let her go. She worries about the children and their parents. She worries about her staff, some of whom she’s had to lay off, and the remaining workers being put at risk. She worries that her business might never recover, and she worries about the welfare of her family and her own health.
Like all the other essential workers, she and her staff are doing a job that needs to be done, but they expose themselves to the risk of contracting coronavirus. Billingsley admits that she is living with fear.
“It consumes me,” Billingsley says. “We can’t just stop. These workers need jobs, children need care. If it comes down to it, I’ll keep things open by myself.”
She has stopped visiting her elderly mother and tries to keep her distance from her husband, son, pregnant daughter-in-law and her grandson. On top of all the worry, she also is feeling isolated.
“It’s just torn me up,” she says. “But you have to have faith. And when it’s over, we’ll pull up our bootstraps and go on, but we’re a long way from that.”