VIRUS DIARY: Life with an essential worker is a daily dance

In this April 6, 2020, photo, shoes that are not allowed inside sit outside the door to Associated Press journalist Janelle Cogan's Atlanta home. Her boyfriend is an essential worker in the transportation sector, and because he's not able to work from home in the coronavirus outbreak, they take precautions, including leaving some belongings outside when he comes back in the evenings.

ATLANTA — The daily dance begins when he arrives at the door. I meet him, prop the door open and quickly take a few steps backward. I don’t want to get too close yet. He slips off his shoes without touching them and leaves them on the mat outside. His backpack drops to the floor, and I grab a sanitizing wipe to scrub it down.

My boyfriend is an essential worker. He’s in transportation logistics for a trucking company. He still goes to his Atlanta office every day, waking up to a 5:30 a.m. alarm in our bedroom, putting on work attire and heading out the door. His morning routine hasn’t changed much since the coronavirus outbreak grounded me and much of the rest of the world.

We’ve planned together to mitigate the risks as much as possible. He used to take public transportation but now drives my car, since I’m working from home. He has the wipes, the Purell, the masks. We have the after-work routine.

JanelleCogan Too close to home, man

JanelleCogan Yep. My husband is “essential” and it’s hard to even validate what he’s doing. He’s not really helping anyone. He’s just essential. But he comes home, changes in his office, throws his laundry down the shoot only he uses and goes straight to the shower.

aedurkinricher JanelleCogan Puts my isolation situation into perspective.

JanelleCogan It’s stressful having to live with someone who has to be out there and potentially bringing it home daily. If we could, we would be staying in separate places for now.

Yep my husband works at the VA

JanelleCogan “We have it totally under control. It’s one person coming in from China, and we have it under control. It’s going to be just fine.” - Trump, January 22, 2020.

JanelleCogan Blocking AP, sick of their hyped reporting on negative aspects of the crisis.

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