Why It’s Newsworthy: During the COVID-19 crisis, people deemed essential workers by the government are putting their lives in danger for the public. Knowing their stories, of how they have been impacted is vital to recovery. 

 

When COVID-19 began shutting down schools, people flooded grocery stores, buying up essential items like toilet paper. Many companies started encouraging employees to work from home, but not everyone got that luxury. 

Publix customer service staff member Sara Hammond lives at home with her son, Davis Hammond, 10, and her friend Rita Blair, 68, who recently retired from Publix. Staying safe in a pandemic, while working as an essential worker in an essential business, is difficult.

Click through the icons in the photo below to see how their lives have changed. For more information on COVID-19, click here.

(Photo Courtesy, Sara Hammond)

Makayla Richards is a senior majoring in journalism at Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a minor in political science from the School of Public and International Affairs, both at the University of Georgia.