The health authorities continue to appeal to the public to stay at home as much as possible and for people to keep their distance from one another when they go out to work or to buy essential items. In Malta, like in other countries around the world, social distancing is being enforced and anyone in a group of more than four people is being fined. 

However, not everyone has the luxury of staying away from other people and staying at home. Many workers know how the virus is spread and do not want to get sick but they must continue to provide a service to the community. Among them are hospital workers, first responders, cashiers and supermarket employees and carers at homes for the elderly and for people with a disability. 

I would think that these people would also prefer to stay at home with their loved ones, ordering take outs and taking care of their children. Where possible, people are being offered the opportunity to work from home. But there are workers who have to use public transport so have to mingle with other people, who worry when their colleagues cough in their presence or who are working in places lacking sanitizers. 

The virus is not our fault, but ignoring the authorities’ advice to stay at home and going out for no reason, or not sufficiently protecting employees – this, yes, is our fault. We should not be selfish, we need to focus on not getting sick and not letting others get sick. 

In the midst of this crisis, Voice of the Workers hails and thanks those workers who are providing essential and invaluable services to the community, among them the nurses, doctors and other professionals working in hospitals, pharmacists, ambulance drivers, public transport drivers, mechanics who tend to these vehicles as well as engineers whose job is to see that power stations, sewage plants and hospital systems are up and running. 

We must not  forget, amongst others, port workers and those who work at the Free Port, cleaners, domestic refuse collectors, postal workers, the police, Civil Protection employees, soldiers helping to distribute meals and other provisions to those who are in quarantine, grocery owners who have remained open, other food outlets, supermarket workers and fruit and vegetable sellers. And what about journalists and people in the media who update us with the daily news? Besides, we must also thank other vital workers who also contribute to provide their very best notwithstanding the present circumstances. 

Our survival depends on these people who are going out to work to ensure that they are doing what they can for all of us … and doing it with courage and determination.