Republicans just blocked paid sick days for people with coronavirus. We’re gonna make them pass it anyway.

Dear Friend,

The coronavirus pandemic is spreading fast, and it’s absolutely critical that people stay home when sick.

But when the Senate brought up paid sick time legislation for workers with coronavirus so they can stay home like they’re supposed to?

Senate Republicans killed it.1

Without paid sick leave, food service workers, preschool teachers, and other people we encounter every day will risk their lives by coming to work ill—and they will spread the virus to others.

Demand Progress is rallying grassroots pressure on Congress to pass an emergency paid sick leave measure right away. Will you rush a donation today?

The CDC recommends that anyone infected with or exposed to COVID-19 isolate themselves at home. But more than a quarter of American jobs provide no paid sick leave, and 1.5 million people go to work while sick every week.2,3

In fact, the US is one of only three wealthy countries that does not require any paid sick days for its workers.4 Businesses are allowed to exploit employees that live paycheck to paycheck and can’t afford to miss a few days’ pay, forcing them to come in to work sick.

Not only is this policy inhumane to the workers, it's a public health hazard.

75% of food service workers—people who prepare and serve what we eat—have no paid sick leave, and the vast majority say that they’ve been to work while sick.5 People with no paid sick leave also can’t stay home to care for sick children, who end up in schools and daycares infecting other children. That’s why studies show that flu epidemics spread at a 40% slower rate in cities that have paid sick leave mandates than those that don’t.6

The coronavirus has a mortality rate thought to be ten times that of the flu, and is especially deadly for the elderly and immunocompromised. It is also more contagious than the flu. There is no cure, and no vaccine.7

There’s no way around it: the only way to slow the spread of COVID-19 is to have those who are exposed stay home. We need emergency paid sick leave funding now.

Will you donate to help convince Congress to pass emergency paid sick leave for coronavirus patients?

Thanks for standing with us.

Robert Cruickshank,
Demand Progress

Sources:

1. HuffPost, "Senate GOP Blocks Emergency Paid Sick Leave Bill From Moving Forward," March 11, 2020
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Interim US Guidance for Risk Assessment and Public Health Management of Persons with Potential Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Exposures: Geographic Risk and Contacts of Laboratory-confirmed Cases," March 7, 2020
3. The Washington Post, "Our lack of paid sick leave will make the coronavirus worse," March 3, 2020
4. Center for Economic and Policy Research, "United States Lags World in Paid Sick Days for Workers and Families," accessed on March 12, 2020
5. The Washington Post, "As coronavirus spreads, the people who prepare your food probably don’t have paid sick leave," March 4, 2020
6. The Washington Post, "Our lack of paid sick leave will make the coronavirus worse," March 3, 2020
7. LiveScience, "How does the new coronavirus compare with the flu?" March 6, 2020

PAID FOR BY DEMAND PROGRESS (DemandProgress.org) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Contributions are not deductible as charitable contributions for federal income tax purposes. Join our online community on Facebook or Twitter.

You can unsubscribe from this list at any time.