Our lack of paid sick leave will make the coronavirus worse [View all]

The United States is one of the few wealthy democracies in the world that does not mandate paid sick leave. As a result, roughly 25 percent of American workers have none, leaving many with little choice but to go into work while ill, transmitting infections to co-workers, customers and anyone they might meet on the street or in a crowded subway car.

As a nation, in other words, we are sicker than we need to be. That reality could make a widespread coronavirus outbreak here worse than it would be in a comparable country that takes sick leave seriously. But to find out just how much worse, a fascinating 2017 study offers some clues.

A paper by Stefan Pichler and Nicolas Robert Ziebarth examines what happened in cities that implemented mandatory paid sick leave in the 2000s. San Francisco was the first to do this, in 2007, followed by Washington, Seattle and New York. A number of states, like Connecticut and California, also adopted policies.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/03/03/our-lack-paid-sick-leave-will-make-coronavirus-worse/

Might want to skip eating out for a while.