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MONDAY, JUNE 15, 2020
STONE MOUNTAIN, GEORGIA (AP) - Nadia
Williams shrieked with surprise and emotion
on Saturday as she embraced her mother
for the irst time since agreeing nearly three
months ago to live at the elder-care facility
where she works.
Park Springs just outside Atlanta took
the unusual approach of having roughly 70
employees shelter in place on campus to
protect its residents from the coronavirus. It
lifted that restriction over the weekend, and
Williams and other employees headed home
for the irst time since March 30.
“It shocked me a lot,” Williams, 30, said
about seeing her mom. “I didn’t think I was
going to be able to see them for another
few weeks.”
Nursing homes — among the hardest
hit places by the pandemic — have limited
visitors and screened people for the virus.
Park Springs’ administrators said they feared
those strategies might not be enough to
keep their more than 500 residents safe. But
the staff lockdown was not a measure they
could sustain forever, said Donna Moore, chief
operating oficer of the company that owns
Park Springs.
“This is week 11,” Moore said on a Zoom call
on Wednesday.
Around the country, coronavirus cases are
rising in nearly half the states, according to
an Associated Press analysis, a worrying trend
that could intensify as people return to work
and venture out during the summer.
Park Springs was shifting to “personal
responsibility and safety measures,” Moore
said, including requiring staff to take a
coronavirus test before coming back
on Monday.
The return home Saturday was bittersweet
for staff, who gathered at a lunch before their
departures to share their experience. Some
cried and hugged each other. The company
gave each of them a plaque inscribed with
their names and a record of their sacriice:
“COVID19 Shelter-In-Place 2020.”
“Sometimes I said, ‘I can’t do this,’” O’Neil
Marriott, a maintenance technician, recalled.
But he said the rest of the staff gave him
support to stay.
“I appreciate everyone in here because you
really made me feel like family,” he said.
The staff walked out to meet loved ones
to music and applause from Park Springs’
administrators. Some had carts loaded with
shopping bags of supplies they had brought
to sustain them during the lockdown.
Williams, a health care administrator at Park
Springs, missed her sister’s wedding to shelter
in place. She said she also missed laughing
with her boyfriend, Lanre Adabale, who was
Georgia nursing staff back with family
after virus lockdown
COVID-19 may push millions more children into child labour: ILO, UNICEF
THE STATESMAN/ANN - Millions of more chil-
dren risk being pushed into child labour as a
result of the COVID19 crisis, which could lead
to the irst rise in child labour after 20 years
of progress, according to a new brief from
the International Labour Organization (ILO)
and UNICEF.
According to COVID19 and child labour:
A time of crisis, a time to act, child labour
decreased by 94 million since 2000, but that
gain is now at risk. Children already in child
labour may be working longer hours or under
worsening conditions, the report says. More
of themmay be forced into the worst forms of
labour, which causes signiicant harm to their
health and safety.
“As the pandemic wreaks havoc on family
incomes, without support, many could resort
to child labour,” said ILO Director-General,
Guy Ryder.
“Social protection is vital in times of crisis,
as it provides assistance to those who aremost
vulnerable. Integrating child labour concerns
across broader policies for education, social
protection, justice, labour markets, and in-
ternational human and labour rights makes a
critical difference,” he said.
According to the brief, COVID19 could
result in a rise in poverty and therefore to an
increase in child labour as households use
every available means to survive. Some stud-
ies show that a one percentage point rise in
poverty leads to at least a 0.7 per cent increase
in child labour in certain countries.
“In times of crisis, child labour becomes
a coping mechanism for many families,” said
UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore.
“As poverty rises, schools close and the
availability of social services decreases,
more children are pushed into the workforce.
As we reimagine the world post-COVID, we
need to make sure that children and their
families have the tools they need to weather
similar storms in the future. Quality education,
social protection services and better eco-
nomic opportunities can be game changers,”
she said.
Vulnerable population groups – such
as those working in the informal economy
and migrant workers – will suffer most from
economic downturn, increased informal-
ity and unemployment, the general fall in
living standards, health shocks and insuf-
icient social protection systems, among
other pressures.
Evidence is gradually mounting that child
labour is rising as schools close during the
pandemic. Temporary school closures are
currently affectingmore than one billion learn-
ers in over 130 countries. Even when classes
restart, some parents may no longer be able
to afford to send their children to school.
As a result, more children could be forced
into exploitative and hazardous jobs. Gender
inequalities may grow more acute, with girls
particularly vulnerable to exploitation in agri-
culture and domestic work, the brief says.
The brief proposes a number of measures
to counter the threat of increased child la-
bour, including more comprehensive social
protection, easier access to credit for poor
households, the promotion of decent work
for adults, measures to get children back into
school, including the elimination of school
fees, and more resources for labour inspec-
tions and law enforcement.
ILO and UNICEF are developing a simulation
model to look at the impact of COVID19 on
child labour globally. New global estimates on
child labour will be released in 2021.
also there to greet her and said the experience
had strengthened their relationship.
“This sacriice that she just gave at her place
of work means a lot to me,” he said.
TeishaRoberts, anursingdirector, embraced
her husband, momand ive children, but clung
to her youngest, three-year-old Rojuane.
“Today, I get to hold him, squeeze him,” she
said. Shebought ahousewhileshestayedat Park
Springs and said she looked forward to seeing
it for the irst time, taking a shower in her own
bathroom and eating a good Jamaican meal.
The employees who stayed represent a
fraction of Park Springs’ normal 300-person
staff. Another 30 or so worked from home, but
the majority were furloughed.
Moore said the senior home was shifting to
two, 12-hour shifts instead of three, eight-hour
shifts to reduce the number of employees on
campus as another safety precaution. It plans
to bring 90 per cent of furloughed staff back,
but will lay some people off, she said.
Park Springs’ lockdown started after four
employees and a resident tested positive
for the virus. They all recovered. Since the
lockdown, the facility has seen two additional
cases —both residents. One of those residents
— a 96-year-old dementia patient — was
visited by her daughter and a caregiver after
doctors said she had little time left to live and
then tested positive. She later died. The other
tested positive after requiringmedical care off
campus and recovered from the virus.
For most people, the coronavirus causes
mild or moderate symptoms, and the vast
majority recover. But for some others, especially
older adults and people with existing health
problems, it can cause more severe illness,
including pneumonia or death.
Moore slept on an air mattress in a tent in
a community hall while also staying on site
at Park Springs. She also went home for the
irst time since the end of March on Saturday
and said the experience had given her a new
appreciation of the importance of caring for
people. She made a change for her return to
work on Monday: a new ofice location.
“I’m not going back to a quiet place on
a hidden-away hallway,” she said. “I want
to be with these people and engaging with
them everyday.”
Teisha Roberts, a nursing director, is greeted by her family as she prepares to leave Park Springs eldercare facility in Stone Mountain, Georgia.
Workers who agreed to live at Park Springs to keep its residents safe from the coronavirus are back with their loved ones for the irst time in
nearly three months. PHOTO: AP