Author: Steve Irvin

The military is a group of people for whom we should always be thankful. That is why we have a number of holidays devoted to them. Memorial Day, Veterans’ Day, and others are meant for us to commemorate those who gave their lives in service to this country as well as those who are currently serving. Even before the pandemic, these people risked their lives to protect our freedom and the shining light of hope that this great nation represents. When Covid-19 began ravaging the globe, though, that mission became all the more dangerous, with an added dimension of risk added to the work members of the armed forces perform everyday.

Despite that risk, the operations of the United States military have gone on relatively unaffected. With the exception of an isolated incident on the USS Theodore Roosevelt near the beginning of the pandemic, there have been no notable incidents that have compromised the operations of the U.S. armed forces. That certainly cannot be attributed to a shift to remote work. For the most part, the work of the military cannot be done remotely. At the very least, it can’t be done effectively (I’d argue almost nothing can be done effectively when done remotely, but that’s a different discussion). Simply put, national security is not a field that is conducive to distance work.

However, they have continued to do just that. They have kept the nation

secure through think and thin. Through the highs and the lows of new cases and death counts, they have continued to do some of the most essential work that there is. In fact, it may be the most important pandemic profession behind healthcare workers. At points, the military have even served in that capacity, directly supporting the pandemic response with both direct healthcare work and logistical support. We’ve all seen the pictures of the USNS Comfort sailing into New York harbor during the worst days of the orginal wave, assisting local hospitals and healthcare facilities by admitting patients to take the load off of local hospitals.

The military has become even more important lately, serving as the primary force behind the massive logistical operation that is vaccine distribution in the United States. That operation and its success is the reason the U.S. has one of the best vaccination programs in the world and, as a result, has one of the best pandemic outlooks in the world today. All of that is because of the military, who are some of the many unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

When the pandemic began, online shopping and delivery became even more prevalent than they already were. Amazon had already made order and delivery a well-known, often-used, mainstream process. When the COVID-19 pandemic shuttered nonesssential stores across the nation, delivery became one of the only means of obtaining items without venturing out into an uncertain world of packed grocery and department stores with half-empty shelves. It is often forgotten, though, how these shelves get stocked in the first place and how packages get from manufacturers and distribution centers to their destination. We often heard about truck drivers in the early days of the pandemic, but long-distance deliveries are often transported by another group of unsung heroes: cargo pilots.

Not only were cargo pilots some of the many essential personnel who had to continue working through the pandemic, the differences in their work environment were some of the most noticeable. The skies were devoid of passenger aircraft and the normal commercial traffic. If the near empty skies and airport terminals were not enough, the decline in passenger flights shifted the burden of the cargo those aircraft would normally

transport onto cargo planes, increasing their necessity at a time when they were already essential. We’ve all seen the unsettling pictures of the passenger aircraft sitting idle on taxiways due to a lack of demand and the widespread flight cancellations that were a consequence. Those led to layoffs in the commercial industry as well, meaning cargo pilots were burdened with even more work. Lastly, pilots described these sights as “surreal” and unnerving, the likes fo which they had never seen before.

The other encounters (or lack thereof) in their line of work were also surreal. The changes to their work environment and some of the guidelines and regulations surrounding them have been severe. For example, international regulations leave some pilots isolated in hotels for as much as 14 days, some unable to even leave their rooms for so much as fresh air. In other words, these people are away for their families for sometimes more than two weeks at a time and are unable to take part in any physical activities or see other human beings. They are relegated to figuring out what to do with themselves in their hotel rooms and engaging in human contact through virtual means only. All of this takes a psychological toll.

However, these pilots are most definetely essential. This is evidenced by the contents of their cargo. Cargo pilots were tasked with transporting much needed PPE and other medical supplies at the height of the pandemic when hospitals and other healthcare providers needed it most. They are still doing that to this day. Another thing cargo pilots are transporting today is vaccines. The key to the end of the pandemic is literally in the hands of cargo pilots, even though they put themselves at risk to do it due to lax rules in specific parts of the domestic industry.

It has been over 50 years since the U.S. put the first man on the moon. Undeniably, the most famous and memorable quote that emerged from that endeavor was Neil Armstrong’s “one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” However, I think there is another quote that was produced by a contributor to the space program that speaks volumes about humanity as a whole. In 1962, years before the moon landing, President John F. Kennedy visited NASA and encountered a janitor with a broom in the hallway. After Kennedy asked the man what he did at NASA, the president was met with a surprising response. “I’m helping put a man on the moon,” the janitor replied. Simply put, there are always more people behind the scenes than we think supporting those at the top and on the front lines of every endeavor and profession. This was true of the janitor as NASA in the 1960s, and it’s still true of janitors today, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Custodians and janitorial staff were some of the many workers deemed essential at the start of the pandemic almost exactly one year ago, though they were often not thought of as such when it came to hazard pay or other pandemic considerations. Due to the mysterious nature of the pathogen most of us new as the “novel coronavirus” back then, epidemiologists, public health officials, disease experts, and other scientists were unsure as to exactly how it spread. At first, many thought it spread via direct contact with other people or shared contact with some common surface. This is why mask-wearing was not encouraged at first. Respiratory droplets were not known to be the primary source of spread yet. As a result, janitors had to go to work thinking that they could be coming into contact with COVID-19 on every surface they cleaned. Furthermore, regulatory gray areas when it comes to PPE requirements for sub-contractors left many janitors with insufficient supplies to keep themselves safe while doing their jobs and making sure whoever was still coming into work the next day was safe as well.

Like all of us, janitors stepped into the unknown when the COVID-19 pandemic began. The difference was that they were minimum wage workers who did not know the level of danger into which they were putting themselves so that they could complete a job that kept others safe in one of the most suddenly and immediately uncertain times in recent memory. This

is especially true of janitorial workers and custodians in hospitals. They were literally cleaning the front lines, making sure that facilities were constantly prepared for doctors and nurses who were working to treat every patient and save every live they could from this new, emergent, and invisible threat. Janitors in every walk of life deserve our gratitude as well, as they put themselves on the line and did their jobs at a time when we all stayed home to slow the spread, flatten the curve, and save lives. Just like the janitor from NASA, their jobs are necessary and essential to keep the world turning and moving forward, even in its darkest days. They should get proper credit for that. It’s time they get the praise they deserve, because they truly are some of the many unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

At first glance, one might not think there are many businesses that are “life-sustaining,” as Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf put it back in March of 2020. Hospital personnel, gorcery store workers, and first responders are really the only obvious things most people think of when describing “eseential workers” in essential industries. However, it requires many more people across a multitiude of businesses, organizations and industries to keep the world spinning (so to speak), even in the middle of a pandemic. One of those groups are postal workers.

Specifically, employees of the United States Postal Service. While there are other physical delivery services such as UPS and FedEx, United States Postal Service workers stand out because they are employees of a government agency, which does not have the same capabilities of dealing with the unique challenges presented by a pandemic as private businesses do. Despite that, the postal service must keep operating no matter what.

There are several reasons for that. First, only the USPS has the necessary infrastructure to reach every corner of America, even the most rural of areas. It is not economically feasible for private companies to operate in extremely rural areas, but the postal service is obligated to serve all Americans, so it does. Furthermore, “the USPS is tasked with assisting in the distribution and transportation of medicine, pharmaceuticals, and medical information to the general public affected by a major disaster or emergency.” Factor in a raging pandemic that prevents many from leaving their own homes, and the USPS becomes all the more critical. In fact, it is more essential than ever.

Unfortunately, the USPS is unique as a government agency in that it does not receive taxpayer funding. Instead, it funds itself through postage and other products. That is why the mail still comes during a government shutdown. That doesn’t mean they turn a profit, though. The USPS, despite not receiving government funding, is still burdened by the many rules and regulations that affect federal agencies, and is even singled out by provisions in some regulatory legislation, creating even more burdens. As a result, they don’t turn a profit and, while still operating each and every day, do not have the same options and amenities readily availible when it comes to mitigating certain crises.

One such crisis is the COVID-19 pandemic. Postal workers have put their

life on the line from the start. Remember there was once a time when we thought COVID-19 might be able to be spread easily or primarily by touching items that had also been touched by an infected person. Some people still think that, which is why sanitizing commonly touched (and uncommonly tocuhed, for that matter) surfaces is now a mainstay in American businesses and homes. Yet postal workers still went to work every day and sorted and delivered the mail, touching items from an unimaginable number of sources unbeknownst to them. We just had to worry about our own mail. They had to worry about all of it. Moreover, it is important to remember that not every employee just drives the trucks or carries a bag of mail by themselves, both of ewhich easily allow for social distancing. Many USPS employees work in offices and warhouses sorting mail, loading and unloading trucks, and completing all the essential tasks as they prepare mail for transport and delivery. As one worker said when discussing him and his USPS coworkers ability to social distance, “It’s really hard. We try to do as much as we can. We still have a lot of people in one building, especially when we take our break, everybody needs to eat and they take off their mask.” 

These people were unsung heroes even before the pandemic, providing an essential servide that most people could not live without while receiving little to no recognition. Their jobs have only gotten harder and more dangerous with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Despite that, they continue to work and do their jobs to the best of their ability.  They are patriots who deserve our thanks for constantly putting themselves in harm’s way for our sake. They are most definitely some of the many unsung heroes of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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