Virus lockdowns put Europe’s invisible workers on front line

PARIS: As the coronavirus outbreak confines millions of Europeans to their homes, others still show up every day to perform jobs too often undervalued — from truck drivers and checkout clerks to security guards and street sweepers. AFP journalists interviewed several workers helping ensure a minimum of daily life in cities brought to a standstill by the crisis.

‘I no longer see my parents’ –

Ester Piccinini, 27, is a nurse at the Humanitas Gavazzeni hospital in Bergamo, northern Italy, which has been hammered by a wave of coronavirus deaths. Before the outbreak, she managed the wing for patients awaiting surgery but it now houses an impromptu intensive care unit for the most severe COVID-19 cases. “I no longer see my parents, because I don’t want to risk infecting them,” said Piccinini, who earns up to 1,500 euros ($1,640) a month. “Every morning before I start work, I make the sign of the cross, and pray that everything will go all right. It’s not really for myself, I’m not really worried about me, since I’m so protected. But I hope everything will be all right for my patients. “When a person is transferred to intensive care, it means the situation is dire. We try to reassure them. Sometimes a caress is worth more than words.

‘Speak as little as possible’

“In Spain, cashiers are well aware of the contagion risks, but clients, not so much,” said Ana Belen, a 46-year-old cashier and union delegate in Alcorcon, a Madrid suburb. “The recommendation now is to speak as little as possible with clients,” she said, and to request that people pay with cards instead of handing over cash. “We know that we have to come to work, we know that we have to provide this service. But at the checkouts, 95 percent of the employees are women, who most often have children or elderly people they have to take care of.

- ‘They’re afraid’ –

Mohammed, 40, is one of the thousands of Paris street sweepers and garbage truck operators who have continued to traverse the city each day. “It feels like you’re the only person in the world, there’s no one to talk to,” Mohammed said while making his afternoon rounds in northeastern Paris. “You go out with a knot in your stomach... I’d like to be tested, because if it came back negative I’d be a lot less worried going to work,” he said, not least to prevent contagion for his parents, who live with him. Mohammed and his colleagues had no face masks or hand gel for weeks as the coronavirus outbreak gathered speed in France — not until someone at their depot tested positive. Once the nationwide stay-at-home orders came into effect and the death toll mounted, Mohammed said he noticed a change in people’s reactions when he passes.

Tips up ‘a little bit’

“I bought a small box of masks at the beginning, but they’re all gone and I haven’t found any more,” said Ousman, a 22-year-old who delivers meals in Brussels. “When I arrive, I set the package on the front box of my bike, I say hello and then I step back so the client can pick up his order,” he said, offering a demonstration while waiting outside an Asian restaurant still open for carryout.

‘It would be tough’

Dirk Foermer, 50, works in an assisted-living facility with 37 elderly residents, many of whom suffer from dementia, in Berlin. “I think public perceptions of care for the elderly are quite far removed from what it actually is,” said Foermer, who has worked as a nurse in geriatric care since 1996. “It’s not just about washing people or seeing that they have clean trousers,” he said.