COVIDs Hidden Toll

Film Analysis: COVID’s Hidden Toll
Although it is difficult to find a community that has not suffered in some manner due to the coronavirus epidemic, certain demographics have suffered more than others. Low-wage immigrant workers in necessary jobs such as agriculture and food preparation are some of the examples of the hardest-hit communities, as depicted in the film COVID’s Hidden Toll. While the mechanical analogy of social governance conceptualizes society as working harmoniously together as a unified, mechanized structure, the film demonstrates that such workers frequently fall through the cracks (Netting, Kettner, & McMurtry, 2016). They work on crews where managers are opaque about whether other employees have COVID symptoms. They are desperate for work, so work under conditions where they are all sharing the same bathrooms and close quarters.
In other words, the caring that one might hope an employer might show for an employee is not manifest. Employers do not even have the incentive to keep workers healthy to come to work, given that they regard employees as disposable. Employees are seen as one of many low-skilled immigrants desperate for wages. There is also little legal enforcement of appropriate safety guidelines. A more appropriate analogy for the society depicted in the film may be that of a morphogenic analogy, or a social structure which is in continual flux and renegotiation (Netting, et al., 2016). Arguably, low-wage workers have always borne the brunt of having to come into work sick, and pushed themselves harder than would be expected of the average employee. But the COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront inequalities which were overlooked in the past, and which can have repercussions outside of the workplace.
Many of the immigrant workers in the film live in crowded living conditions, with friends and family members, due to cultural and economic expectations to help other members of the community out when people are suffering trouble. Unfortunately, this also gives rise to the ideal conditions to spread communicable diseases. An agricultural worker who catches COVID from a fellow employee may then bring it home to his aging mother. His aging mother may become very ill, but goes to work as a domestic employee anyway, spreading it to the people living in the household where she works, who then pass it on to their friends and children. COVID-19 has highlighted both the inequities of society as well as the inability to separate people based on backgrounds and social circumstances.
COVID-19 has also brought to the forefront the culture of never calling in sick and powering through illness in the American workforce. Once, this was championed as noble. Now it has been revealed to be problematic. Unfortunately, unlike white collar employees with sick leave, medical insurance, and childcare, the workers profiled in the film are under tremendous pressure. If they do not show up, they do not get paid. They fear being fired. They have no benefits or social stability. If in the country illegally, they often fear the authorities and thus do not wish to seek out financial assistance or medical care.
A final analogy which might be applied to the film is that of a factional analogy, or a situation where conflict is ongoing. Although vaccination and appropriate sanitations and social distancing has brought many Americans to, if not a state of normalcy, then a state which is more normal than what existed during the initial stages of the pandemic, the types of conflicts and tensions exhibited in the film still remain for the workers. There is no clear access to healthcare, or a willingness to overcome fears to obtain healthcare for the immigrant workforce. It also seems unlikely that the type of social distancing and sick leave that has mitigated spread in some other contexts will be applied to the workplace sites in the film. The priority for vaccination given to essential workers will not necessarily make a meaningful life change here, or render more equitable social relations between employees and employers, and thus conflict is likely to be ongoing.
References
COVID’s hidden toll. (2020). Film.
Netting, F. E., Kettner, P., Thomas, M. L., & McMurtry, S. (2016). Social work macro practice. Pearson.