What's a Typical COVID Experience for Poor Families?

 JAMES MORRISON

  INTERNATIONAL STUDIES & POLITICAL SCIENCE 

 CLASS OF 2021

In late April, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, PIRL began conducting interviews with families that had previously been interviewed about their experiences with housing and schooling in Seattle and the wider King County area. Referred to as “COVID Check-Ins,” these interviews were a glimpse into the incredibly varied experiences of Americans during the pandemic.

Over the course of the summer, working as a Research Assistant, I had the opportunity to second a few of these interviews. In addition, I also read through each transcript, learning about the various ways in which the pandemic had disrupted life for our respondents and how families had been dealing with these disruptions.

From the stories shared, it is difficult to identify a typical experience for families living through COVID-19 – the pandemic affected nearly every aspect of everyday life, from education and employment to housing decisions and health, and each to varying degrees. But one aspect of life common to many experiences was the imposition of tradeoffs.

One particular insight from the eventual report reflects this. After reading through the first dozen interview transcripts, I noticed that no respondent had been working from home, something that had become a normal part of my day as a result of stay-at-home and shelter-in-place orders. Instead, several had jobs deemed “essential” by state and local governments – a caregiver, a hospital worker, and a teacher at a daycare provider – and others had either been furloughed or had decided to stay home to care for their children and reduce risk of exposure.

Each subsequent interview revealed a similar story: a father laid off from his job at Enterprise, a mother working in a clinic as a patient service representative, a couple forced to pause their search for employment out of concerns of exposure. But working from home had yet to be mentioned. By the end of 40 interviews, only 2 respondents had indicated that their employment had shifted to a remote setting.

This glaring tradeoff struck me – families had to decide whether to stay home and sacrifice income or go to work and risk exposure. The protective nature of the work-from-home environment was largely not an option for these respondents.

Similar tradeoffs in other areas had to be made. Should I go through with my move and face the uncertainty or should I wait it out and risk my housing voucher expiring? Should I take my newborn to the doctor’s office for his checkup or should I hope that he stays healthy for a few months more? Even the question of whether to bring children to the grocery store or leave them at home by themselves had to be answered.

Tradeoffs lead to uncertainty and uncertainty to stress. But despite this and despite the unprecedented nature of the situation, the families we spoke with had clear and unique justifications for the eventual choices made, often including considerations that I would have never given thought to. When I first began the project, I anticipated some of the disruptions relating to education and employment. What I did not expect was a complete reframing of how I understood family decision-making.

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