The Pandemic’s Essential Workers: Then And Now

Reset checks in with a panel of Chicagoans — whose jobs were considered essential during the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020 – for their reflections on the fifth anniversary of the lockdown. They also discuss how that “essential” label has transferred to today. The panel included Sharif Nassr, founder and CEO of the children’s nursery Caterpillar Care Chicago; Hannah Chavez, who was employed as a Whole Foods grocery store worker in 2020; and Elise Foster, president of Branch 11 of the National Association of Letter Carriers union. For a full archive of Reset interviews, head over to wbez.org/reset.