You can also send us a text this morning, 202 7488003. If you do, please include your name and where you are from, and otherwise catch up with us on social media. That is facebook. Com cspan and cspanwj. A very good saturday morning to you. You can start calling in now if you are an essential worker in this country. As you are calling in, we show you this map from abc news of the 46 states and washington, d. C. That have enacted policies to close nonessential businesses in an effort to slow the spread of coronavirus. The exact number of essential by. Oyees, hard to come there is an estimate from the Brookings Institution that relied on department of Homeland Security designations of essential. Atut 7 million employees Grocery Stores, pharmacies, and bigbox stores. When it comes to the state of california, the Public Policy institute of california estimates that in a typical year, roughly one third to one half of californias labor force is employed in essential operations. The standard definition of essential comes from the 2013 essential services act, generally defined as someone who performs work involving the safety of human life and the protection of property, those in the Health Care Industry and Law Enforcement, Food Security and Food Production included under that definition, but as fox news notes in their story, states have been free to add their own designations of what is an essential business in their occupations have been added, including workers that conduct covid19 research and testing. Pharmacy employees necessary for filling prescriptions, workers that the right security at hospitals, mass transit and airport workers, food and Agricultural Workers have been added. Energy sector employees considered critical to energy and telecommunications and natural gas, mortuary and Funeral Service workers are considered essential, workers that support National Security, commitment to the military, water and wastewater employees, bank employees, vendors that provide essential Services Like logistics for child care services, hardware stores, the news media, building cleaners and janitors have been added to the list released by states. We want to talk to those folks this morning that are essential employees, what is going on with your job, what are you doing to stay safe . It is 202 7488000 if you are an essential employee in the eastern and central time zones, and 202 7488001 if you are an essential employee in the mountain or pacific time zones. Jim is up first out of grand forks, north dakota. Good morning. Caller hey john, how are you doing . Host im doing all right. What kind of work do you do . Caller i picked up the phone and was trying to talk to the screener about it. I think everyone is essential, but i work in one of the agricultural mills. I am a mill worker and work with involvedthe products with what they grow out here. I wont say which middle i work in, but it is a pretty which mill i work in, but it is a pretty essential job. Host do you have to go in . Caller yes, just five days a week, but i was talking to my main boss about way back when trump was at one of those trade deals, a japanese trade deal with japan, and the trade deal, the canadian mexican one, and it has been said sometimes with some of your colors that he has not done much for the farmers and stuff, but i talked to Truck Drivers, farmers and stuff, and a lot of our product goes to japan and we are booming because what trump has done. We are adding men. I want to say up in north dakota , other than grand forks, which is often described as a city of rivergrad here on the red , we are hardly affected very much. I think there is a total of maybe 200 cases as i read in the paper last week. People are doing what they do all over the country. They are doing a good job here. They are wearing the masks. Jim, there are not nonessential closures in north dakota yet, correct . Caller everything seems to be going as it was. The only difference is people are lined up at the restaurants in the drivethrough windows and they are still doing business, they are open, and the only thing that is a real drag was the library closing. I love the local library and i to my Library Girls and all the people there, i get my movies and my books, and i had the same book now for about a month. Im really depressed about that. I want to say one thing about the i kind of had a feeling they talk about disparities, but what about the gender disparity . This is an overwhelmingly male disease. I found out on the internet that 71 of the deaths across the world are men, so i thought that was very interesting that we havent talked about that. I think things are going to get ,ack to normal here pretty soon and i think the people here are the kind of people that dealt with things like blizzards and floods. Norwegian and german culture, they are a very stoic people and handle it like they handled anything. Nobody panicking, nobody hoarding. If i was a christian i would say i would pray, but i do not pray anymore. I am agnostic. But i would say i am thinking about everybody and we hope you make it through. We are going to get through this. Host jim, thanks for the call. The view from grand forks, north dakota. Here is the front page of the new york times, president ways setting a schedule to open the setting a weighs schedule to open the economy, and reopening new york could pose unique challenges, vulnerabilities that allowed coronavirus to devastate the densest u. S. Area could make it risky for leaders to restart the economy. A lot of debate over that topic yesterday. Rex is anin us essential employee in ohio. What do you do . Caller i also work in the food industry. Host what has it been like for you . Are there new Safety Measures you have to take and what you do . Wash your hands, basically. Some of us have face masks, but we havent gotten them yet. Host what are the guidelines from your company . Caller mostly they are worried about the people that we work for and work with, as long as we go along with their health guidelines, that is what they are more interested in. Call fromks for the ohio. This is tyrone, new york city. What work do you do . Ntaer i am in nta an transit worker. I am concerned about a lot of the workers that have passed away. A couple of my coworkers that have either been conflicted with this virus or passed away from it. Virus, andy serious we definitely need the help that we got and that we continue to get. Have anitely disadvantage, because it has a and weart on us, definitely have something to contend with here. My main concern also is that we reopen the city and this thing comes back with a vengeance. We dont want it worse than what it is coming you know . What it is, you know . That is our concern. We definitely have to be vigilant on eradicating this virus on our in our city. We are working hard at it, you know . Social distancing is definitely helping. Im driving a bus and a lot of passengers come through the back of the bus. I know they will not continue that, because we pay in the front of the bus here. They have to come in through the back and we really dont have no interaction with the passengers. Host that was one of my questions, what is one of the best things a passenger or customer can do for you as you try to do this essential job . It is happening with the loading and through the back of the bus. That definitely helps, because they do not have to come in through the front, they do not have to interact with us on that whole level, and even when they ask us a question, they are at a different a distance have six feet. Y it is dangerous when it gets too crowded on the bus, because now they are packed in. Youve got the problem there, where they are all in fear of someone on the virus on the bus that is closed in with someone else. That is a problem. We are still trying to figure out how to do your how to deal with that. Host the first death was reported on march 26, two weeks later the number has climbed to 41 with 1571 positive cases within nta, over 16,000 workers quarantined. What is the process for you . Do you have access to testing if you feel like you need it . Not at our caller facilities, not at our depots. Here in new york, we have to go out there is one of ways from here a ways from here. I dont know if there is one in the manhattan area, if there is a testing site, but they open up these drivethrough testing sites. I have heard of one here in certainly so that is alarming to me, because this is the epicenter. I know they have them at westchester and some other outskirts of where this thing sprouted up, but i do not know of one i think one opened up in brooklyn, which is another little ways from here, and manhattan, i dont know about a drivethrough testing site. I really think they should have the testing site on the facilities of the depots, because we have doctors that work the nta, nurses that work the nta. We have people that might be able to do these tests. Now they are sending nurses to check out temperature, to see if we have our temperature over 104, they send us home. That does not help the fact that i already traveled there, im angled among my coworkers, because i think this i mingled among my coworkers, because i think this we congregate in a certain place when we report to work. They tried tot downsize it, they tried to alleviate that, but we are still in the same area. I said that to my coworkers yesterday. Area, if we are in this we could infect each other. That is why we need to come in and go out. But that is a natural reaction. We have to report. We are still working, we are still doing what we do. Wegot so accustomed to when are not feeling well, we still come to work before this. Host do you think that is going to happen anymore in the future, tyrone . Going to if i dont feel well i dont come to are cases where people still come and if they dont feel well, and now because this virus is very in so many varied in so many different ways on the illness if you have a runny nose or a cough, im not coming in. A fever people are very scared out there. Host tyrone, thanks for what you do in new york. Stay safe. Our next caller until beaker, kansas. Good morning. Caller good morning. I do residential concrete construction. We install new homes for people. We might be twisting in little bit, saying we are essential. It is a new home you are building. It is something you want to have, not an essential need, but we are still working. Im glad we are still working, because i hear a lot of things through unemployment, getting your money through unemployment, so like the previous caller, same thing with us. We work sometimes in small areas where we are actually setting our walls, we are close to each other. No one is sick yet. They require us to take our temperature ourselves before we come in in the morning. Like that fellow said, some people come to work sick. You require people to take their temperature, they may do it, they may not. They will if they get to it. But here in kansas, we are plugging away, still working. I thought i would call in and give you my experience. Host what is your employer saying to you, harold . Are there any new safety precautions you are required to take as you do this work amid coronavirus . Caller we have done a few small things, but probably they were late in the game. Some 409 to given clean the truck with, Steering Wheels, the doors, that kind of thing. We were offered masks, gloves, but that was kind of after someone mentioned it. But thats probably about the extent of our instructions from our employers. Again, like i said, personally i am glad i am working and not having to deal with all the other things and going on with the unemployment problems and that kind of thing. That is the extent of what they have done to keep us safe. Host thanks for the call from kansas this morning. I point to this story in bloomberg, came out on thursday stretch the, office definition of who is essential theworkers take the risk is headline. This is how they begin the bearer of this letter, the document said, is providing lifesustaining and essential services that depends on how you find essential, a word some businesses are trying to stretch as far as they can. Distributed to employees of leslies full mart pool mart, inc. Chain sells chemicals that can be used as alternatives to Hand Sanitizers, and because swimming pools that are not properly cared for can be health hazards. Than 900eslies more locations have remained open. Craft supply chains, hobby lobby and joann stores have maintained their essential they are selltial too because they supplies for homemade face masks. Gamestop was criticized after claiming that keyboards were essential for people working from home. Duke is next out of maine. What kind of work do you do . Caller good morning, cspan. Business. Aretaking i care take and manage peoples summer properties and stuff. I have done this for 55 years. I started it back in Junior High School and have been doing it ever since. 99. 9 of the time, while i work alone, there is nobody there. A lot of my people are, you know, staying away from their summer homes. Those who are very few that are showing up, they are self quarantining and stuff. We are also a fishing village and have a lot of tourism and stuff there. The fisherman cannot fish, the clam diggers cannot clam and sell their stuff because nobody is buying. The stores and things closed up around here, the schools are closed and things. Stores are open while the hours are cut back, so things are quite different. Host duke, you fall under that essential definition because it propertyintenance of and property being one of those things that need to be cared for during times of crisis. Is that how you fell under it in your caretaking business . Caller yes. Even though the people may not be coming, you still have to watch the properties, you have to maintain the properties and stuff on them. I am in contact with them by telephone and stuff, because to let them know how things are going, because everyone is anxious to get to their places. The majority of them are willing to stay away, they understand, you know . When things can open up and get back to normal, they certainly will show back up again and we will be glad to see them. Host thanks for the view from maine. This is our caller in columbus, georgia. How are you doing today . Caller hey, how are you doing today . Host i well. Go ahead . I am well. Go ahead. Im calling in regards to what is deemed essential and what is not. Host what do you do, theyll altry . D caller i work at lowes home improvement. Ofwere kept open because appliances, specifically deep freezers and plumbing. Is offering paid leave for people in my case, i have copd and Heart Defects and whatnot, so they are offering paid leave to their employees. I really feel bad for the people that still have to be there on for no goodne reason, because it is not an essential service. Not in my opinion. Lowes, what is a day like at lowes and how is it different from before . How do you start and what steps do you have to take to stay safe . Caller first off, there is no provision to employees as far as any type of ppe. People are kind of fending for itlves, and i mean it feels like you are on the front line every day, because people are coming in and buying nonessential items in ticular, you are selling in my case, i work in the Garden Center, and people are buying soil and flowers and things of that nature that are completely nonessential, and they come in with their protective gear we and it provided any seems that there is no reason for us to be out there when we dont need to be, because that inhibits us from slowing the curve in any way, shape or form. Just in the past several weeks, i have come into close contact with customers that were coughing and sneezing, and i felt the need to back up as they approached me with questions. It is not a safe environment, i feel. , what that what worked was deemed essential would be reevaluated, because i do not believe working in the Garden Center at lowes is essential at this point. If it comes down to appliances and plumbing that deems lowes essential, i feel they should be catering to that only and providing free delivery like most of these other places that are trying to, you know, stay afloat during this crisis. I dont believe that people should be putting themselves out there in that way. Try, thanks for the call from georgia. Legislation on capitol hill being proposed to help those on the front lines, those deemed essential. Democrats leading the way with a proposal within the past couple weeks, Senate Minority leader Chuck Schumer and other democrats proposing giving doctors, and her sis, and other essential workers such as Grocery Store clerks up to 25,000 in hazard pay as part of the coronavirus believed bill. The bonus pay, which would amount to a 13 an hour raise, would go to Truck Drivers and janitors, who democrats say are essential to keeping the economy running during the crisis. It would start from the Public Health emergency to the end of the year. A few tweets on that topic from Chuck Schumer, as he was saying on twitter when he proposed this legislation that doctors and nurses and essential workers are putting their lives on the line every single day in this fight. Senate democrats are proposing new program for frontline workers. We are calling it the heroes fund, because that is who it is for. He went on to say that a heroes fund for essential workers should be part of the next phase of the congressional response. No proposal will be complete without addressing the needs of the doctors, nurses, and medical drivers, grocers, transit workers and more, calling them our heroes. A few tweets on the heroes fund that has been talked about out of capitol hill. Marie is next in colorado springs. Good morning. Caller good morning. Host good morning, go ahead. Caller we are a tax and Accounting Office here. We havent lamented i work at home quite a bit, but they have i have four off this four office workers, and they have a walkup window. Toy have a way for clients come in and sign and wash down the signature boards and the credit cards. Most of our clients have opted the ma