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Carrying on despite the coronavirus pandemic
Mail carriers work in snow, heat, and rain, and now you can add the coronavirus to that list.
WASHINGTON - While millions of people are working from home right now, doing everything they can to contain the coronavirus pandemic, others don’t have the option. They have to go to work, often times benefitting everybody else.
Take, for instance, letter carrier Delvin Johnson. He’s been working route 1656 in Northwest D.C. for decades. He’s well-known there. But it’s the unknown that’s currently effecting us all.
“You can be out here working today and sick tomorrow. You never know,” Johnson said, and that’s exactly what’s happened with some of his peers. According to the U.S. Postal Service, 293 of their more than 630,000 employees have tested positive for COVID-19. It’s why Johnson, a father of two, is taking every precaution he can, staying socially distant while wearing a mask and gloves.
“This is a first. I put it on top of 9-11,” he said.
But make no mistake, Johnson has a job to do. Fact is, he has people counting on him – not just for letters, but for important necessities too.
“It’s good that we get her medication when we need it,” Jennifer Werth said, standing next to her nine year old daughter, Kelsey.
“Delvin’s really nice and me and my friend like really know him well,” Kelsey chimed in.
And that, more than anything, is why Johnson will keep on working, coronavirus pandemic or not.
“You know you’re doing something for a purpose,” he explained. “You’ve got your country behind you, so you know, you go out and you do what you do.”