Editorial: In a pandemic, paid sick leave protects us all

Austin American-Statesman (TX)

We're now awash in good advice from public health professionals: Stay home if you're sick. Seek testing and treatment for the coronavirus if you need it. Gov. Greg Abbott this week even urged health insurance companies to waive out-of-pocket costs for patients who need testing.

Great perks if you have them. What about the millions of Texans who don't?

The sad fact is that Abbott and other state leaders have long fought policies that would help Texans face a public health threat like the COVID-19 pandemic. Now those decisions will come home to roost.

At a time when we don't want sick people interacting with co-workers or customers, an estimated 223,000 Austin workers don't have paid sick leave because Attorney General Ken Paxton fought the city ordinance that would have provided it. Statewide, about 4.3 million workers don't have paid sick leave, meaning many low-wage workers will drag themselves into work, even while they're still contagious, because they can't afford to miss a day's pay.

Next time you dine out, consider the fact that two-thirds of restaurant servers and cooks say they have come to work sick. Democrats in Congress are now crafting a proposal that would include paid sick leave for those affected by the coronavirus, though it's unclear whether Republicans will support it.

At the same time, Texas GOP lawmakers have stubbornly refused to expand Medicaid, when doing so would provide health care coverage to 1.2 million of Texas' roughly 5 million uninsured residents -- the largest uninsured population in the nation. Without coverage, what are the chances they will seek testing or medical care for COVID-19? When the sickest uninsured patients show up at emergency rooms, which cannot turn them away, already-burdened hospitals will have to absorb the cost.

These aren't other people's problems. In the face of a highly contagious disease, policies like paid sick leave and access to medical coverage are matters of public health that affect us all. Texans need leaders who understand that.

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