vox--2020-04-30--Why you should talk to your child about the coronavirus

Even as adults , it can be difficult to parse through the torrent of news and information about the coronavirus without feeling fear , anxiety , or discomfort .
For those who are parents or caretakers of a young child , they don ’ t just have their own physical and mental health to worry about ; they have kids to take care of , too .
And those kids have a lot of questions .
As a result , parenting articles on navigating Covid-19 have popped up across the internet over the past few weeks and months , with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kids about coronavirus.
” Vox has a piece on answering the seven big questions kids have about the pandemic , and our daily podcast Today , Explained will be releasing a kid-friendly episode that explains the coronavirus through an adventure quest format .
( There is more information about the episode at the bottom of this article . )
The premise of these materials is simple : Most children have realized by now that something is happening in the world , and this phenomenon has led people to change their lifestyles and habits @ @ @ @ @ @ @ parent to determine what to address and what to leave out , and how to honestly answer the questions a child might have .
It can even be confusing whether you should talk to your child about it in the first place .
I spoke with Rachel Giannini , an early education specialist and teacher , about why it ’ s important to inform kids about the coronavirus and how beneficial it can be for their emotional wellbeing .
Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity .
How do we make @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus and the information that we ’ re getting ?
Why is that important ?
Our littlest of littles are extraordinarily observant , and even if you ’ re not talking to them directly about what ’ s happening , they ’ re picking up bits and pieces of the situation .
You have to recognize that young children see the world through a very different lens than adults .
Adults are constructionists ; we learn and analyze things from our own lived experiences .
A lot of young children haven ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ can be easy for them to misconstrue a situation , especially if they don ’ t have enough information about it .
At the same time , there ’ s a lot of information out there that isn ’ t accurate , and obviously , we don ’ t want our children to be misinformed .
Having conversations with your child allows you to know where their understanding is .
It also helps them develop a deeper understanding of the situation because they can ask questions and have an open dialogue , so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
What effect is this crisis currently having on kids and their future behaviors ?
The coronavirus pandemic is a traumatic event ; it ’ s unprecedented and something that ’ s affecting everybody .
Trauma affects all of us very differently , and while adults are able to rebound from trauma , this affects children more intensely — especially those who are under 6 because their brains are still being built .
If you ’ ve ever had a traumatic event , it can lead to adverse childhood experiences that cause toxic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lot of people are starting to flag about the current crisis .
I just want to make it clear that I ’ m not a doctor , but studies have shown that when we experience toxic stress , our brain releases stress hormones when we are scared .
Your body goes into fight-or-flight mode , basically .
Wonderful things can be done to turn this off in children , like when a parent or caregiver addresses a child ’ s emotional concerns or gives them a hug .
Those things can turn off @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s not turned off or that fear isn ’ t addressed , those hormones keep pumping out , rewire our brain , and can have lifelong effects .
It can affect a child ’ s development , and when those kids enter the classroom , it can become a behavioral issue .
If a child is always on fight-or-flight mode , they ’ re less likely to be engaged at school and , as I mentioned , have behavioral issues that could create a domino effect with their relationship to school @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adverse childhood experience , especially with how the situation has escalated .
Are kids picking up new behaviors like consistent hand-washing and social distancing as a result of Covid-19 ?
The one thing about children is that things become normalized really quickly for them .
The most interesting thing I ’ ve heard lately from a couple of friends is that their children , when playing with Legos , are spacing the figures far apart .
Their toys are social distancing .
One of them put up a little Lego computer and said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
This is a 4-turning-5-year-old who has completely normalized what ’ s happening .
My downstairs neighbor who is 5 will sit on the porch with us and when somebody walks by , he ’ ll yell , “ Social distancing !
” When children are playing and they ’ re acting out certain coronavirus situations , like putting masks on toys or making things social distance , that ’ s really , really normal .
Children use play as a way to work out what ’ s currently going on in their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see your child engaging in some form of play , that ’ s a wonderful opportunity to ask them open-ended questions like , “ What ’ s going on ?
Why are your toys spread out ?
” That way , you can understand how your child is grappling with the situation and that ’ s an opportunity for you to maybe have some teachable moments .
Anything that we do as adults , when we normalize it and model that behavior , children pick up on it .
It can be as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ putting on a mask .
That just becomes the new thing for them .
There ’ s been more articles and content related to informing kids about coronavirus .
Is this advice generally helpful ?
There ’ s definitely a lot of information out there , but some of it is boilerplate and not very personalized .
One thing that ’ s frustrating is this material is not often differentiated for ages .
It ’ s very different talking to a 5-year-old than to a 10-year-old .
Children aren ’ t able to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 4 and 6 .
If you ’ re having an abstract conversation with a 4-year-old , for example , about how a virus or a germ is spreading , they may not quite grasp what you mean by “ spreading.
” Being able to put it in something that ’ s concrete , that they can relate to , they ’ ll be able to better understand the situation .
There ’ s something called the “ zone of proximity ” that explains how a child learns .
You have this basic understanding @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you through higher levels of understanding by asking questions .
That ’ s one reason why I ’ m harping on this idea of finding out what your child knows and then asking them open-ended questions to allow them to really take their existing experiences and start to expand upon them .
I want everybody to start with the very bare basics of having a conversation with your kids .
I know it sounds so simple , but that ’ s what ’ s beautiful about it !
It ’ s not one @ @ @ @ @ @ @ think about the child and their needs .
Have you recently had somebody pass away ?
Has your child recently started school and no longer seeing friends , or are they on the opposite end where they don ’ t like going to school ?
There are a lot of things that are very special for each specific group and it ’ s not until you know their level of understanding , fears , and concerns that you can address them in an authentic way .
How do we make sure this situation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , but something kids are able to understand and metabolize on their own ?
First of all , find out what they know .
Ask them what they know , what they think , what they feel about it .
While we want our children to be informed , we don ’ t need to give them , for example , the number of fatalities that day .
You don ’ t want to overshare something that could trigger something else .
Ask them what they already know and what they want to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ you answer ?
” In any answer you give a child , you should approach it with respect , compassion , and kindness , and make sure to end it with something positive .
If a child asks , “ Are people dying ?
” Say yes .
Don ’ t lie , but remember to tell them that not everybody dies .
Add that positive into the conversation .
You can explain how we can social distance to keep our families safe or wear a mask and wash our hands more .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ down the big scary thing and make it super clear and tangible as to what we can do .
Children need to feel empowered ; the lack of information and lack of power are two things that really trigger fear with our children .
If we can solve those issues , we can help them feel empowered even in this situation .
Are there certain tips or choices in language you would suggest parents use to reassure their kids ?
Respect any question they have and address it with kindness , compassion , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to a child , even if they ask a question like , “ Am I going to die ?
” You can explain that death happens to everybody , but that doesn ’ t mean it ’ s going to happen anytime soon .
Ask them , “ What can we do to feel safe and protect our bodies ?
” Giving them that power , giving them that control is something helps children feel a sense of agency .
If that means making masks , putting things up on windows , calling @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sure that your child can feel that they ’ re safe .
All these things are beneficial during this time .
One thing to keep in mind is that children are extraordinarily concrete creatures .
Abstract ideas are not their forte .
Anything you can do to make it relatable to their life is helpful .
On Friday , May 1 , stay tuned for a special episode of our daily news podcast .
Today , Explained to Kids will take kids to a magical island where some of their biggest questions about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that grows books and a cave that doesn ’ t rest until it gets a good answer from our guest expert , science writer Brian Resnick .
Listen on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts .
We ’ ll also be releasing four learning exercises , crafted by Rachel Giannini , that parents and educators can do with their kids after listening .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
Please consider making a contribution to Vox today @

Even as adults, it can be difficult to parse through the torrent of news and information about the coronavirus without feeling fear, anxiety, or discomfort. For those who are parents or caretakers of a young child, they don’t just have their own physical and mental health to worry about; they have kids to take care of, too. And those kids have a lot of questions.
As a result, parenting articles on navigating Covid-19 have popped up across the internet over the past few weeks and months, with titles like “How to talk to kids about coronavirus.” Vox has answered seven big questions kids have about the pandemic, and our daily podcast Today, Explained has released a kid-friendly episode that explains the coronavirus through an adventure quest format. (There is more information about the episode and activities for kids at the bottom of this article.)
The premise of these materials is simple: Most children have realized by now that something is happening in the world, and this phenomenon has led people to change their lifestyles and habits. It can be overwhelming for a parent to determine what to address and what to leave out, and how to honestly answer the questions a child might have. It can even be confusing whether you should talk to your child about it in the first place.
I spoke with Rachel Giannini, an early education specialist and teacher, about why it’s important to inform kids about the coronavirus and how beneficial it can be for their emotional wellbeing. Our conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
How do we make sure kids feel emotionally safe about the coronavirus and the information that we’re getting? Why is that important?
Our littlest of littles are extraordinarily observant, and even if you’re not talking to them directly about what’s happening, they’re picking up bits and pieces of the situation. You have to recognize that young children see the world through a very different lens than adults. Adults are constructionists; we learn and analyze things from our own lived experiences. A lot of young children haven’t had our life experiences, so it can be easy for them to misconstrue a situation, especially if they don’t have enough information about it.
At the same time, there’s a lot of information out there that isn’t accurate, and obviously, we don’t want our children to be misinformed. Having conversations with your child allows you to know where their understanding is. It also helps them develop a deeper understanding of the situation because they can ask questions and have an open dialogue, so everyone can be on the same page.
What effect is this crisis currently having on kids and their future behaviors?
The coronavirus pandemic is a traumatic event; it’s unprecedented and something that’s affecting everybody. Trauma affects all of us very differently, and while adults are able to rebound from trauma, this affects children more intensely — especially those who are under 6 because their brains are still being built. If you’ve ever had a traumatic event, it can lead to adverse childhood experiences that cause toxic stress.
That’s something a lot of people are starting to flag about the current crisis. I just want to make it clear that I’m not a doctor, but studies have shown that when we experience toxic stress, our brain releases stress hormones when we are scared. Your body goes into fight-or-flight mode, basically. Wonderful things can be done to turn this off in children, like when a parent or caregiver addresses a child’s emotional concerns or gives them a hug. Those things can turn off that chemical release.
However, when that’s not turned off or that fear isn’t addressed, those hormones keep pumping out, rewire our brain, and can have lifelong effects. It can affect a child’s development, and when those kids enter the classroom, it can become a behavioral issue. If a child is always on fight-or-flight mode, they’re less likely to be engaged at school and, as I mentioned, have behavioral issues that could create a domino effect with their relationship to school and educators. Coronavirus could be an adverse childhood experience, especially with how the situation has escalated.
Are kids picking up new behaviors like consistent hand-washing and social distancing as a result of Covid-19?
The one thing about children is that things become normalized really quickly for them. The most interesting thing I’ve heard lately from a couple of friends is that their children, when playing with Legos, are spacing the figures far apart. Their toys are social distancing. One of them put up a little Lego computer and said that the Lego people are on Zoom. This is a 4-turning-5-year-old who has completely normalized what’s happening.
My downstairs neighbor who is 5 will sit on the porch with us and when somebody walks by, he’ll yell, “Social distancing!” When children are playing and they’re acting out certain coronavirus situations, like putting masks on toys or making things social distance, that’s really, really normal. Children use play as a way to work out what’s currently going on in their lives emotionally and cognitively.
When you see your child engaging in some form of play, that’s a wonderful opportunity to ask them open-ended questions like, “What’s going on? Why are your toys spread out?” That way, you can understand how your child is grappling with the situation and that’s an opportunity for you to maybe have some teachable moments. Anything that we do as adults, when we normalize it and model that behavior, children pick up on it. It can be as simple as washing our hands more or putting on a mask. That just becomes the new thing for them.
There’s been more articles and content related to informing kids about coronavirus. Is this advice generally helpful?
There’s definitely a lot of information out there, but some of it is boilerplate and not very personalized. One thing that’s frustrating is this material is not often differentiated for ages. It’s very different talking to a 5-year-old than to a 10-year-old.
Children under six have a hard time understanding abstract concepts. If you’re having an abstract conversation with a 4-year-old, for example, about how a virus or a germ is spreading, they may not quite grasp what you mean by “spreading.” Being able to put it in something that’s concrete, that they can relate to, they’ll be able to better understand the situation.
There’s something called the “zone of proximity” that explains how a child learns. You have this basic understanding, and caregivers and educators help move you through higher levels of understanding by asking questions. That’s one reason why I’m harping on this idea of finding out what your child knows and then asking them open-ended questions to allow them to really take their existing experiences and start to expand upon them.
I want everybody to start with the very bare basics of having a conversation with your kids. I know it sounds so simple, but that’s what’s beautiful about it! It’s not one size fits all. You should really think about the child and their needs. Have you recently had somebody pass away? Has your child recently started school and no longer seeing friends, or are they on the opposite end where they don’t like going to school? There are a lot of things that are very special for each specific group and it’s not until you know their level of understanding, fears, and concerns that you can address them in an authentic way.
How do we make sure this situation isn’t a scary unknown thing, but something kids are able to understand and metabolize on their own?
First of all, find out what they know. Ask them what they know, what they think, what they feel about it. While we want our children to be informed, we don’t need to give them, for example, the number of fatalities that day. You don’t want to overshare something that could trigger something else. Ask them what they already know and what they want to know. “What could I help you answer?” In any answer you give a child, you should approach it with respect, compassion, and kindness, and make sure to end it with something positive.
If a child asks, “Are people dying?” Say yes. Don’t lie, but remember to tell them that not everybody dies. Add that positive into the conversation. You can explain how we can social distance to keep our families safe or wear a mask and wash our hands more. As a parent, you can boil down the big scary thing and make it super clear and tangible as to what we can do. Children need to feel empowered; the lack of information and lack of power are two things that really trigger fear with our children. If we can solve those issues, we can help them feel empowered even in this situation.
Are there certain tips or choices in language you would suggest parents use to reassure their kids?
Respect any question they have and address it with kindness, compassion, and honesty. Don’t lie to a child, even if they ask a question like, “Am I going to die?” You can explain that death happens to everybody, but that doesn’t mean it’s going to happen anytime soon. Ask them, “What can we do to feel safe and protect our bodies?” Giving them that power, giving them that control is something helps children feel a sense of agency.
If that means making masks, putting things up on windows, calling relatives, these are ways to make sure that your child can feel that they’re safe. All these things are beneficial during this time. One thing to keep in mind is that children are extraordinarily concrete creatures. Abstract ideas are not their forte. Anything you can do to make it relatable to their life is helpful.
Listen to a special episode of our daily news podcast. Today, Explained to Kids takes kids to a magical island where some of their biggest questions about coronavirus are answered by a tree that grows books and a cave that doesn’t rest until it gets a good answer from our guest expert, science writer Brian Resnick. Listen on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts. Then download four learning exercises, crafted by Rachel Giannini, that parents and educators can do with their kids after listening.


vox--2020-04-30--The “woman’s work” of the pandemic

The “woman’s work” of the pandemic

Megan Piontkowski started with a batch of 32 .
A freelance artist and illustrator out of work due to the pandemic , she found out through a friend that a Brooklyn hospital needed fabric masks for workers amid a shortage of personal protective equipment .
Piontkowski already had some fabric on hand and a sewing machine she ’ d used for her art , so she got to work .
She washed the fabric , stitched masks , washed them again , and hung them to dry while wearing a mask herself , then drove them to the hospital .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , donating the materials and about 35 hours of her time .
She asked if the hospital would pay for the masks , but was told they had no money .
“ I felt very mixed about it , ” she told Vox .
She knew the hospital needed masks badly .
But at the same time , “ I ’ m out of work and I ’ m being asked to donate them.
” The fact that she wasn ’ t compensated for sewing highly necessary items felt like a case of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ not being valued , ” Piontkowski said .
While larger companies have begun mass-producing cloth masks in recent weeks , much of the work of making the protective garments , especially in the early stages of the pandemic , was done at home — often by women .
That gender breakdown is continuing in some volunteer efforts — about 85 percent of the around 70 volunteers sewing masks for the New York City-based group Face Mask Aid , for example , are women .
A search of Facebook reveals multiple groups for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but no clearly comparable groups for dads .
And masks are only part of the story .
The demands of daily life during the coronavirus pandemic are many , from shopping for food amid shortages and virus fears to caring for children when schools and day cares are closed .
And in many cases , women are the ones figuring out how to meet those new demands .
Women are “ describing feeling an inordinate amount of expectations that have been placed on their shoulders in this pandemic , ” Sinikka Elliott , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ British Columbia and a co-author of the book Pressure Cooker : Why Home Cooking Won ’ t Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It , told Vox .
For some , those expectations can include making masks for family , friends , or front-line workers .
Others are trying to take care of kids and manage their online school schedules — tasks that , experts say , are likely to fall disproportionately to women in many households .
Others still are working outside the home as essential workers but shouldering @ @ @ @ @ @ @ It doesn ’ t have to be this way .
Some say the pandemic , with more men working from home and seeing firsthand the labor that goes into tasks like cooking and educating children , has the potential to reset gender norms .
“ The pandemic is potentially sparking new conversations about divisions of labor , ” Jill Yavorsky , a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina , Charlotte , told Vox .
But those conversations will only happen on a national scale if we actually pay attention to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and child care right now and value their work accordingly .
Many of the people making protective masks for others right now are women The history of mask-wearing in the US during the coronavirus pandemic is already a complex one .
As the virus spread around the world in February and March , US officials told Americans that healthy people did not need to wear masks in public .
But in April , the CDC began recommending that everyone wear a cloth mask in certain public settings , and some places , like @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
By early April , however , millions of Americans were living under shelter-in-place orders and told to limit trips outside the home .
On April 4 , the White House warned Americans to try to avoid even the grocery store .
There was also a nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment that made masks hard to purchase , even for hospitals and health care workers .
The result : Many people needed masks , and one of the only ways to get one was to make it at home or get someone @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s where women came in .
“ Anecdotally , everybody I ’ ve known who ’ ve made masks are women , ” Margaret M. Chin , a sociology professor at Hunter College and the author of Sewing Women : Immigrants and the New York City Garment Industry , told Vox .
Sewing masks requires materials — fabric , thread , and ideally a sewing machine — that women may be more likely to have on hand than men are .
And in general , the skill of sewing tends to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Chin said .
“ Men don ’ t learn it because they ’ ve always believed that it ’ s a skill for women , and it ’ s always been paid very low wages.
” While some people made masks for family and friends , others have been volunteering through groups like Face Mask Aid , which was started in March and has distributed more than 6,400 masks to health care workers , firefighters , transit workers , and others .
It ’ s not a surprise that many of the volunteers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ say .
“ Whenever there ’ s an emergency in the United States , women have always been called to make or create things , ” Chin told Vox .
For example , after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco , “ women started coming together with other women and basically made impromptu soup kitchens right on the spot , ” said Joslyn Brenton , a sociology professor at Ithaca College and a co-author of Pressure Cooker .
Even in normal times , women are more likely to volunteer than men are .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ types of in-person volunteering difficult , sewing masks is something people can still do — provided they have the skills and materials to do it .
But it ’ s not just volunteer work that ’ s often dominated by women .
An increasing number of companies are pivoting to manufacture cloth masks during the pandemic , and the workers doing the sewing are likely to be those who typically do garment work in the US , Chin said : Asian American and Latinx immigrant women .
Those women are on the front @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , Chin said , leaving their homes daily to make essential goods .
But garment work in America is overwhelmingly low-wage work .
“ It takes quite a high amount of skill to sew a mask , ” Chin said , explaining that sewers have to know how to put in elastic , fold the fabric properly , and lay it out so that it falls correctly on the wearer ’ s face when assembled .
But “ I think because it ’ s been looked at as women ’ s work , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic is changing how families shop and eat .
Women are likely to bear the brunt of those changes .
Sewing isn ’ t the only form of labor that ’ s been affected by the pandemic .
The spread of the virus has also changed the way many Americans feed themselves .
With restaurants closed around the country , many people who might once have eaten out are now cooking all or most of their meals at home .
And women may be bearing the brunt of that increase in meal preparation @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at home than men do — in one 2016 study , the average woman spent 50 minutes on cooking a day , while the average man spent 20 .
And while it ’ s too early for data on how families are feeding themselves during the pandemic , it ’ s likely that the increased demands of cooking every day will fall disproportionately on women as well .
That ’ s especially true because it ’ s not just about chopping , stirring , and sautéing .
“ The cognitive labor of getting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Sarah Bowen , a sociology professor at North Carolina State University and co-author of Pressure Cooker , told Vox .
Shortages of staples like flour mean it can be harder to find everything a family needs , and public health officials have advised people to minimize shopping trips in order to limit exposure to the virus , meaning shoppers have to get everything they need in one weekly or biweekly trip .
And previous research shows that women take on more of the cognitive labor of household work — things like keeping @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than men do , Bowen said .
That kind of labor “ is very , very gendered , even in situations where people might divide the physical tasks a bit more evenly.
” In particular , research shows that women do more of the work of anticipating a family ’ s needs — knowing , for example , when the household is about to run out of toilet paper — than men do .
The demands of shopping and cooking during the pandemic likely fall especially hard on low-income women .
Poor families @ @ @ @ @ @ @ money to have a pantry that ’ s very well stocked , ” Bowen said , “ which makes it all the more precarious when the store runs out of milk or eggs.
” And while some workers , many of them white-collar , are able to work from home during the pandemic and may have some flexibility in their schedules to shop and prepare meals , essential workers often don ’ t have that luxury .
Some of those essential workers spend their days making sure others can eat , sometimes at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In particular , more than two-thirds of cashiers at grocery stores and fast food restaurants are women , Brenton said .
These workers are in a vulnerable position , sometimes asked to work in crowded stores without proper protective equipment .
Historically , “ women have been doing the majority of the work of feeding families and feeding other people , ” Brenton said .
And that work is now more difficult , and sometimes more dangerous , than ever .
With schools and day cares closed , women are likely to take @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has changed how families feed themselves , it may have brought an even greater change in how they care for children .
With schools and day cares closed around the country , many for the rest of the academic year , millions of children nationwide are now home with their parents all day .
For many families , that means juggling child care and supervising online classes while working , whether it ’ s done from home or elsewhere as an essential worker .
As with cooking , there ’ s no clear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ up child care during the pandemic .
But based on previous research , it ’ s possible to make some predictions .
In heterosexual couples , “ many of the gendered routines will likely spill over during the pandemic , which means that women are likely still doing a greater proportion of housework and child care , ” said Yavorsky , who studies how families divide work .
That ’ s especially likely to be true in cases where the woman ’ s income is lower than the man ’ s , Yavorsky @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , families may choose to protect the man ’ s job at the cost of the woman doing more child care .
For women , “ if they are not the breadwinners , they may see an even greater deprioritization of their career , ” Yavorsky said .
The picture could be different in some families , especially if the mother is working away from home as an essential worker , Yavorsky said .
“ If women , many of whom are on the front lines , are at work , men inevitably @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” But for a lot of women , the pandemic could worsen existing inequalities holding them back in the job market .
And there ’ s already evidence that women ’ s careers may be taking a hit .
Editors of some academic journals are noticing a decline in submissions by female scholars , according to the Lily .
One analysis of astrophysics paper submissions found that women ’ s productivity loss in recent months was up to 50 percent greater than men ’ s .
Unequal division of household labor during the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ career prospects , Yavorsky said .
What happens during this time could “ position them to be less likely to get the next promotion , or less likely to get a wage increase.
” Meanwhile , the workers who used to provide child care while parents worked outside the home are now either out of work or risking exposure to continue working , often without adequate sick leave or health insurance .
The National Domestic Workers Alliance ( NDWA ) , which represents home care workers , house cleaners , and nannies , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ April 6 , 72 percent of such workers were unemployed .
Those who are still working are often providing child care for the families of essential workers or home care for older adults or people with chronic illnesses .
Home care workers , in particular , “ are the only ones who are able to ensure that those people are staying safe , healthy , and staying out of our overburdened health care system , ” Ai-Jen Poo , executive director of the NDWA , told Vox .
These workers are overwhelmingly female @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers are women , Poo said , and the workforce is disproportionately women of color .
And the majority are caring for their own children or other family members in addition to the people they care for at their jobs .
But domestic workers are typically not prioritized for Covid testing , often lack health insurance , and often earn “ literally poverty wages ” — an average of $ 16,000 a year for home care workers , Poo said .
“ When you think about what people are risking to keep us @ @ @ @ @ @ @ what level of insecurity they ’ re living with right now , it ’ s really devastating.
” The pandemic could lead to a reckoning on “ women ’ s work.
” But only if we let it .
Across the board , women seem to be doing a disproportionate share of the work to keep people safe , fed , and cared for during this pandemic .
And they ’ re often doing it without proper recognition or compensation .
But , experts say , there ’ s also a chance for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reckoning around the gendered division of labor in homes and in society .
“ Some gender scholars are arguing that this pandemic may create the opportunity for men and women in heterosexual families to both gain more awareness of how much is involved in managing a household and raising children , ” Elliott , the Pressure Cooker co-author , said .
That could be an opportunity for couples to negotiate a fairer balance .
But for that to happen , “ communication is really key , ” Yavorsky said .
“ Couples need @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the detailed tasks that need to get done for a day and try to allocate them as evenly as possible.
” And on a broader societal level , the work of caring for others needs to be valued as the essential labor that it is , advocates say .
The NDWA is backing the Essential Workers Bill of Rights , which would provide domestic workers and others on the front lines with paid sick and family leave , hazard pay , and PPE , among other protections .
Beyond that , domestic workers @ @ @ @ @ @ @ insurance , Poo said .
“ It is about ensuring and shoring up the safety net and access to quality jobs with benefits for this workforce that has historically been left behind.
” It ’ s also time to place a higher value on the work of sewing masks , many say .
“ Each one can take half an hour or an hour or even more to craft , ” Chin said .
“ Why wouldn ’ t you pay somebody $ 40 for that ?
” For Piontkowski , compensation is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sewing masks feel less exploitative .
She heard of one volunteer who was asked to donate masks to a large grocery store — and while the workers there may not be able to afford the masks , she believes the store itself probably could .
“ They have money — they should just pay people , ” Piontkowski said .
“ It seems pretty basic , but it is hard to get people to think about it that way.
” Overall , it ’ s laudable that women have often stepped up in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and help others .
But that willingness to pitch in shouldn ’ t be taken for granted , many say .
Instead , we need to be asking questions as a society about the work of caring , cooking , and sewing for others during the pandemic , Elliott said — questions like , “ is it visible as work that ’ s necessary to support communities ?
” and “ is it being recognized as such , and in what ways ?
” For Yavorsky , the pandemic has the potential to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ work that many women shoulder ” and to encourage society to value that labor more highly .
“ I am hopeful , ” she said , “ but I think it ’ s going to take a lot of hard work.
” Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information that has the power to save lives .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
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Megan Piontkowski started with a batch of 32. A freelance artist and illustrator out of work due to the pandemic, she found out through a friend that a Brooklyn hospital needed fabric masks for workers amid a shortage of personal protective equipment. Piontkowski already had some fabric on hand and a sewing machine she’d used for her art, so she got to work.
She washed the fabric, stitched masks, washed them again, and hung them to dry while wearing a mask herself, then drove them to the hospital. She went through the whole process twice, donating the materials and about 35 hours of her time. She asked if the hospital would pay for the masks, but was told they had no money.
“I felt very mixed about it,” she told Vox. She knew the hospital needed masks badly. But at the same time, “I’m out of work and I’m being asked to donate them.”
The fact that she wasn’t compensated for sewing highly necessary items felt like a case of “traditional ‘women’s work’ not being valued,” Piontkowski said.
While larger companies have begun mass-producing cloth masks in recent weeks, much of the work of making the protective garments, especially in the early stages of the pandemic, was done at home — often by women. That gender breakdown is continuing in some volunteer efforts — about 85 percent of the around 70 volunteers sewing masks for the New York City-based group Face Mask Aid, for example, are women. A search of Facebook reveals multiple groups for moms who want to make masks — but no clearly comparable groups for dads.
And masks are only part of the story. The demands of daily life during the coronavirus pandemic are many, from shopping for food amid shortages and virus fears to caring for children when schools and day cares are closed. And in many cases, women are the ones figuring out how to meet those new demands. Women are “describing feeling an inordinate amount of expectations that have been placed on their shoulders in this pandemic,” Sinikka Elliott, a sociology professor at the University of British Columbia and a co-author of the book Pressure Cooker: Why Home Cooking Won’t Solve Our Problems and What We Can Do About It, told Vox.
For some, those expectations can include making masks for family, friends, or front-line workers. Others are trying to take care of kids and manage their online school schedules — tasks that, experts say, are likely to fall disproportionately to women in many households. Others still are working outside the home as essential workers but shouldering care responsibilities when they get home.
It doesn’t have to be this way. Some say the pandemic, with more men working from home and seeing firsthand the labor that goes into tasks like cooking and educating children, has the potential to reset gender norms. “The pandemic is potentially sparking new conversations about divisions of labor,” Jill Yavorsky, a sociology professor at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, told Vox.
But those conversations will only happen on a national scale if we actually pay attention to the people doing the sewing, cooking, and child care right now and value their work accordingly.
Many of the people making protective masks for others right now are women
The history of mask-wearing in the US during the coronavirus pandemic is already a complex one. As the virus spread around the world in February and March, US officials told Americans that healthy people did not need to wear masks in public. But in April, the CDC began recommending that everyone wear a cloth mask in certain public settings, and some places, like New York State, made mask-wearing mandatory.
By early April, however, millions of Americans were living under shelter-in-place orders and told to limit trips outside the home. On April 4, the White House warned Americans to try to avoid even the grocery store. There was also a nationwide shortage of personal protective equipment that made masks hard to purchase, even for hospitals and health care workers.
The result: Many people needed masks, and one of the only ways to get one was to make it at home or get someone to make it for you. That’s where women came in.
“Anecdotally, everybody I’ve known who’ve made masks are women,” Margaret M. Chin, a sociology professor at Hunter College and the author of Sewing Women: Immigrants and the New York City Garment Industry, told Vox.
Sewing masks requires materials — fabric, thread, and ideally a sewing machine — that women may be more likely to have on hand than men are. And in general, the skill of sewing tends to be passed down from mothers to daughters, Chin said. “Men don’t learn it because they’ve always believed that it’s a skill for women, and it’s always been paid very low wages.”
While some people made masks for family and friends, others have been volunteering through groups like Face Mask Aid, which was started in March and has distributed more than 6,400 masks to health care workers, firefighters, transit workers, and others. It’s not a surprise that many of the volunteers making masks have been women, many say. “Whenever there’s an emergency in the United States, women have always been called to make or create things,” Chin told Vox.
For example, after the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco, “women started coming together with other women and basically made impromptu soup kitchens right on the spot,” said Joslyn Brenton, a sociology professor at Ithaca College and a co-author of Pressure Cooker.
Even in normal times, women are more likely to volunteer than men are. And with social distancing guidelines making many types of in-person volunteering difficult, sewing masks is something people can still do — provided they have the skills and materials to do it.
But it’s not just volunteer work that’s often dominated by women. An increasing number of companies are pivoting to manufacture cloth masks during the pandemic, and the workers doing the sewing are likely to be those who typically do garment work in the US, Chin said: Asian American and Latinx immigrant women. Those women are on the front lines of the pandemic in many ways, Chin said, leaving their homes daily to make essential goods. But garment work in America is overwhelmingly low-wage work.
“It takes quite a high amount of skill to sew a mask,” Chin said, explaining that sewers have to know how to put in elastic, fold the fabric properly, and lay it out so that it falls correctly on the wearer’s face when assembled. But “I think because it’s been looked at as women’s work, it’s been devalued.”
The pandemic is changing how families shop and eat. Women are likely to bear the brunt of those changes.
Sewing isn’t the only form of labor that’s been affected by the pandemic. The spread of the virus has also changed the way many Americans feed themselves. With restaurants closed around the country, many people who might once have eaten out are now cooking all or most of their meals at home. And women may be bearing the brunt of that increase in meal preparation.
Women already spend more time cooking at home than men do — in one 2016 study, the average woman spent 50 minutes on cooking a day, while the average man spent 20. And while it’s too early for data on how families are feeding themselves during the pandemic, it’s likely that the increased demands of cooking every day will fall disproportionately on women as well.
That’s especially true because it’s not just about chopping, stirring, and sautéing. “The cognitive labor of getting food on the table has increased,” Sarah Bowen, a sociology professor at North Carolina State University and co-author of Pressure Cooker, told Vox. Shortages of staples like flour mean it can be harder to find everything a family needs, and public health officials have advised people to minimize shopping trips in order to limit exposure to the virus, meaning shoppers have to get everything they need in one weekly or biweekly trip.
And previous research shows that women take on more of the cognitive labor of household work — things like keeping a grocery list in their head — than men do, Bowen said. That kind of labor “is very, very gendered, even in situations where people might divide the physical tasks a bit more evenly.” In particular, research shows that women do more of the work of anticipating a family’s needs — knowing, for example, when the household is about to run out of toilet paper — than men do.
The demands of shopping and cooking during the pandemic likely fall especially hard on low-income women. Poor families often “don’t have enough money to have a pantry that’s very well stocked,” Bowen said, “which makes it all the more precarious when the store runs out of milk or eggs.”
And while some workers, many of them white-collar, are able to work from home during the pandemic and may have some flexibility in their schedules to shop and prepare meals, essential workers often don’t have that luxury. Some of those essential workers spend their days making sure others can eat, sometimes at the cost of their own safety. In particular, more than two-thirds of cashiers at grocery stores and fast food restaurants are women, Brenton said. These workers are in a vulnerable position, sometimes asked to work in crowded stores without proper protective equipment.
Historically, “women have been doing the majority of the work of feeding families and feeding other people,” Brenton said. And that work is now more difficult, and sometimes more dangerous, than ever.
With schools and day cares closed, women are likely to take on more child care
While the pandemic has changed how families feed themselves, it may have brought an even greater change in how they care for children. With schools and day cares closed around the country, many for the rest of the academic year, millions of children nationwide are now home with their parents all day. For many families, that means juggling child care and supervising online classes while working, whether it’s done from home or elsewhere as an essential worker.
As with cooking, there’s no clear data yet on how families are splitting up child care during the pandemic. But based on previous research, it’s possible to make some predictions. In heterosexual couples, “many of the gendered routines will likely spill over during the pandemic, which means that women are likely still doing a greater proportion of housework and child care,” said Yavorsky, who studies how families divide work.
That’s especially likely to be true in cases where the woman’s income is lower than the man’s, Yavorsky said. Given the uncertain economic outlook, families may choose to protect the man’s job at the cost of the woman doing more child care. For women, “if they are not the breadwinners, they may see an even greater deprioritization of their career,” Yavorsky said.
The picture could be different in some families, especially if the mother is working away from home as an essential worker, Yavorsky said. “If women, many of whom are on the front lines, are at work, men inevitably will spend more time doing child care.”
But for a lot of women, the pandemic could worsen existing inequalities holding them back in the job market. And there’s already evidence that women’s careers may be taking a hit. Editors of some academic journals are noticing a decline in submissions by female scholars, according to the Lily. One analysis of astrophysics paper submissions found that women’s productivity loss in recent months was up to 50 percent greater than men’s.
Unequal division of household labor during the pandemic could harm women’s long-term career prospects, Yavorsky said. What happens during this time could “position them to be less likely to get the next promotion, or less likely to get a wage increase.”
Meanwhile, the workers who used to provide child care while parents worked outside the home are now either out of work or risking exposure to continue working, often without adequate sick leave or health insurance. The National Domestic Workers Alliance (NDWA), which represents home care workers, house cleaners, and nannies, found in a survey that as of April 6, 72 percent of such workers were unemployed.
Those who are still working are often providing child care for the families of essential workers or home care for older adults or people with chronic illnesses. Home care workers, in particular, “are the only ones who are able to ensure that those people are staying safe, healthy, and staying out of our overburdened health care system,” Ai-Jen Poo, executive director of the NDWA, told Vox.
Related How the coronavirus pandemic will affect an entire generation of students
These workers are overwhelmingly female — more than 90 percent of domestic workers are women, Poo said, and the workforce is disproportionately women of color. And the majority are caring for their own children or other family members in addition to the people they care for at their jobs.
But domestic workers are typically not prioritized for Covid testing, often lack health insurance, and often earn “literally poverty wages” — an average of $16,000 a year for home care workers, Poo said. “When you think about what people are risking to keep us safe and keep this country together and what level of insecurity they’re living with right now, it’s really devastating.”
The pandemic could lead to a reckoning on “women’s work.” But only if we let it.
Across the board, women seem to be doing a disproportionate share of the work to keep people safe, fed, and cared for during this pandemic. And they’re often doing it without proper recognition or compensation. But, experts say, there’s also a chance for the pandemic to usher in a larger reckoning around the gendered division of labor in homes and in society.
“Some gender scholars are arguing that this pandemic may create the opportunity for men and women in heterosexual families to both gain more awareness of how much is involved in managing a household and raising children,” Elliott, the Pressure Cooker co-author, said. That could be an opportunity for couples to negotiate a fairer balance.
But for that to happen, “communication is really key,” Yavorsky said. “Couples need to come together and discuss all of the detailed tasks that need to get done for a day and try to allocate them as evenly as possible.”
And on a broader societal level, the work of caring for others needs to be valued as the essential labor that it is, advocates say. The NDWA is backing the Essential Workers Bill of Rights, which would provide domestic workers and others on the front lines with paid sick and family leave, hazard pay, and PPE, among other protections. Beyond that, domestic workers also need a living wage and health insurance, Poo said. “It is about ensuring and shoring up the safety net and access to quality jobs with benefits for this workforce that has historically been left behind.”
It’s also time to place a higher value on the work of sewing masks, many say. “Each one can take half an hour or an hour or even more to craft,” Chin said. “Why wouldn’t you pay somebody $40 for that?”
For Piontkowski, compensation is also key to making the work of sewing masks feel less exploitative. She heard of one volunteer who was asked to donate masks to a large grocery store — and while the workers there may not be able to afford the masks, she believes the store itself probably could. “They have money — they should just pay people,” Piontkowski said. “It seems pretty basic, but it is hard to get people to think about it that way.”
Overall, it’s laudable that women have often stepped up in times of crisis to use their skills and help others. But that willingness to pitch in shouldn’t be taken for granted, many say. Instead, we need to be asking questions as a society about the work of caring, cooking, and sewing for others during the pandemic, Elliott said — questions like, “is it visible as work that’s necessary to support communities?” and “is it being recognized as such, and in what ways?”
For Yavorsky, the pandemic has the potential to “expose a lot of the invisible work that many women shoulder” and to encourage society to value that labor more highly. “I am hopeful,” she said, “but I think it’s going to take a lot of hard work.”


vox--2020-04-30--Quarantine frugality is different from traditional thriftiness

“ Damn u eatin bread butt , ” our friend Fritz texted , after Kelly told the group chat she was planning to eat the heels of a loaf .
“ maybe i ’ ll make croutons w/ them , ” she replied , unfazed by his characterization , “ a bread butt sammy.
” Nothing is being invented here — eating the ends of your bread is as old as bread — and certainly nothing about it is weird or gross , but getting the absolute most out of the things you buy seems to have some fresh converts @ @ @ @ @ @ @ : saving glass jars , regrowing scallions , washing and reusing Ziploc bags .
( I ’ ve only just picked up that last one myself , turning gallon bags inside out and lining them up on my drying rack . )
Frugality is a trait and a value as old as time , spiking in certain cultures and generations , living situations and individuals , out of both necessity and outlook .
Behaving economically with money or resources has become both a rare virtue — on aspirational blogs like The Frugality or @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Life — and a cultural punchline — good for a joke about hoarders or one ’ s immigrant family , grandparents who lived through the Great Depression or good old-fashioned tightwads .
What ’ s newer , in fact , is the idea that some items are immediately and obviously disposable What ’ s newer , in fact , is the last 70-ish years of American materialism , which birthed the idea that some items are immediately and obviously disposable , or that eating food that you bought and paid for , food @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As a widespread attitude , it ’ s historically unusual and it may be , at least for now , fading .
Since quarantine started , following the spread of Covid-19 , there has been a move away from this culture of waste .
This new strain of frugality — call it the novel frugality — is defined by its attachment to this moment and its participants ’ motivations .
While it might mirror long-held practices ( like not throwing away aluminum foil or consciously saving scraps of leftovers to make new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ different .
As Kelly says , when I GChat her later to ask about bread butt free of judgment , the impulse is “ one part war effort/ration , one part guilt , one part stay the fuck inside.
” Ronald E. Goldsmith is a consumer psychologist and a professor at Florida State University who has researched and written about frugality , but he tells me that its inverse — materialism — has been studied a lot more .
Goldsmith defines materialism as “ the acquisition of goods for their own sake , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to argue it hasn ’ t become something of an entrenched American value .
In 2019 , personal consumer spending was two-thirds of the gross domestic product .
According to a survey from digital marketing firm Episerver , more than a quarter of Americans shopped online once a week .
But we don ’ t hold onto this stuff ; we ’ re also the most wasteful country in the world .
To keep up our cycle of accumulation , we ’ ve created a culture of disposability .
“ Deliberate obsolescence in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , or planned — is a uniquely American invention , ” writes Giles Slade in Made to Break , his 2006 book about North America ’ s problem with waste .
“ Not only did we invent disposable products , ranging from diapers to cameras to contact lenses , but we invented the very concept of disposability itself.
” In many ways , this disposability — like the archetypal grandparent frugality — grew out of a response to the Great Depression .
Following World War II , expendability was not only “ a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as Nigel Whiteley writes in “ Toward a Throw-Away Culture : Consumerism , ‘ Style Obsolescence ’ and Cultural Theory in the 1950s and 1960s , ” but a “ symbol of belief in the modern age.
” America was flush , and we didn ’ t have to hold tight to the old anymore .
( This time period also coincided with the birth of consumer psychology , Goldsmith tells me , which may account for the lack of academic texts studying the psychology of frugality following the Great Depression — the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the time . )
For generations now , limited-use products — from paper plates and plastic cutlery and K-cups to burner phones and even disposable computers — have become part of our collective fabric .
This throw-away attitude extends even to perfectly usable items — for an extreme ( hilarious ) example , think Jacqueline from The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt tossing out an unopened bottle of water because it had been removed from the fridge .
That ’ s how the average American ends up throwing out 2,555 pounds of trash every year @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bears .
In this environment , the remaining holdouts have often been laughed at , ignored , and little studied , but they haven ’ t disappeared .
Over the phone , Goldsmith explains to me that his work separated frugality into two types : intrinsic and extrinsic .
It can be a natural or externally created trait ; some people might be wealthy and still parsimonious , others might come to their thriftiness because of their living situation .
In the 2015 paper “ The etiology of frugal spending , ” written @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Goldsmith hypothesizes that intrinsically frugal people show greater cultural independence and self-discipline , that they “ must practice self-control in order to save rather than spend.
” On the other hand , extrinsically frugal consumers traditionally “ have little choice but to limit their spending.
” As Goldsmith told Vox , the externally compelled people he studied had their habits “ imposed upon them by the circumstances they find themselves in .
They simply don ’ t have the resources to spend .
It ’ s not that they don ’ t want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ have it.
” That ’ s where pandemic-related frugality distinguishes itself .
Its situational rise implies new practitioners might not be intrinsically frugal ( sorry to Kelly , you ’ re still better with money than I am ) — but it is not necessarily true that consumers in this moment don ’ t have the money to spend .
What makes the novel frugality novel While there are undoubtedly financial pressures thanks to a cratering and existentially uncertain economy , there ’ s reason to believe that money concerns aren ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
According to a McKinsey study about the effect of the coronavirus on consumers , while American respondents are generally planning to spend less money overall , they expect to spend more in the categories that overlap with these new habits ( up 15 percent to 30 percent for groceries , and up to 15 percent for household goods ) .
Anecdotally , many of the burgeoning thrifty report alternative motivations .
“ When it comes to plastic bags now , it was like , ‘ no , why would I ditch this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ director at BuzzFeed , tweeted that he found himself “ diligently washing then saving every single used glass vessel , and I don ’ t know why.
” On a phone call , Namako reports that at its peak his collection included “ like 20 bottles ” with no clear plan for their use .
He ’ s considering using the bottles for scallion regrowth or pickling , and he ’ s also started washing Ziplocs and aluminum foil .
His motivation , he ’ s realizing , is largely safety .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ things , but when it comes to plastic bags now , it was like , ‘ no , why would I ditch this ?
’ ” Namako says , “ You can kind of see the chain reaction it has if you do ditch it , where people are out more , and that ’ s not what needs to happen right now.
” Every plastic bag you throw away means you ’ re buying a new pack sooner , sending yourself or someone else out into the world to get it .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ have embraced reusability are trying to keep both themselves and essential workers from unnecessary movement .
Allison Van Evera , social media manager for @ CarefullyApp , says she has long saved bread crusts , typically sticking them “ in the freezer with high hopes of using them up at a later date , ” but life often got in the way ( her kids aren ’ t fans ) .
Now , her family can no longer pop over to Costco whenever they want — or at least they ’ re choosing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ avoid the stores as much as possible to limit exposure , ” she tells me via email .
They ’ re shopping infrequently , and studiously avoiding Costco or the grocery store on busy weekends .
“ We needed to be more efficient with our food , ” she writes .
When Teri , who lives in Arkansas with her husband , found herself rinsing out Ziploc bags she tweeted , “ I ’ m turning into my grandmother !
” Teri , whom I reached via DM and who requested to go @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t entirely new to frugal behavior either : She already made a point to wash reusable rubber bags and found herself doing the same with plastic , but this was just one change among many .
Teri is also rationing to avoid the supermarket , being more conscious of not wasting food , and making more from scratch — including bread .
She says that she first knew things were going to be “ strange for a while ” when she saw empty shelves at her local store .
“ Knowing that people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that supplies would be hard to find , so Teri wanted to hold onto the stuff she already had .
That unknown is a looming question for everyone at the moment , essential workers as well as those able to quarantine at home , and perhaps as much as the fear of economic collapse , there ’ s also a fear of scarcity .
With runs on toilet paper , flour , hand sanitizer , and more , regular people have rarely found themselves so concerned with the supply chain .
There have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , including meatpacking plants , that may lead to future shortages .
We ’ re not in any current danger of an aluminum foil shortage , but the fear remains .
So what is healthy frugality , and when does it slip into something more problematic ?
Elaine Birchall , author of the book Conquer the Clutter and current host of a Zoom podcast for those struggling with stuff , has been a social worker specializing in mental health and intervention for hoarders for 19 years .
When I meet Birchall on Zoom @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and does not have in common with her area of expertise , she tells me that the fear of scarcity that caused panic-buying is the same one that hoarders experience — a fear of being “ alone and deprived.
” As Birchall explains , hoarding is a nuanced affliction with multiple , sometimes overlapping paths that lead to the same crowded conclusion , but some people are set off simply by what she calls “ a friendly relationship to clutter ” and an overwhelming event or series of events .
The issues she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , and most pressingly : isolation .
She helps clients , before and now , work through how to persevere , to trust that there will be enough .
Birchall ’ s own household found itself down to one roll of toilet paper ( “ because I do not hoard ” ) but , just as she tells her clients , the universe provided and she was able to buy more before it became a problem .
She says that an important guideline is that everything in your home be able to have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there ’ s no place for your collection of 20 glass bottles , you can not have 20 glass bottles .
Of course , plenty of people have a balanced relationship with frugality , often passed down , culturally ingrained despite the dominance of materialism in North America .
The thriftiness reported in many immigrant families may track back to experience with financial uncertainty , but also with a community-mindedness that stands in stark contrast to American individualism .
Karen K. Ho , a global finance and economics reporter for Quartz , has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when she first saw people tweeting about buying rice in bulk , she was struck at the idea that this was new behavior .
Ho immigrated from Canada to the US in 2018 ; her parents immigrated from Hong Kong before she was born .
“ My mom immigrated to Canada with $ 100 .
Her entire life in Canada was predisposed on economic precarity , ” Ho tells me in a phone call .
Growing up , she says she didn ’ t know that they were working class , but her @ @ @ @ @ @ @ her and her sister .
“ You always pack lunch , as an immigrant family , ” she says , in contrast to high school classmates who would buy theirs .
She ’ s long kept a pantry and saved plastic tubs from margarine and other groceries .
Friends with a casual relationship to grocery shopping , who treated it as a leisure activity performed multiple times a week , felt bizarre to Ho ; “ your time is valuable , ” she says .
Ho tells me that this awareness about value @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re unlikely to be compensated the same as white counterparts ( “ who gets laid off first , whose benefits get cut , ” Ho describes ) and that by extension getting a good deal can be a way of beating an unfair system .
But she also explains that continuing to save and be thrifty comes from a concern for the people you love .
Immigrants and refugees , she says , have a sense of “ geopolitical awareness , ” and often a desire to help family living overseas .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has to go around to more places , ” she says , describing how it ’ s always been understood that she would be working in part to support her family , because they helped her get where she is .
While the isolation of quarantine could lead to troubling behavior , there ’ s some reason to believe that it ’ s also causing just a bit of that community feeling in new groups .
It might also finally be forcing many to reckon with what they do have .
Trapped in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but to face our stuff .
For years , environmental and inequality activists have encouraged consumer consciousness , through popular but ultimately small movements like zero waste and “ no-buy.
” Consumers have largely pinned their ecological hopes on recycling , ignoring “ reduce ” and “ reuse ” when it comes to the three Rs .
Now reusing is having a small moment .
As Namako says , we ’ re “ thinking more about using everything we have at our disposal.
” For those I spoke to , a greater awareness @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bit of regret : “ I feel like we should have been doing all of these things before — meal planning , using up leftovers , cooking meals at home , and being creative with what ’ s in our pantry , fridge , and freezer , ” Van Evera says .
For his part , Namako admits to being “ sort of embarrassed ” that plastic bag and aluminum foil reuse is a new habit .
Still , Van Evera tells me , “ nothing like a pandemic to force you into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
As an expert in pre-pandemic frugality , Goldsmith says , “ I think that when all the researchers start studying this they ’ re probably going to find that there was an element of anxiety associated with it , hence the hoarding.
” If hoarding is the most perverse outcome of frugality meeting materialism , one based in fear and isolation , that doesn ’ t mean there isn ’ t a healthier intersection possible , and even reflected in the statements of the fairly fortunate people I spoke to .
While @ @ @ @ @ @ @ will up and stop ( even if that would be a spiritual and environmental good ) , before the pandemic , experts hadn ’ t highlighted the community-minded aspects of frugality or encountered a materialism that was commonly aware of the supply chain .
“ Certainly , people will probably pull back , not just because they have to , ” Goldsmith says .
But he points to , say , an unwillingness to book cruises , not necessarily a fundamental change in values .
Grandchildren in 2056 might be more likely to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ than her bread butt sammies .
Frugality that ’ s based in safety and scarcity might not outlast the dangers of Covid-19 , and if environmentalism is any indication , people will likely struggle to hold onto the idea that we should consider reuse for a greater good .
It might be easy to forget all this , but for now it ’ s definitely novel .
Every day at Vox , we aim to answer your most important questions and provide you , and our audience around the world , with information @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Our mission has never been more vital than it is in this moment : to empower you through understanding .
Vox ’ s work is reaching more people than ever , but our distinctive brand of explanatory journalism takes resources — particularly during a pandemic and an economic downturn .
Your financial contribution will not constitute a donation , but it will enable our staff to continue to offer free articles , videos , and podcasts at the quality and volume that this moment requires .
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“Damn u eatin bread butt,” our friend Fritz texted, after Kelly told the group chat she was planning to eat the heels of a loaf.
“maybe i’ll make croutons w/ them,” she replied, unfazed by his characterization, “a bread butt sammy.”
Nothing is being invented here — eating the ends of your bread is as old as bread — and certainly nothing about it is weird or gross, but getting the absolute most out of the things you buy seems to have some fresh converts. Other recently developed behaviors being reported: saving glass jars, regrowing scallions, washing and reusing Ziploc bags. (I’ve only just picked up that last one myself, turning gallon bags inside out and lining them up on my drying rack.)
Frugality is a trait and a value as old as time, spiking in certain cultures and generations, living situations and individuals, out of both necessity and outlook. Behaving economically with money or resources has become both a rare virtue — on aspirational blogs like the Frugality or self-help tomes like Your Money or Your Life — and a cultural punchline, good for a joke about hoarders or one’s immigrant family, grandparents who lived through the Great Depression, or good old-fashioned tightwads.
What’s newer, in fact, is the idea that some items are immediately and obviously disposable
What’s newer, in fact, is the past 70-ish years of American materialism, which birthed the idea that some items are immediately and obviously disposable, or that eating food that you bought and paid for, food made of food, is inherently strange. As a widespread attitude, it’s historically unusual and it may be, at least for now, fading.
Since quarantine started, following the spread of Covid-19, there has been a move away from this culture of waste. This new strain of frugality — call it the novel frugality — is defined by its attachment to this moment and its participants’ motivations. While it might mirror long-held practices (like not throwing away aluminum foil or consciously saving scraps of leftovers to make new meals), its impetus is slightly different.
As Kelly says, when I GChat her later to ask about bread butt free of judgment, the impulse is “one part war effort/ration, one part guilt, one part stay the fuck inside.”
American materialism and pre-pandemic frugality
Ronald E. Goldsmith is a consumer psychologist and a professor at Florida State University who has researched and written about frugality, but he tells me that its inverse — materialism — has been studied a lot more.
Goldsmith defines materialism as “the acquisition of goods for their own sake,” and it’d be hard to argue it hasn’t become something of an entrenched American value. In 2019, personal consumer spending was two-thirds of the gross domestic product. According to a survey from the digital marketing firm Episerver, more than a quarter of Americans shopped online once a week. But they don’t hold on to this stuff; the US is also the most wasteful country in the world. To keep up our cycle of accumulation, we’ve created a culture of disposability.
“Deliberate obsolescence in all its forms — technological, psychological, or planned — is a uniquely American invention,” writes Giles Slade in Made to Break, his 2006 book about North America’s problem with waste. “Not only did we invent disposable products, ranging from diapers to cameras to contact lenses, but we invented the very concept of disposability itself.”
In many ways, this disposability — like the archetypal grandparent frugality — grew out of a response to the Great Depression. Following World War II, expendability was not only “a physical fact of many products,” as Nigel Whiteley writes in “Toward a Throw-Away Culture: Consumerism, ‘Style Obsolescence’ and Cultural Theory in the 1950s and 1960s,” but a “symbol of belief in the modern age.” America was flush, and we didn’t have to hold tight to the old anymore. (This period also coincided with the birth of consumer psychology, Goldsmith tells me, which may account for the lack of academic texts studying the psychology of frugality following the Great Depression — the discipline simply didn’t exist at the time.)
For generations now, limited-use products — from paper plates, plastic cutlery, and K-cups to burner phones and even disposable computers — have become part of our collective fabric. This throwaway attitude extends even to perfectly usable items — for an extreme (hilarious) example, think Jacqueline from The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt tossing out an unopened bottle of water because it had been removed from the fridge. That’s how the average American ends up throwing out 2,555 pounds of trash every year, the equivalent weight of two grizzly bears.
In this environment, the remaining holdouts have often been laughed at, ignored, and little studied, but they haven’t disappeared.
Over the phone, Goldsmith explains to me that his work separated frugality into two types: intrinsic and extrinsic. It can be a natural or externally created trait; some people might be wealthy and still parsimonious, others might come to their thriftiness because of their living situation.
In the 2015 paper “The etiology of frugal spending,” written along with professor Leisa R. Flynn, Goldsmith hypothesizes that intrinsically frugal people show greater cultural independence and self-discipline, that they “must practice self-control in order to save rather than spend.” On the other hand, extrinsically frugal consumers traditionally “have little choice but to limit their spending.”
As Goldsmith told me, the externally compelled people he studied had their habits “imposed upon them by the circumstances they find themselves in. They simply don’t have the resources to spend. It’s not that they don’t want to, they just don’t have it.”
That’s where pandemic-related frugality distinguishes itself. Its situational rise implies new practitioners might not be intrinsically frugal (sorry to Kelly, you’re still better with money than I am) — but it is not necessarily true that consumers in this moment don’t have the money to spend.
What makes the novel frugality novel
While there are undoubtedly financial pressures due to a cratering and existentially uncertain economy, there’s reason to believe that money concerns aren’t the full explanation for recent behavioral changes. According to a McKinsey study about the effect of the coronavirus on consumers, while American respondents are generally planning to spend less money overall, they expect to spend more in the categories that overlap with these new habits (up 15 percent to 30 percent for groceries, and up to 15 percent for household goods). Anecdotally, many of the burgeoning thrifty report alternative motivations.
“When it comes to plastic bags now, it was like, ‘No, why would I ditch this?’”
Tom Namako, news director at BuzzFeed, tweeted that he found himself “diligently washing then saving every single used glass vessel, and I don’t know why.” On a phone call, Namako reports that at its peak his collection included “like 20 bottles” with no clear plan for their use. He’s considering using the bottles for scallion regrowth or pickling, and he’s also started washing Ziplocs and aluminum foil. His motivation, he’s realizing, is largely safety.
“I was always pretty conscious about wasting things, but when it comes to plastic bags now, it was like, ‘No, why would I ditch this?’” Namako says, “You can kind of see the chain reaction it has if you do ditch it, where people are out more, and that’s not what needs to happen right now.” Every plastic bag you throw away means you’re buying a new pack sooner, sending yourself or someone else out into the world to get it. He posits that he and others who have embraced reusability are trying to keep both themselves and essential workers from unnecessary movement.
Allison Van Evera, social media manager for @CarefullyApp, says she has long saved bread crusts, typically sticking them “in the freezer with high hopes of using them up at a later date,” but life often got in the way (her kids aren’t fans). Now, her family can no longer pop over to Costco whenever they want — or at least they’re choosing not to. “We decided to avoid the stores as much as possible to limit exposure,” she tells me via email. They’re shopping infrequently, and studiously avoiding Costco or the grocery store on busy weekends. “We needed to be more efficient with our food,” she writes.
When Teri, who lives in Arkansas with her husband, found herself rinsing out Ziploc bags she tweeted, “I’m turning into my grandmother!” Teri, whom I reached via DM and who requested to go by her first name, wasn’t entirely new to frugal behavior either: She already made a point to wash reusable rubber bags and found herself doing the same with plastic, but this was just one change among many.
“I’m turning into my grandmother!”
Teri is also rationing to avoid the supermarket, being more conscious of not wasting food, and making more from scratch — including bread. She says she first knew things were going to be “strange for a while” when she saw empty shelves at her local store. “Knowing that people were struggling with the unknown” meant that supplies would be hard to find, so Teri wanted to hold on to the stuff she already had.
That unknown is a looming question for everyone at the moment, essential workers as well as those able to quarantine at home, and perhaps as much as the fear of economic collapse, there’s also a fear of scarcity. With runs on toilet paper, flour, hand sanitizer, and more, regular people have rarely found themselves so concerned with the supply chain. There have also been worrying outbreaks at some factories, including meatpacking plants, that may lead to future shortages. We’re not in any current danger of an aluminum foil shortage, but the fear remains.
Even pre-pandemic, frugality wasn’t monolithic
So what is healthy frugality, and when does it slip into something more problematic?
Elaine Birchall, author of the book Conquer the Clutter and host of a Zoom podcast for those struggling with stuff, has been a social worker specializing in mental health and intervention for hoarders for 19 years. When I meet Birchall on Zoom to discuss what this new behavior does and does not have in common with her area of expertise, she tells me that the fear of scarcity that caused panic-buying is the same one that hoarders experience — a fear of being “alone and deprived.”
As Birchall explains, hoarding is a nuanced affliction with multiple, sometimes overlapping paths that lead to the same crowded conclusion, but some people are set off simply by what she calls “a friendly relationship to clutter” and an overwhelming event or series of events. The issues she sees across clients are depression, anxiety, and most pressingly: isolation.
She helps clients, before and now, work through how to persevere, to trust that there will be enough. Birchall’s own household found itself down to one roll of toilet paper (“because I do not hoard”) but, just as she tells her clients, the universe provided and she was able to buy more before it became a problem. She says an important guideline is that everything in your home be able to have a permanent place — i.e., if there’s no place for your collection of 20 glass bottles, you cannot have 20 glass bottles.
Of course, plenty of people have a balanced relationship with frugality, often passed down, culturally ingrained despite the dominance of materialism in North America. The thriftiness reported in many immigrant families may track back to experience with financial uncertainty, but also with a community-mindedness that stands in stark contrast to American individualism.
Karen K. Ho, a global finance and economics reporter for Quartz, has always been cautious with money, so when she first saw people tweeting about buying rice in bulk, she was struck at the idea that this was new behavior. Ho immigrated from Canada to the US in 2018; her parents immigrated from Hong Kong before she was born.
“My mom immigrated to Canada with $100. Her entire life in Canada was predisposed on economic precarity,” Ho tells me in a phone call. Growing up, she says she didn’t know that they were working class, but her parents’ habits became second nature to her and her sister. “You always pack lunch, as an immigrant family,” she says, in contrast to high school classmates who would buy theirs. She’s long kept a pantry and saved plastic tubs from margarine and other groceries. Friends with a casual relationship to grocery shopping, who treated it as a leisure activity performed multiple times a week, felt bizarre to Ho; “your time is valuable,” she says.
She tells me that this awareness about value comes back to knowing that you’re unlikely to be compensated the same as white counterparts (“who gets laid off first, whose benefits get cut,” Ho describes) and that by extension, getting a good deal can be a way of beating an unfair system.
But she also explains that continuing to save and be thrifty comes from a concern for the people you love. Immigrants and refugees, she says, have a sense of “geopolitical awareness,” and often a desire to help family living overseas. “You’re saving money because it has to go around to more places,” she says, describing how it’s always been understood that she would be working in part to support her family, because they helped her get where she is.
Frugality for the greater good
While the isolation of quarantine could lead to troubling behavior, there’s some reason to believe it’s also causing just a bit of that community feeling in new groups. It might also finally be forcing many to reckon with what they do have. Trapped in our homes, we have no choice but to face our stuff.
For years, environmental and inequality activists have encouraged consumer consciousness, through popular but ultimately small movements like zero waste and “no-buy.” Consumers have largely pinned their ecological hopes on recycling, ignoring “reduce” and “reuse” when it comes to the three Rs. Now reusing is having a small moment. As Namako says, we’re “thinking more about using everything we have at our disposal.”
For those I spoke to, a greater awareness of resources in quarantine resulted in a bit of regret: “I feel like we should have been doing all of these things before — meal planning, using up leftovers, cooking meals at home, and being creative with what’s in our pantry, fridge, and freezer,” Van Evera says. For his part, Namako admits to being “sort of embarrassed” that plastic bag and aluminum foil reuse is a new habit.
Still, Van Evera tells me, “nothing like a pandemic to force you into action.”
This is all early days. As an expert in pre-pandemic frugality, Goldsmith says, “I think that when all the researchers start studying this they’re probably going to find that there was an element of anxiety associated with it, hence the hoarding.”
If hoarding is the most perverse outcome of frugality meeting materialism, one based in fear and isolation, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a healthier intersection possible, and even reflected in the statements of the fairly fortunate people I spoke to. While it seems unlikely that our acquisitive culture will up and stop (even if that would be a spiritual and environmental good), before the pandemic, experts hadn’t highlighted the community-minded aspects of frugality or encountered a materialism that was commonly aware of the supply chain.
“Certainly, people will probably pull back, not just because they have to,” Goldsmith says. But he points to, say, an unwillingness to book cruises, not necessarily a fundamental change in values.
Grandchildren in 2056 might be more likely to notice Nana’s obsessive hand-washing than her bread butt sammies. Frugality that’s based in safety and scarcity might not outlast the dangers of Covid-19, and if environmentalism is any indication, people will likely struggle to hold on to the idea that we should consider reuse for a greater good. It might be easy to forget all this, but for now it’s definitely novel.


vox--2020-04-30--Armed protesters entered Michigan’s state capitol during rally against stay-at-home order

Hundreds of demonstrators — some of them heavily armed — crowded into Michigan ’ s state capitol Thursday afternoon to protest against Democratic Gov .
Gretchen Whitmer ’ s shelter-at-home order .
The demonstration began outside the capitol early in the day in heavy rain , but later in the afternoon , police allowed several hundred protestors — many not wearing masks — inside the building itself .
Protestors stood in the gallery while others attempted to gain access to the House floor , cramming themselves into the entryway chanting “ Let us in !
” They were held at @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
While not all protestors were armed , there were some armed men in the crowd inside .
Michigan is an open-carry state , and people are allowed to openly carry inside the state capitol , though signs and banners are banned from the building to prevent potential damage to the architecture .
Democratic State Sen. Dayna Polehanki tweeted that some of her colleagues had worn bullet-proof vests to cast their votes .
Journalist Anna Liz Nichols of the nonprofit news organization Michigan Advance tweeted that she was hit by the butt of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clarifying that she ’ s “ completely fine.
” As the protests progressed , chants of “ lock her up , ” and “ heil Whitmer , ” broke out inside the capitol .
The “ American Patriot Rally ” was organized in response to a vote being debated in the state legislature Thursday on whether to continue Michigan ’ s state of emergency , which was declared March 10 to address the coronavirus pandemic .
The Republican-held legislature ultimately voted to revoke the emergency declaration Thursday as protestors looked on .
Republican @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the governor over her shelter-at-home order , despite a state court ruling Wednesday that said the order was constitutional .
As of April 30 , Michigan has over 41,300 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and over 3,700 deaths , according to state government data .
Whitmer ’ s shelter-at-home order has been in place since March 23 , but she loosened the order ’ s breadth in her latest extension last Friday , allowing landscapers , lawn-service companies , plant nurseries , and bike repair shops to reopen under strict social distancing measures @ @ @ @ @ @ @ recreational activity to be resumed .
According to NBC News , a group called Michigan United for Liberty organized Thursday ’ s rally .
The same group organized the first protest against social distancing in the state , on April 7 .
MUFL ’ s Facebook event group for Thursday ’ s protest was taken down by Facebook last week , according to VICE News .
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Good Morning America on April 20 that groups organizing social distancing protests classify as “ harmful misinformation ” and said the company @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Michigan has been a hotspot of right-wing protests against the governor ’ s social distancing policies .
On April 16 , a different conservative group , Michigan Conservative Coalition , along with the US Education Secretary Betsy DeVos-linked group Michigan Freedom Fund , organized “ Operation Gridlock ” to protest Whitmer ’ s executive actions .
Operation Gridlock was initially supposed to consist of protestors driving around in their cars and trucks , honking their horns and creating noise to protest the shelter-at-home order .
But some protestors eventually left their vehicles @ @ @ @ @ @ @ workers from getting to work on time , turning the event into a makeshift political rally .
Some attendees wore “ Make America Great Again ” gear while others displayed confederate flags .
As with Thursday ’ s protest at the capitol , some heavily-armed men gathered on the steps of the state capitol .
The next morning , President Donald Trump tweeted in support of the protest .
The Michigan protests are part of a larger series of conservative protest campaigns against shelter-at-home orders and other social distancing policies that have spanned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups rely on a small pool of conservative financiers , organizers of the actual protests are typically locally-based .
As Vox ’ s Jane Coaston explains , these protests in Michigan and elsewhere are partly about the specifics of the lockdowns put in place in the various states and the economic hardship they ’ ve created .
But , Coaston says , “ many of those involved in the protests are connected not by mere concern ” over these policies , “ but by their efforts to reelect the president.
” “ Trump @ @ @ @ @ @ @ coronavirus becomes a pandemic of Democratic governors and the fault of blue states while other states get right back to business as usual , ” Coaston writes .

Hundreds of demonstrators — some of them heavily armed — crowded into Michigan’s state Capitol Thursday afternoon to protest against Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s shelter-at-home order.
The demonstration began outside the Capitol early in the day in heavy rain, but later in the afternoon, police allowed several hundred protesters — many not wearing masks — inside the building itself.
Protesters stood in the gallery while others attempted to gain access to the House floor, cramming themselves into the entryway chanting “Let us in!” They were held at bay by the chamber’s sergeant at arms.
Protest moves inside Michigan Capitol. Crowd attempts to get onto Hoise floor. Lots of Michigan State Police and House sergeants at arms blocking door. pic.twitter.com/4FNQpimP4W — Rod Meloni (@RodMeloni) April 30, 2020
While not all the protesters were armed, there were some armed men in the crowd inside. Michigan is an open-carry state, and people are allowed to openly carry inside the state Capitol, though signs and banners are banned from the building to prevent potential damage to the architecture.
Democratic state Sen. Dayna Polehanki tweeted that some of her colleagues had worn bulletproof vests to cast their votes.
Directly above me, men with rifles yelling at us. Some of my colleagues who own bullet proof vests are wearing them. I have never appreciated our Sergeants-at-Arms more than today. #mileg pic.twitter.com/voOZpPYWOs — Senator Dayna Polehanki (@SenPolehanki) April 30, 2020
Journalist Anna Liz Nichols of the nonprofit news organization Michigan Advance tweeted that she was hit by the butt of a protester’s rifle, later clarifying that she’s “completely fine.”
As the protests progressed, chants of “lock her up,” and “heil Whitmer,” broke out inside the Capitol building.
At the MI Capitol pic.twitter.com/IuYoBhstIg — Anna Liz Nichols (@annaliznichols) April 30, 2020
The “American Patriot Rally” was organized in response to a vote being debated in the state legislature Thursday on whether to continue Michigan’s state of emergency, which was declared on March 10 to address the coronavirus pandemic.
The Republican-held legislature ultimately voted to revoke the emergency declaration Thursday as protesters looked on. Republican state legislators are now preparing to sue the governor over her shelter-at-home order, despite a state court ruling Wednesday that said the order was constitutional.
As of April 30, Michigan has over 41,300 confirmed coronavirus cases and over 3,700 deaths, according to state government data.
Whitmer’s shelter-at-home order has been in place since March 23, but she loosened the order’s breadth in her latest extension last Friday, allowing landscapers, lawn-service companies, plant nurseries, and bike repair shops to reopen under strict social distancing measures. The order also allows some outdoor recreational activity to be resumed.
According to NBC News, a group called Michigan United for Liberty (MUFL) organized Thursday’s rally. The same group organized the first protest against social distancing in the state on April 7.
MUFL’s Facebook event group for Thursday’s protest was taken down by Facebook last week, according to VICE News. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told Good Morning America on April 20 that groups organizing social distancing protests classify as “harmful misinformation” and said the company would take down posts promoting such events.
Michigan has been a hot spot for right-wing protests against the governor’s social distancing policies. On April 16, a different conservative group, Michigan Conservative Coalition, along with the Education Secretary Betsy DeVos-linked group Michigan Freedom Fund, organized “Operation Gridlock” to protest against Whitmer’s executive actions.
Operation Gridlock was initially supposed to consist of protesters driving around in their cars and trucks, honking their horns, and creating noise to protest against the shelter-at-home order.
But some protesters eventually left their vehicles, snarling traffic, and preventing health care workers from getting to work on time, turning the event into a makeshift political rally. Some attendees wore “Make America Great Again” gear while others displayed confederate flags. As with Thursday’s protest, some armed men gathered on the steps of the state Capitol.
The next morning, President Donald Trump tweeted in support of the protest.
LIBERATE MICHIGAN! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 17, 2020
The Michigan protests are part of a larger series of conservative protest campaigns against shelter-at-home orders and other social distancing policies that have spanned multiple states. Many of the protest groups rely on a small pool of conservative financiers; organizers of the actual protests are typically locally-based.
As Vox’s Jane Coaston explained, these protests in Michigan and elsewhere are partly about the specifics of the lockdowns put in place in the various states and the economic hardship they’ve created. But, Coaston says, “many of those involved in the protests are connected not by mere concern” over these policies, “but by their efforts to reelect the president.”
“Trump’s political gambit requires that the coronavirus becomes a pandemic of Democratic governors and the fault of blue states while other states get right back to business as usual,” Coaston wrote.