Josie Harris Robinson and her husband are both front-line shift workers in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic.
She's a nurse and her husband, Aaron Robinson, is a Wilmington firefighter. They both had to scramble, with just six days notice, to figure out a new way of life when a required shift change took effect for firefighters on July 1. City firefighters have transitioned--against their will after losing the latest legal battle in an appeal to the Delaware Public Employee Relations Board--to a 24/48 shift. The shift requires them to work 24 straight hours and then have 48 hours off. They used to have 72 hours off.
"I'm expected to be at work at 7 a.m. ready for duty, and when I have to worry about whether my husband's actually getting off work on time or going to be ordered to work, or any variability, it makes it challenging for me to produce on my end and to keep my commitments as a nurse, and that's unacceptable. I just can't not show up for work...especially as a nurse. I'm expected to be there to take care of my patients," Harris Robinson told WDEL.