States Recognizing Janitors As Essential Workers

The importance of the work frontline cleaning staff do day after day has never been a question among those in the commercial cleaning industry. Building service contractors, facility managers and jan/san distributors all know that it's the janitors and custodians whose work helps keeps hundreds of millions of Americans healthy each day. A strong amount of hospitals, schools, universities and businesses are aware of just how special these workers are, too. But members of the public have been generally unaware of the impact janitors, housekeepers and custodians have on daily life. They're getting to understand that impact now.

As the COVID-19 continues to ravage the United States, virtually all Americans are been tasked to stick to their homes, while businesses shut down and streets grow eerily barren. However, some places are staying open everywhere, such as hospitals and grocery stores. As a result, the people who work at these facilities and those that clean them are risking their own health for the masses.

Eight of America's 50 states have put forth "state-at-home" orders in an effort to slow the spread of COVID-19, reports Fox 59. These states, which include America's three largest cities, are only permitting workers they deem to be "essential" to continue to function. 

In Illinois, for example, doctors and nurses are of course permitted to continue to worker. But factory workers whose labor is an important function to the success of society are also able to work, as are store cashiers, gas station attendants, home health aids, truck drivers and janitors. A story sharing input from these types of workers (including one janitor) was recently published by the Chicago Tribune. Click here to read that story.