WASHINGTON POST: ‘It’s too early to go back’: Workers fear for their health and finances as states rush to reopen

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For 20 years, Demetris Hall worked as a janitor not far from Cleveland, most recently cleaning tables and windows in a local mall and food court. She was laid off in late March, like many others around the country, as cash-strapped businesses shuttered.

It took weeks of trying, and her daughter’s help, just to apply and obtain unemployment, which finally arrived later in April. Since then, Ohio has started reopening, threatening to revoke benefits for those who turn down employment. That’s left the 53-year-old in a precarious position. She’s making more now, but she knows unemployment won’t last forever. She fears for her safety, but she said she’d “rather work” anyway.

“I don’t think it’s right,” Hall said of Ohio’s recent threats. “It’s too early to go back. But if I got to go back, I got to go back.”