The pandemic isn't over.

With a historic $7 billion surplus in our state's budget, the legislature must fulfill our commitment to frontline workers across Minnesota and give each the $1,500 bonus pay they have earned. Among the 667,000 workers include those working in health care, transit, grocery stores, child care centers, schools, long term care facilities, and more. The money acknowledges their sacrifice and the risk they faced when we all stayed home. But they deserve more from all of us—they deserve our collective efforts to end a pandemic that is far from over by any measure.

Hospital and nursing home staff are working as best they can to manage cases. But our system is overloaded, beds are full. Leaders in healthcare are now pleading with us to do what we can to stop the spread of the virus: Vaccinate, get the booster, mask up, and test.  Workers in other industries faced great risk with inadequate protection. They still wait for frontline worker pay while profits soar for the companies they work for. Coupled with the premature loss of our elders is the suffering of their caregivers who remain in their jobs, facing brutal work conditions.

The burden of the pandemic has been borne by low wage workers and workers of color despite all our understanding of racial disparities in Minnesota. And racial health disparities have only been exacerbated during the pandemic. What's more, a generation of children are losing their parents. Despite the cold and inaccurate conclusions drawn by those elected to represent us, COVID is infecting children and more are losing their lives. A continued pandemic impacts their learning. It interrupts their ability to go to school. It disrupts parents' ability to balance. I want our kids to be in school, and able to learn safely.

With 800,000 Americans dead from the virus, the grim work of essential workers is unabated. I sometimes wonder if the rest of us are numb because of the magnitude of death or if it serves as protection against the profound grief we are all due.

The pandemic is not over. We need our frontline workers. They deserve bonus pay, permanent wage increases, worker protections and more. We should extend presumptive eligibility and make treatment for PTSD available for anyone on the frontlines in need of it. I'm ready to fight for these, for our workers.

For the rest of us, we must do our part:  Get our shots. Mask up. Love our neighbor. That’s how we get out of this, together. Our bright future depends on it.