Connecticut must invest in a worker-centered recovery
When my colleagues and I go in to convene the new legislative session, we have the daunting task of crafting a balanced state budget in the face of massive unemployment and billion-dollar deficits that will make providing relief to working people struggling in a global pandemic, indeed, a heavy lift.
As I begin my fourth term as state representative, I am keenly aware how disproportionately this pandemic has affected residents of Connecticut. Specifically, I am compelled to start the new session thinking about two of my Hamden constituents, Denise Rogers, and her late husband, Howard.
Denise is a shuttle driver in the city of New Haven who transported doctors, nurses and others to Yale New Haven Hospital. Early in the pandemic, Denise and her husband contracted the novel coronavirus while on the job. They both left home on March 26 by ambulance to Yale New Haven Hospital. Denise spent weeks in critical condition fighting for her life, and was discharged on Good Friday. While Denise recovered, she is now considered a “long hauler,” who suffers from severe headaches, fatigue, burning in her stomach, and memory loss.