As the unlock phase has been initiated, frontline workers are more concerned about the work conditions as they see a high possibility of the virus spreading fast and virulently in their communities. Their work which was already risky might now turn deadly for them. This is the reason why many of the family members of the frontline workers worry about them. 

Kumari Bharti,  wife of a sanitization worker and a mother of two is worried that her husband would catch the infection someday and never return back. She said, "He works with the railways and is in the cleaning department. With COVID he has been to the sanitization team. Earlier also he used to do cleaning of the platforms but we were never concerned but now with the news of so many people getting infected, I am worried for him a lot." 

To which Hari Ram Kumar, her husband said, "I need to go to work and do my best in the current situation every single day. If I don't go to work on a particular day, my family is going to have very less to eat for dinner. Yes, I know Kumari is worried about me but how else do I make them understand? My family's thoughts are the only motivation for me to get through each day at work, even when I am more than just scared to clean and touch different surfaces." 

It is a conflict that many families have been facing during the corona pandemic. Family members don't have an option but to let the earning person go out in virus-ridden spaces to earn money for their daily means. And the situation is more complicated than what it seems at the first appearance.

Apart from Hari Ram's health, Kumari expressed her other worries too, "My husband's pay is not much so every day we used to buy simple things like vada pav, bhajji, simple and cheap roti and sabzi as meals. This saved us money on cooking and buying and storing utensils. But post  COVID outbreak all food vendors have been removed from the roadside. And now we have to spend money on groceries and coal and kerosene too which is falling more expensive to us than buying food from roadside. I try to just get by when it comes to food but what if one day Hari Ram gets infected? We won't have the man of the house or any money for 14-20 days. And from what I hear getting treated is also very tough. How would we live then?" 

With low-income families having to worry about their survival, concerns of their family members working as frontline workers zre justified and severe as they sustain the stomachs of more than just one person. If they get infected, the whole family will suffer--right from food to keeping a roof on their heads--their livelihoods will be threatened. Hari Ram finally said, "It is difficult to live our kind of life. When I go home every day I don't just get my family food, but also the possibility of bringing the virus home someday. It is the thought that worries my wife. She is loving, and if she had an option she wouldn't even let me go out every day, but her worry is for food for small kids at home. And I don't even have a solution for this worry of hers and mine."