America's cleaners Fighting on the COVID-19 front line

New York

It's been roughly two weeks since Amazon encouraged most employees at its Seattle headquarters to work remotely after one tested positive for coronavirus.

Since then, Ismahan Ali and other janitors who clean the tech giant's offices say they have been getting paid to work overtime to wipe down stairwells, conference rooms and other high-traffic areas.

Ali, 29, doesn't clean the building where the infected Amazon employee worked, but she shares a break room with some janitors who do. So every cough or sneeze is a reminder that coronavirus could be lingering on a surface they've cleaned, or that one may already have been exposed, she said. "Everyone is scared," said Ali, who works for ABM, a maintenance and cleaning firm that employs more than 140,000 people. "We just keep going, let's do what we can."

For the 3 million janitors, housekeepers and maids across America, remote working is not an option. They are on the front line of the war against the virus, often working overnight and weekends to deep clean offices, airports and hotels.

Ali said at first she was not used to the stronger cleaning product she was asked to use as part of an enhanced cleaning protocol put in place because of the virus. The chemical irritated her eyes, throat and skin, but she has since been provided with goggles and a mask, which she said is helping.