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The Uniquely Dangerous Work of Massage Therapy During a Pandemic

A massage therapist speaks out about the gross and unfair treatment she was forced to endure.

Maximillian Alvarez

Donna Eddy performs a massage therapy session with a client in her home on April 09, 2020 in Sydney, Australia. Brendon Thorne/Getty Image

In this episode, we sit down with Kate from New Jersey. At the moment, Kate is working primarily as a caretaker for her parents, and we talk a bit about that work and what it means to care for our elders. Up until the pandemic, though, Kate was a massage therapist who loved her job. We discuss how Kate got into working as a massage therapist, all that the job entails, and we talk about the gross and unfair treatment Kate and her coworkers had to deal with when their employer wanted to push folks back to work before they felt safe doing so.

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Featured Music (all songs sourced from the Free Music Archive: freemu​si​carchive​.org)

  • Jules Taylor, Working People Theme Song”
  • Ketsa, Alive
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Maximillian Alvarez is editor-in-chief at the Real News Network and host of the podcast Working People, available at InThe​se​Times​.com. He is also the author of The Work of Living: Working People Talk About Their Lives and the Year the World Broke.

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