Culture

Life Has Changed: Bartender Says Coronavirus Makes Her Fear For Future

A former Oakland bartender tells Newsy she and her husband are suddenly facing fears of bankruptcy and possible illness.

Life Has Changed: Bartender Says Coronavirus Makes Her Fear For Future
Hunter Holcombe / Newsy
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My name is Andrea DelaRosa. I live in Oakland, California and I'm a bartender.

I am now unemployed, as is my husband 

And in general, we fear for our future together.

I realized that coronavirus could impact my life, but it didn’t really didn't really strike me as scary until my last bartending shift when people were coming into the bar sick, coughing, sneezing. And it sunk in when people were making jokes and thinking that it wasn't serious and that, well, it's happening there, but it'll never happen here.

I know that I have been exposed repeatedly. And that my life has been put in danger for so many weeks while I was working and I had no idea.

This isn't just me, it's my friends. It's my family who in the Midwest, they have no idea of the ramifications of what could happen.

People need to stop going out for unnecessary reasons. Stop going out.

Thinking about the future of myself and my husband, we just got married last year. We've been saving all of our money to move out of the Bay area to start our life together. We were just starting to put money away and just starting to get ahead now, all of that is so uncertain. 

I know that my husband and I, we'll get through this because we, he has been an amazing and supportive human being to me. That we can achieve our dreams and our goals together and stay healthy and live a long, happy life together.