“It’s like a job in and of itself”

Hundreds of miles away in Fresno, Anthony Sean Vang, 32, spends most of his days navigating California’s unemployment website. It’s a daunting task that takes up more hours than he can count.

“It’s like a job in and of itself,” said Vang, who had been driving for Uber and Lyft until March 18.

He enjoyed driving. It gave him flexibility and enough money to make his mortgage payment plus pay for health care. The latter is particularly important for Vang and his 26-year-old wife, who has an elevated white blood cell count and regularly sees an oncologist.

Vang suffers from asthma and other respiratory problems and uses a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, sleep machine. He intended to continue driving as the outbreak unfolded, but felt increasingly exposed when strangers got into his car. Some insisted on sitting in the front seat or not wearing a mask. It made him nervous.