Often praised as heroes during the early days of the health crisis, the people who feed America can’t stay home. Workers such as cashiers, cooks, waitstaff, sales associates, stockers, custodians, store management and others, have faced endless challenges and safety hazards — for low wages and often without strong paid sick leave policies and benefits.

These customer-facing workers have grappled with daily exposure to a deadly virus while on the job. At least 213 retail and grocery workers have died from Covid-19 and more than 50,000 have been infected or exposed, according to the United Food and Commercial Workers’ union.

These workers have also struggled with the quick end of hazard pay that some companies offered them during the start of the pandemic. They have also dealt with understaffed stores, angry and sometimes violent customers refusing to wear masks, brazen shoplifters “traumatizing” staff and store shootings.

It’s all taken a toll on workers’ physical and mental health, said Ken Jacobs, the chair of the Center for Labor Research and Education at the University of California, Berkeley.