Sex workers are intimate with coronavirus. And it’s chasing customers away

Sex workers in the United States and around the world may be among the hardest hit financially by coronavirus.

Workers in the industry say clients are canceling and strip clubs and brothels are shutting down.

Nevada, the only U.S. state to legalize prostitution, reported its first coronavirus death Monday. In Las Vegas, even the casinos are closing.

A group called No Justice No Pride is providing housing and help to sex workers in Washington D.C., Reuters reported.

“We were at capacity before this virus hit and we are now getting a lot more requests,” the group’s organizer told Reuters.

Health officials around the world are advising people to maintain distance between each other as COVID-19 continues to spread. But sex workers’ jobs depend on physical contact.

After the Dutch government ordered all of Amsterdam’s brothels shut down until April, one worker created an online fundraiser to support fellow industry professionals newly out of a job, according to another Reuters report.

“These workers don’t have a fixed income, they don’t receive paid sick leave and lack savings to fall back on to cover basics like food shopping or medicine,” the worker wrote on the campaign website, Reuters reported.

“This also has consequences for their safety because they may feel forced to take more risks with their work under current circumstances.”

A woman in the United Kingdom who says she works as escort wrote an essay for Refinery 29 saying she’s losing thousands of dollars a month in income.

This story was originally published March 17, 2020 at 11:44 AM with the headline "Sex workers are intimate with coronavirus. And it’s chasing customers away."