Emphasis on the second word

Plumbers, electricians, landscapers, and politics. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

One minute, you’re sitting at home, reading an article in The Washington Post in which a group of epidemiologists warn that Covid-19 might not go away for a long time even if we find a vaccine, and that humans will just have to figure out how to deal.

The next minute, the toilet is clogged, and you can’t fix it, and you need a plumber.

Let’s talk about one of the plumbers first, in this case Bryan Hammons of St. Petersburg, Florida, who told The Wall Street Journal recently that during the early days of Covid-19, he struggled with whether to stay open.

He had seven employees who needed paychecks. But, he also has a son who is 4 years old and immunocompromised, and so he was afraid of doing anything that might increase the risk of bringing the virus into his home.

In the end, Hammons stayed open. He spent a ton of money (about 7 percent of his gross) on masks, gloves, and sanitizer for his employees. At home after work, he made routine of stripping off his clothes in the garage, sanitizin…