<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>wpietri</author><text>It is a literally true statement. Universal means covering everybody. That some slices of the population have it in no way contradicts that. Indeed, most of your numbers prove that sick leave in the US is &lt;i&gt;not&lt;/i&gt; universal.</text><parent_chain><item><author>khawkins</author><text>&amp;gt; Zero universal guaranteed paid sick leave&lt;p&gt;This is a false statement. There are 12 states which require paid sick leave, amounting to 30% of the population [1]. Federal employees are guaranteed paid sick leave days [2]. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 61% of workers have paid sick leave, 78% have paid vacations, (80%&amp;#x2F;90% in large employers with 500 or more workers) [3].&lt;p&gt;That whole section is just political garbage. There&amp;#x27;s plenty of reasons to believe that businesses will take precautions themselves to limit the spread of the virus internally, which includes offering paid sick leave to encourage people to be extra careful.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ncsl.org&amp;#x2F;research&amp;#x2F;labor-and-employment&amp;#x2F;paid-sick-leave.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ncsl.org&amp;#x2F;research&amp;#x2F;labor-and-employment&amp;#x2F;paid-sick...&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.opm.gov&amp;#x2F;policy-data-oversight&amp;#x2F;pay-leave&amp;#x2F;leave-administration&amp;#x2F;fact-sheets&amp;#x2F;sick-leave-general-information&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.opm.gov&amp;#x2F;policy-data-oversight&amp;#x2F;pay-leave&amp;#x2F;leave-ad...&lt;/a&gt;
[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;ncs&amp;#x2F;ebs&amp;#x2F;benefits&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;ownership&amp;#x2F;private&amp;#x2F;table21a.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;ncs&amp;#x2F;ebs&amp;#x2F;benefits&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;ownership&amp;#x2F;private&amp;#x2F;...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>Fnoord</author><text>&amp;gt; Relative to Other Countries, US Labor and Healthcare Policies are a Perfect Storm for Pandemics&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Zero universal guaranteed paid sick leave [1]&lt;p&gt;The United States of America in the same list as India, North Korea, South Korea, Somalia, Angola, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau. Some of these countries are poor or low income. The USA isn&amp;#x27;t one of them though. I&amp;#x27;d be ashamed of my country.&lt;p&gt;In The Netherlands, an entire [large] province (North Brabant) has been ordered to stay home if they have anything resembling illness. People are asked to work from home. Children can&amp;#x27;t go to school. Still, working from home is better than nothing.&lt;p&gt;Also, some people are in quarantine. The people who have COVID-19 but otherwise don&amp;#x27;t have it severe can stay home, in quarantine, instead of in the hospital.&lt;p&gt;One thing I wish I knew way earlier is that COVID-19 victims rarely suffer from a runny nose. I recently got it from Our World In Data [2], it was linked here on HN. I did not read about this in our local media, sadly.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.worldpolicycenter.org&amp;#x2F;policies&amp;#x2F;for-how-long-are-workers-guaranteed-paid-sick-leave&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.worldpolicycenter.org&amp;#x2F;policies&amp;#x2F;for-how-long-are-...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;ourworldindata.org&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;Coronavirus-Symptoms-%E2%80%93-WHO-joint-mission-1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;ourworldindata.org&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;Coronavirus-Sympt...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Covid-19 update and guidance to limit spread</title><url>https://www.flattenthecurve.com/</url></story>
<instructions>Your goal is to analyze the following comment and estimate how highly it will be upvoted by the Hacker News community.</instructions><comment><author>wickedwiesel</author><text>If I may nitpick your response: the data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics is from 2009. 2018 data suggests 71% of workers receive paid sick leave. [1]&lt;p&gt;BUT, the data is highly skewed if you look at income. [also 1] The worst paid workers also have much less paid sick leave. Only 45% of the lowest 25% income group do. According to the BLS there were 130 million workers in 2019, thus leaving roughly 15 million people (130 x 0.25 x 0.45) without paid sick leave and likely without the financial means to go on unpaid sick leave or get medical help (like testing).&lt;p&gt;Also, the average paid sick leave varies between 6-10 (working) days. Suggested quarantine is 14 days. [2] Only 3% of workers have sick days &amp;quot;as needed&amp;quot;. [3] This supports the argument that these circumstances make matters worse. I tend to agree to the general argument.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;opub&amp;#x2F;ted&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;higher-wage-workers-more-likely-than-lower-wage-workers-to-have-paid-leave-benefits-in-2018.html&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;opub&amp;#x2F;ted&amp;#x2F;2018&amp;#x2F;higher-wage-workers-more-l...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;opub&amp;#x2F;ted&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;private-industry-workers-with-sick-leave-benefits-received-8-days-per-year-at-20-years-of-service.htm&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;opub&amp;#x2F;ted&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;private-industry-workers-w...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;ncs&amp;#x2F;ebs&amp;#x2F;benefits&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;ownership&amp;#x2F;civilian&amp;#x2F;table33a.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;ncs&amp;#x2F;ebs&amp;#x2F;benefits&amp;#x2F;2019&amp;#x2F;ownership&amp;#x2F;civilian...&lt;/a&gt;</text><parent_chain><item><author>khawkins</author><text>&amp;gt; Zero universal guaranteed paid sick leave&lt;p&gt;This is a false statement. There are 12 states which require paid sick leave, amounting to 30% of the population [1]. Federal employees are guaranteed paid sick leave days [2]. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 61% of workers have paid sick leave, 78% have paid vacations, (80%&amp;#x2F;90% in large employers with 500 or more workers) [3].&lt;p&gt;That whole section is just political garbage. There&amp;#x27;s plenty of reasons to believe that businesses will take precautions themselves to limit the spread of the virus internally, which includes offering paid sick leave to encourage people to be extra careful.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ncsl.org&amp;#x2F;research&amp;#x2F;labor-and-employment&amp;#x2F;paid-sick-leave.aspx&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.ncsl.org&amp;#x2F;research&amp;#x2F;labor-and-employment&amp;#x2F;paid-sick...&lt;/a&gt;
[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.opm.gov&amp;#x2F;policy-data-oversight&amp;#x2F;pay-leave&amp;#x2F;leave-administration&amp;#x2F;fact-sheets&amp;#x2F;sick-leave-general-information&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.opm.gov&amp;#x2F;policy-data-oversight&amp;#x2F;pay-leave&amp;#x2F;leave-ad...&lt;/a&gt;
[3] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;ncs&amp;#x2F;ebs&amp;#x2F;benefits&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;ownership&amp;#x2F;private&amp;#x2F;table21a.pdf&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.bls.gov&amp;#x2F;ncs&amp;#x2F;ebs&amp;#x2F;benefits&amp;#x2F;2009&amp;#x2F;ownership&amp;#x2F;private&amp;#x2F;...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item><item><author>Fnoord</author><text>&amp;gt; Relative to Other Countries, US Labor and Healthcare Policies are a Perfect Storm for Pandemics&lt;p&gt;&amp;gt; Zero universal guaranteed paid sick leave [1]&lt;p&gt;The United States of America in the same list as India, North Korea, South Korea, Somalia, Angola, Liberia, and Guinea-Bissau. Some of these countries are poor or low income. The USA isn&amp;#x27;t one of them though. I&amp;#x27;d be ashamed of my country.&lt;p&gt;In The Netherlands, an entire [large] province (North Brabant) has been ordered to stay home if they have anything resembling illness. People are asked to work from home. Children can&amp;#x27;t go to school. Still, working from home is better than nothing.&lt;p&gt;Also, some people are in quarantine. The people who have COVID-19 but otherwise don&amp;#x27;t have it severe can stay home, in quarantine, instead of in the hospital.&lt;p&gt;One thing I wish I knew way earlier is that COVID-19 victims rarely suffer from a runny nose. I recently got it from Our World In Data [2], it was linked here on HN. I did not read about this in our local media, sadly.&lt;p&gt;[1] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.worldpolicycenter.org&amp;#x2F;policies&amp;#x2F;for-how-long-are-workers-guaranteed-paid-sick-leave&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.worldpolicycenter.org&amp;#x2F;policies&amp;#x2F;for-how-long-are-...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;[2] &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;ourworldindata.org&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;Coronavirus-Symptoms-%E2%80%93-WHO-joint-mission-1.png&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;ourworldindata.org&amp;#x2F;uploads&amp;#x2F;2020&amp;#x2F;03&amp;#x2F;Coronavirus-Sympt...&lt;/a&gt;</text></item></parent_chain></comment><story><title>Covid-19 update and guidance to limit spread</title><url>https://www.flattenthecurve.com/</url></story>