reports that multiple COVID-19 variants are circulating globally that appear to spread more quickly and easily than other variants. As coronavirus cases continue to spread throughout the City, the health threats grocery and drug retail workers face are as significant now as when the pandemic began. The risks are especially pronounced among employees who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Color because they are overrepresented among the retail frontline workforce and are disproportionately impacted by the pandemic, which has exposed and deepened social and economic inequalities. According to a Brookings Institution analysis from November 2020, the top retail companies in the United States have earned record-breaking profits during the pandemic. In total, top retail companies earned on average an extra $16.7 billion in profit in 2020, while stock prices were up an average of 33 percent. But this increase in profits has not transferred to the low-wage frontline workers who risk their lives to support the business operations. To the extent workers have received any hazard pay at all for performing life threatening work, such pay has been limited or inconsistent. The importance of fair compensation for the risks the City’s essential grocery and drug retail workers endure cannot be overstated, particularly at a time when many families are struggling financially, and workers face increased childcare costs as a result of remote learning and expensive healthcare bills if they become sick with COVID-19. Providing additional compensation to essential grocery and drug retail workers encourages them to continue their work to keep the food and supply chain operating. Through this ordinance, the City seeks to justly compensate essential grocery and drug retail workers for their daily sacrifices and the ongoing danger they and their families face while providing vital services to the City’s residents during the pandemic. By requiring premium hazard pay for their work during the COVID-19 pandemic, the City aims to protect the health and welfare of its essential grocery and drug retail workers, their families, and the community.