In fight for masks, hospital janitors sometimes come last

Katina McDavis spends 40 hours a week cleaning hospital rooms at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago. Masks are in short supply these days. So, too, is information.

“Our bosses might tell us we need a mask, the nurses might tell us we don’t,” said McDavis.

Confusion and fear abound among hospital maintenance workers and housekeepers like McDavis, quietly toiling on the front lines of America’s battle against the novel coronavirus for low pay.

Their jobs are often unheralded, but vital to keeping hospitals running. They are the ones who mop...