Hover over the bubbles to explore each profession, including how many people work in those jobs and what they earn.

Workers in a number of professions facing elevated risk earn less than the national median wage. Many of these workers in low-paying jobs do not have paid sick leave, and many could still go to work sick to not lose income.

The risk isn’t limited to those on the front lines. Many people who do service jobs like cashiers and fast-food workers face elevated risks. Walmart, Starbucks and Uber are among the many companies that have had workers fall sick.

School systems around the country have been closing. Teachers rate high both for exposure to illnesses and for their proximity to other people.

First responders are also at high risk. Firefighters who responded to calls at the Washington nursing home are under extended quarantines . Paramedics across the country are taking extra precautions when responding to a possible coronavirus case.

Personal care aides and home health aides who work with the elderly — the population most susceptible to the illness — are also vulnerable. At a nursing home in Washington State linked to 25 coronavirus deaths as of Saturday, at least 70 employees have fallen sick .

Health care workers are at the greatest risk — they can encounter diseases and infections daily and typically work in close proximity to one another and their patients. Many are already under quarantine because of exposure to the virus.

The vertical position of each bubble is a measure of how often workers in a given profession are exposed to disease and infection .

Each bubble on this chart represents an occupation. The bigger the bubble, the more people do that job.

As the coronavirus continues to spread throughout the United States, people with jobs that put them in physical contact with many others are at the greatest risk of becoming sick.

The risk levels of various jobs were calculated using O*NET, a database maintained by the Department of Labor that describes various physical aspects of different occupations. The database assigns dozens of scores to each occupation for things like how often a telephone is used to how often a job requires you to bend your body. (Housekeepers rank highest in this metric.)

As virus cases have grown, many businesses have begun closing offices and stores, and sending workers home to help slow the spread. While many companies have emergency leave policies in place to help protect their employees, there are large portions of the population that have few protections. On Saturday, legislators passed a relief package that includes paid sick leave for workers affected by the coronavirus. But the benefits only apply to employees of companies with fewer than 500 employees, leaving millions of workers uncovered.

Percent of workers with access to paid leave benefits Group Sick leave Personal leave All workers 74% 45% Nurses 92% 68% Teachers 86% 62% Service industry workers 56% 28% Sales workers 65% 40% Full-time workers 85% 54% Part-time workers 40% 18% Top 25 percent of earners 92% 63% Bottom 25 percent of earners 47% 24% Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics Employee Benefits Survey

For some workers — especially those in low-paying jobs — being furloughed could mean layoffs. In the Seattle area, one small catering company was forced to let go nearly all its employees because of cancellations from big tech clients.

A growing number of companies have also been asking employees to do their jobs from home. But that arrangement is largely available only to white-collar workers. For many occupations, working from home is simply not feasible, including those who are on the front lines of the response and those who are on the lower end of the economic scale.