It's a Catch-22 situation for the nearly 30 million American workers during the COVID-19 crisis. These are the high-risk people who are unable to work from home and need to make the hard decision between risking their lives or losing their livelihood.

According to Axios, those who can't work from home tend to be lower-wage workers in service industries. Two-thirds of adult workers cannot work at home, according to government statistics, and almost one in four is vulnerable to severe illness from COVID-19 because of underlying conditions, according to new data from the Kaiser Family Foundation.

That means there are at least 25 to 30 million high-risk workers who cannot work virtually, according to Axios, and need to return to work despite the potential risk to their lives. Another problem is that many of these workers are involved in service industries such as auto body shops or dry cleaners and will be face-to-face with customers, increasing their risk of becoming infected with the virus. Additionally, a large proportion of these same workers rely on public transportation.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has issued guidelines to help high-risk employees return to work, according to The National Law Review. Among the suggestions and recommendations are that employers provide additional Personal protective equipment for the employee, erect physical barriers between workers, and modify schedules to reduce interaction with others while relocating work spaces to increase social distancing.