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On the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic (excerpts) (from Detroit/Seattle Workers Voice list for March 18, 2020) by Frank Arango, Seattle Workers' Voice (full text at http://www.communistvoice.org/DSWV-200318.html) As everyone knows, the novel coronavirus is sweeping the world. It can be carried by people who show no symptoms. There's no vaccine for it. And it's a killer. .. while the responses of governments around the world vary, the general response to this global pandemic has been that governments have acted too slowly and haven't done enough. Indeed, the spread of the coronavirus appears to be out of control in a large number of countries, including the United States. Lack of preparations --------------------------------- * The CDC. For years WHO and others have been warning of pandemics caused by new pathogens. But few countries have taken these warnings seriously, particularly the United States. Indeed, while the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has a tiny budget of around $6 billion, Obama was already squeezing it while he was president (1), and Trump has continued on this path. In February this year--in the midst of the growing coronavirus pandemic--he even proposed a 9% cut in the CDC's funding for next year. But that's now history. * Hospitals beds. Large numbers of people with COVID-19 have to be hospitalized in serious or critical condition. But the U.S. only has 2.77 hospital beds per 1000 people (number 32 in the world), whereas Italy has 3.18 beds per 1000 people, and Italy's hospitals have been overwhelmed! ... * Test kits. The CDC's handling of testing has been a murderous scandal. It should have ordered crash production of large numbers to test kits in January, but it didn't. The Trump administration then refused the test kit offered by the World Health Organization. Then, after weeks of delay, in February the CDC sent out a flawed test kit. Moreover, during all this time local labs were prohibited from using their own tests. ... In Seattle, Dr. Helen Chu and colleagues, bless them, eventually defied the CDC prohibition and began testing. But had they been allowed to test earlier, this might have gone a long way toward stopping the spread of the coronavirus throughout Washington and the rest of the country. * Masks, protective clothing and hospital supplies. The CDC or Trump should have ordered mass production of these too, but they didn't. What has been done? --------------------------------- Despite their late start, governments and even employers around the country have taken unprecedented actions in trying to stop the spread of the coronavirus. They've all suddenly found money that they've previously denied having. Sick leave is being given where it was never been given before. ... But there are also many failings and bureaucratic blockages in the measures taken so far, and they've been taken too timidly. For example, the bans on public gatherings were often bans on gatherings of 250, 500, or even 1000 people--too large of crowds. The CDC then recommended that events of 50 or more people not be held for some two months, and Trump has now reduced that number to 10. Similarly, there was timidity about lockdowns. Hindsight is easy, but it appears that part or all of King County should have been locked down many weeks ago. One reason I say this is that a genome study showed that someone from this area carried COVID-19 to California, creating a new cluster there.(2) And there have been fiascoes. Most notably, Trump's travel ban on flights from Europe was probably necessary. But it did not include U.S. citizens and permanent residents. Thus, at terribly inflated prices, thousands and thousands of them flew back to this country from heavily infected Europe. Their temperatures were not taken as they got off the planes (a strategy used in Asia, but does the U.S. even have enough thermometers?), and they were packed into huge lines in the terminals with no social distancing. More, at Dulles International the line for infected people was just inches away from the line for (presumably) uninfected people. As a local activist commented, "if you were trying to spread COVID-19 across the country, you couldn't do any better [than this]." What is to be done? --------------------------------- In ordinary times the U.S. government cares very little about the health of the people. (Witness the minuscule CDC budget, or the fact that the richest country in the world stands at number 29 in the quality of its health care, or that we do not have universal health care.) ... On the other hand, the masses of people have not been so slow and timid. Naturally, they've been washing their hands, social distancing, staying home when possible and so on. But all the attempts to slow the spread of and mitigate the coronavirus will not work if the livelihood of workers is not taken care of. Thus, sections of the people have also been signing petitions demanding things like protective masks and clothing in hospitals. Auto workers in the U.S. and Canada have walked out on brief strikes for anti-virus protection. Hospitality workers in New Orleans disrupted the mayor's news conference to demand that the health and safety of workers and the public be a priority. Teachers in New York threatened a mass sickout to make de Blasio close the schools, and de Blasio has now closed them. ... All these struggles must continue, and this tendency among the masses should be further developed. As well, there's a need for struggles to ensure that the various levels of government follow through with their promises. And while there have been demands to close the concentration camps on the Mexican border because the coronavirus will spread like wildfire in them, infect staffs and then infect the general population, Trump has not done this. Instead, he's planning to step up his war against migrants and refugees from the south by further strengthening border "security". This is turning reality on its head! Mexico only has 93 confirmed cases, and Central American countries have even fewer. If anyone needs to be restricting travel, Mexico needs to restrict people coming from the United States. The future --------------------------------- We must presently do all we can to stop further spread of this coronavirus plague. But when it ends I think we will be living in a changed country. I think large numbers of people will be asking, why can't we always have paid sick leave for everyone? Why can't the moratoriums on evictions be made permanent? Why can't the sheltering of the homeless be made permanent? Why must the water in Detroit be shut off again? And why can't we have universal health care? Moreover, in the midst of this crisis I think there's a spirit of solidarity growing up among the masses of people. There's a growing realization that NO ONE IS SAFE UNTIL EVERYONE IS SAFE! <> Notes --------------------------------- (1) https://www.huffpost.com/entry/obama-cdc-funding_n_5990114 (2) https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1236799358718185472.html <> -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
