COVID-19

RFK, Jr.: It’s Not Genetics, It’s Racial Capitalism

July 20, 2023 Jacqueline Luqman, Black Agenda Report. Educate! Black America, Capitalism, COVID-19, Racism, RFK

I know that opinions about COVID-19 and the vaccines related to it are still as varied as they are passionate, at least in the US where this government did absolutely nothing under two presidents to protect people and save lives in the midst of a global pandemic. But let me just be the one to say it if you were afraid to. Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s recent comments about the virus are wackadoodle, but should not be dismissed outright because of his dismissal of US racialized capitalism that fueled the deadly outcome of the pandemic in the US among certain groups of people.

The Unfolding Medicaid Disaster

June 26, 2023 Andrew Perez and Nick Byron Campbell, The Lever. Educate! COVID-19, Health Care, Human Rights, Joe Biden, Medicaid

As states have begun clearing out their Medicaid rolls for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, nearly three quarters of the Americans who’ve lost coverage have been terminated not because they’re ineligible for the low-income health insurance program, but due to administrative reasons, such as failing to quickly respond to a piece of mail. In February, President Joe Biden bragged in his State of the Union speech that “more Americans have health insurance now than ever in history.” Biden made that comment six weeks after he set the stage to massively increase the United States’ uninsured population, when he signed legislation from Congress ending the pandemic-era requirement that states maintain Medicaid beneficiaries’ coverage in exchange for extra federal funding.

US Further Militarizes The Border As COVID-Era Restrictions Expire

May 14, 2023 People's Dispatch. Educate! Border Militarization, Border Patrol, COVID-19, Immigration

On May 11, Title 42, a Trump-era immigration policy, expired—precipitating a surge in migrants crossing the US–Mexico border. Title 42 used the COVID-19 public health emergency as an excuse to swiftly expel migrants to Mexico. The expiration of the policy has fueled a surge in migration across the Southern border as migrants reportedly are trying to get into the US either before Title 42 restrictions expire to avoid Biden’s new immigration measures, or after, fueled by a rumor that the end of Title 42 will make immigration easier. Although Biden campaigned on being more “humane” towards migrants, the Biden administration used Title 42 liberally, expelling over two million migrants before the policy expired.

Healthcare Activists Demand: Restore Covid-19 Protections Now!

April 12, 2023 Will Hodgkinson, Workers World. Resist! COVID-19, Health Care, Massachusetts, Public Health

Boston, Massachusetts - The Massachusetts Coalition for Health Equity (Mass. CHE) held an online press conference on April 5 to demand the state keep protections against COVID-19 in place to safeguard health care workers, people with disabilities and the general population during the continuing pandemic. The conference was a response to Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healy’s decision to comply with the Biden administration’s decision to terminate the federal COVID-19 Public Health Emergency (PHE) on May 11. Ending the PHE, which was initially declared by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services in January 2020, will allow bosses at medical facilities in the U.S. privatized health care system to strip millions of health care workers and patients of safety measures, including masking, social distancing and surveillance testing.

Covid-19 Isn’t ‘Over’, But Medicaid Coverage Is About To Be For Millions

April 8, 2023 Chris Hedges, The Real News Network. Resistance Report COVID-19, Health Care, Medicaid, National Health System

The Biden administration is poised to allow the national emergency on COVID-19 to expire on May 11, 2023. Once that occurs, between 5 to 14 million Americans previously covered under Medicaid will lose their insurance. Although the pandemic continues to rage, killing thousands and infecting hundreds of thousands each week, a bipartisan consensus has settled in Washington to simply pretend COVID-19 is “over.” What meager safety net was extended at the start of the pandemic is now being rolled back—leaving Americans to shoulder the risks and expenses of illness and death entirely on their own. Dr. Margaret Flowers joins The Chris Hedges Report to discuss the toll that COVID denialism will have on our society, and the generally outrageous state of US healthcare.

Media’s Lab Leak Theorists See Spies, Not Scientists, As Arbiters Of Science

April 8, 2023 Ari Paul and Joshua Cho, Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting. Educate! China, COVID-19, Media, Propaganda

The Wall Street Journal (2/26/23) broke the news that classified documents show the US Energy Department believes Covid emerged from a lab leak in China, which sent shockwaves through the rest of the media. Such a statement by the Energy Department “would be significant despite the fact that, as the report said, the agency made its updated judgment with ‘low confidence,’” according to the Guardian (2/26/23). “Low confidence” is a term intelligence agencies use to signify that “information’s credibility and/or plausibility is questionable, or that the information is too fragmented or poorly corroborated to make solid analytic inferences, or that we have significant concerns or problems with the sources.”

We Can Move Beyond Food Access To Food Sovereignty

April 2, 2023 Rae Gomes and Tim Duschenes, Next City. Create! Cities, COVID-19, Food and Agriculture, Food Sovereignty, Mutual Aid

Baker Yolfer Pabade arrived at the Hot Bread Kitchen Incubator each day at 4 p.m. He had already worked a nine-hour shift in another bakery, but would work on testing and improving his recipes for another six hours. He was dreaming of launching his own bakery business based on his Colombian-Venezuelan roots and worked this schedule—with no days off—to make it a reality. After three years, he was finally ready to leave his day job and focus on his own business. One month later, in March 2020, all of New York’s food businesses ground to a halt. Yolfer took a week to make a plan of action.

When Wildfires Choke California, This Activist Gets Masks To People In Need

March 30, 2023 Nina Thompson, Next City. Organize! California, COVID-19, Mutual Aid, Oakland, Wildfires

Each time a fire breaks out in Northern California, local activist Quinn Redwoods and their collaborators spring into action. Walking through Oakland, Redwoods distributes masks to as many people as they can. They hand out masks in places where no one else is paying attention, like crowded underpasses where unhoused people have no options to escape the smoke. They’ll even stop UPS drivers to offer them a mask. Redwoods describes the activity as “organically emerging.” It all started back in 2017 during the Tubbs Fire, when it was so smoky in the San Francisco Bay Area it wasn’t safe to be outside.

Biden Hands The Covid Response To The Private Market, Endangering Us All

March 7, 2023 Artie Vierkant and Beatrice Adler-Bolton, In These Times. Strategize! COVID-19, Health Care, Joe Biden, Public Health

In this year’s State of the Union address, President Joe Biden took care to portray the ongoing coronavirus pandemic as a trial that is behind us and a victory for the people. “Today, Covid no longer controls our lives,” Biden said, adding that “while the virus is not gone, thanks to the resilience of the American people … we have broken Covid’s grip on us … And soon we’ll end the public health emergency.” This rosy depiction belies reality. Even by the official count, hundreds of people in the United States are dying of Covid-19 daily. In recent months, more than half of all Covid deaths have been among people who are fully vaccinated.

Covid-19 Proved Workers Make The World Run, Not The Bosses

March 4, 2023 Chris Hedges, The Real News Network. Resistance Report COVID-19, Essential workers, Health Care, Worker Rights and Jobs

The start of the COVID-19 pandemic compounded the existing crises of capitalism for workers everywhere. This was most obviously apparent for “frontline” or “essential” workers, who were forced by their need to survive to risk disease, disability, and potential death on a daily basis at their jobs. While lauded in media and culture in the early days of the pandemic, the rewards these workers have actually received have been precarity, damaged health, depressed wages, and for far too many, an early death. As a new ruling class narrative that insists the pandemic is over becomes hegemonic, the stories and ongoing crisis faced by these workers is fading from public view.

The Context Of The New Anti-China Campaign

March 1, 2023 Moon of Alabama. Educate! China, COVID-19, Media, New Cold War, Propaganda, US Imperialism

The reactions to yesterday's Moon of Alabama post have demonstrated how easy it is for government propagandists to yank the leash of their subjects. More than half of comments are about barely informed Covid conspiracies theories. Only few recognized the propaganda item for what it was. The starting point of a new China hate campaign that will divert the public from mass casualties in Ukraine and other issues. After the Wall Street Journal launched its Sunday leak the New York Times and the Washington Post also jumped onto the train. The Times thankfully does better than the WSJ given the 'low confidence' expressed about the 'intelligence' a prominent position instead of hiding it deep down in its piece.

Covid And The Way Of Death In US Prisons

February 24, 2023 John Kiriakou, Consortium News. Educate! COVID-19, Criminal Justice and Prisons, Health Care, Human Rights

The first comprehensive study of prisoner deaths during the Covid era shows that deaths in federal and state prisons rose nearly 50 percent during the first year of the pandemic, and in six states, they more than doubled. The New York Times reports that deaths in America’s prisons during 2020 showed more than twice the increase compared to deaths in the United States overall, and they even exceeded deaths in nursing homes, which were among the hardest hit sectors across the country. The Times found that it was not just the fact that Covid swept through already overcrowded prisons.

20,000 Docs Obtained By Russia Expose US Biowarfare Program In Ukraine

January 31, 2023 Almayadeen English, Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Bioweapons, COVID-19, Russia, Ukraine, US Imperialism, Wars and Militarism

A few months into the special military operation in Ukraine, the Russian Radiological, Chemical, and Biological Defense (RCB) Troops began compiling data pertaining to the role and functions of US biolabs in Ukraine based on the documents they secured. Initially, Washington refused to admit the, however, later in time undersecretary of state Victoria Nuland did. According to RCB Troops Chief Igor Kirillov, “Russian troops have secured over 20,000 documents, reference and analytical materials, and interviewed eyewitnesses and participants in American military-biological programs,” since the start of the special operation. Furthermore, Kirillov confirmed that the documents, which remain under review and in the process of being deciphered, without any doubt reinforced the existing analysis, which argued that the Pentagon had intended to test biological weapons on the populations of the Eastern European country and its neighbors, Russia included.

NYSNA 2019-2021: From Contract Sellout To Covid Hell

January 7, 2023 Mike Pappas, Left Voice. Resist! COVID-19, Health Care, Labor Movement, New York (NY), New York City (NYC), Strikes, Worker Rights and Jobs

New York City, New York - Over 10,000 nurses could strike in NYC starting next week. Key among their demands is the fight around safe staffing ratios, which determines the maximum number of patients per on-shift nurse. Nurses are fighting for better working conditions in a setting where staffing has only gotten worse since the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic. Since the start of the pandemic, thousands of nurses and healthcare workers left the workforce, often from being exhausted, burnt out, and/or traumatized. Many more have also become very ill and/or died from Covid-19, after putting their lives on the line to care for patients. Surveys show large percentages of healthcare workers plan to leave the field in the near future.

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