As of December 1, 2020, the coronavirus pandemic is in an uncontrollable spread in 49 out of 50 states. Our country has over 10 million confirmed cases and over 270,000 deaths. With more than 100,000 new cases a day, hospitalizations and deaths will grow exponentially. Today over 1000 deaths are happening each day. The death rate, even with improved treatments since March, will likely grow significantly as hospitals and health care workers are already becoming overwhelmed. That is the best-case scenario in the large cities. Rural areas are entirely unprepared, lacking equipment and knowledge of the most up-to-date treatment protocols. Our country’s political and economic system has failed, and it has failed working people the most. While the wealthy and powerful ride stock market gains, secure in country homes and in the knowledge that they will be able to buy access to ICUs and limited and expensive experimental medications.

The working class of the United States, particularly women and oppressed nationality (African American, Chicano and Latino, Asian Americans and indigenous) folks, are bearing the greatest suffering during this time. Alongside the unacceptable loss of life, tens of millions of workers are without work and millions of families are wondering how they will continue to feed themselves and keep a roof over their heads. We are living amid the deepest economic crisis in our lifetimes.

The demands of working people are precise.

Only the truly essential workers need to put their lives on the line now; all others need to be allowed to stay home and prevent the rampant spread of the coronavirus.

All workers sent home must have their immediate needs met – including the cost of housing, health care, food and utilities – and guaranteed employment when they return to work.

All workers who lost their jobs because the pandemic must have their needs fully met, including unemployment benefits, rent and mortgage freezes, debt relief and health care coverage.

The COVID-19 vaccines are promising, but they will take a long time to get out to everybody. The priority for distribution must be for the most vulnerable and for frontline healthcare workers. When the COVID-19 vaccine is made available for mass consumption, it must be provided free of charge to every person in the country. Health care is a fundamental human right and vaccines, along with quality care, should be provided to all. Profit cannot factor into the salvation of this country.

We have a new administration entering the White House. President-elect Biden promises to “listen to the scientists” when it comes to tackling the pandemic. Some of his advisors have floated the idea of a nationwide lockdown. This must happen, but it cannot take place without a guarantee of immediate relief to all workers forced to stay home. Resolving the pandemic cannot be separated from resolving the economic devastation it has brought down on working people.

The Labor Commission of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization recognizes that workers are the protagonists in the fight against coronavirus, and they too must lead the fight to defend their livelihoods. We call on the labor movement to take up the demands of all working people in the coming period. All forces of the working class should fight for the Senate’s passage of the HEROES Act as a minimum demand, and go beyond that. We must do all that we can to seize the initiative from the ruling class that led us into this mess. Workers will save the world, and the world is what they deserve.

#UnitedStates #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Coronavirus #HEROESAct #vaccines

Fight Back News Service is circulating the following statement from the Labor Party. Turkey (EMEP).

The Labor Party called for workers, laborer’s and the public regarding the fight against the coronavirus outbreak.

Corona virus is not a disaster that suddenly surfaced due to the Chinese eating bats. Neither is it a natural disaster, an unexpected anomaly. On the contrary, the likelihood of such a pandemic had already been identified by health organizations, discussed by relevant bodies in each country, and the need to prepare for such an eventuality had been noted. It is established that the Ministry of Health in our country prepared a report on this issue as late as April 2019. Warnings and advice from scientists and health professionals that warned of a likely epidemic, when the first Chinese cases had surfaced, were ignored. Capitalist countries that invested billions of dollars on development of weapons technology, supporting arms monopolies, left their peoples unprepared for a pandemic of this scale.

Not only did governments around the world fail to take steps to stop the early spread of the virus, they underestimated and downplayed the threat until it became serious enough to disturb capitalist economy and the mechanism of exploitation.

Pandemics with high death rates were witnessed in history, all around the world. We continue to see different epidemics of varying types every so often. It is not possible to say that Coronavirus is the last stop in a succession of epidemics caused by virus mutations such as bird flu, swine flu, SARS-MERS.

Main factors that trigger modern epidemics are profit-driven industrial interventions that disrupt ‘natural’ progress in and damage the entirety of our natural environment; ranging from the conditions small cattle and poultry animals are kept in, to hybridization of legumes and pulses, to genetic modification of almost all food products. Opening of forests to looting and interventions on key sources of water, leading to the disruption of natural balances, can also be added to this list. In short, the pandemic had announced its arrival long ago.

However, the spread of the pandemic, affecting such a huge population, is not down just to the virus itself. The real issue is the liquidation of the gains of workers and the public in the area of health and healthcare becoming a commodity. Healthcare services have become an area in which big capital invested heavily in and hopes to make the most profit. Capitalism develops not only the opportunities for epidemics but also the conditions and the basis for worsening consequences of their destructive effect.

THE CAPITALIST SYSTEM AND GOVERNMENTS ARE MAKING WORKERS AND LABOURERS PAY THE COST OF THE PANDEMIC

The reason for high loss of life in this coronavirus pandemic is the fact that we live in a system that doesn’t have public health as its priority. Disregard for the core principles of public health, systemized as a result of hundred years of scientific development and the struggles of the peoples; privatization of health institutions, leaving production of medical equipment and drugs to the mostly unsupervised industrial companies after maximum profit; the almost complete elimination of protective and preventative health services; the erosion of social welfare policies; these are the main culprits that led to the situation today. Accumulations and gains over the centuries by peoples have been laid to such waste and public resources pillaged to such a degree that it is almost impossible to deal with the current situation. The issue that arises now, also in the light of governments’ stance regarding isolation and quarantines, in support of companies that do not want to give up on their profits: the rulers of the system see viral elimination fitting for the workers and the underprivileged, doomed to die of hunger if they don’t work and from the pandemic if they do. The attitude is we will lose some if we must but will continue to exploit the ones that survive.

Workers suffer the heaviest burden of the consequences of the functioning of a capitalist ring that collectively led to the rise of the pandemic by creating the conditions for it but also led to its spread through their actions. This virus has once again exposed the rift between social classes. While the capitalists have withdrawn to their own safe environments and isolated, production and provision of services continue in their factories, companies, workplaces, at the expense of workers’ lives. The bourgeoisie are the ones on the protected side of the pandemic and the workers are on the unprotected side.

THE ONE-MAN REGIME IS AFTER SAVING THE SYSTEM NOT THE PEOPLE

The path followed by the AKP leadership in the face of the pandemic prioritises not public health but the continuation of the system. This does not differ from many countries in the world. However, it is slower in our country as the declared ‘national struggle’ against the pandemic carries the colour and stamp of approval of the now well-established leadership reflex. The economic packet introduced opens up the support of the treasury and the banks to big capital and big companies; while the government is underwriting their liabilities, it is also mercilessly and tactlessly collecting donations from workers.

The one-man party leadership has once again demonstrated that it is in the service of its partners of monopolist capitalists. Trying to make each event favourable to itself, the government is trying to create a nationalist vibe; using this time of great concern for the public to increase the encroachment on rights and political pressures. The pandemic, just like it was on the coup attempt of 15 July, is seen as a means and reason to strengthen the one-man regime by Erdoğan and his circles.

The Erdoğan government, transferring all the riches, especially those created by the workers, of the country to the capitalists has left the fight against the pandemic to individuals. While nothing noteworthy is done for public health, the campaigns for donations by local authorities controlled by the CHP and the ‘We’re defending the public’ campaign by HDP have been suspended by the government, which sees any action that does not involve them as a threat. The leadership, having shown the same attitude during the Van and Elazığ earthquakes does not allow others to fill in the gaps it left and determines the parameters of its order to “look after your own selves”; “as much as I allow you to, in the way that I want you to.”

The leadership is irresponsible, visionless, inept, unscientific and illogical in terms of combating the pandemic. Initially causing people to infect each other in front of post offices, lining up to receive the 1000TL government help, and taking two days to think of delivering the help to people at their homes; they are making it up as they go along. They do not have a plan or a method.

Unions and workers’ associations that offered a plan and coordination are kept out of the process. Keeping the scientific committee that they themselves set up as just advisors, they even demand words of allegiance from the health secretary as he is about to go on to TV to make a statement. The hurt caused by leaving workers’ associations, especially the Turkish Doctors Association (TTB), health organizations and workers’ organizations out of the struggle against the pandemic is increasing by day. The public suffers from the attempts to save the day and to benefit from an extraordinary situation.

If political pressure and government bans are increasing by day, it is a necessity and legitimate to counter this and defend the democratic rights and freedoms of the public.

Furthermore, if under the current conditions, working means playing puss-in-the corner with death, it is legitimate and right for workers to go on strike or down tools. We will only overcome these extraordinary conditions through the solidarity of workers, continuing our efforts to organize and preparing for harder struggles.

The Labor Party (EMEP) will continue its work regardless of the conditions.

In terms of the urgent steps to be put into practice to fight the pandemic and for public health, we call firstly on workers and the public, workers’ organizations and democratic forces to;

1. Within the struggle against the pandemic, the running and control of all private health establishments, factories that produce healthcare equipment and drugs should be transferred to unions, workers’ associations and health workers.
2. Healthcare cannot be a subject of profit and trade. Privatization of health services should be stopped, the public right to free and quality healthcare should be guaranteed.
3. All work and production in non-essential sectors should immediately be stopped, workers in these sectors should be given paid leave. Flexible working practices that flaunt the pandemic conditions should be banned and sackings should be outlawed.
4. Factories, workplaces and living areas where infection has surfaced and all risky areas should be assessed, tests carried out and free masks, gloves and disinfectants should be distributed.
5. All families living below the official line of poverty should be exempted form utility bill payments as well as telephone and internet costs for the duration of the pandemic. Citizens in this situation should have their credit payments deferred without cost and should receive a minimum level of income.

#Turkey #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #Coronavirus #COVID19 #Asia

Fight Back! interviews Guido Salza, the head of the International Relations Department of the Italian communist organization Fronte Popolare.

Fight Back!: How are the working people of Italy being impacted by the pandemic?

Guido Salza: A clear picture of the dynamics of the infection are not yet apparent. However, it is likely that the working class is paying the highest price. Similar to what happened in China, COVID has spread very fast in the most industrial areas of our country. The more concentrated the production and population are (as it is in Lombardia, Piemonte, Veneto and Emilia Romagna), the more troublesome the epidemic has been.

Indeed, the virus probably reached the northwest of Italy travelling in business class. But its transmission has soon been very fast among people who every day utilize public transportations or share working places. Remote work is not feasible for manual jobs.

There are other issues that make us believe the poorest are paying the most. For instance, the Italian economic system is characterized by a very high share of informal jobs and workers without papers, who now are left without income.

Moreover, the lockdown is forcing poor people to stay inside their modest houses, where social distancing is just impossible. COVID dramatically hits workers in the health system, and more than 10% of infected people are among nurses, doctors and other jobs in hospitals.

Neoliberal policies during the last 20 years have compromised the Italian public health system. We see the collapse of hospitals even in the wealthiest part of the country. The high mortality of COVID in Italy is due to multiple factors; however, many deaths could likely have been avoided with a more reliable public health system. The removal of the public health management from local and regional authorities and privatization has jeopardized the central state's action in the emergency.

Fight Back!: Are the big factories and large workplaces still functioning? If so, how are workers resisting?

Salza: The Italian government has secured the cessation of 'unnecessary' economic activities and signed a protocol for workplaces with the main unions and the employers' organization Confindustria. The protocol regulates the safety measures to be taken in workplaces and command the closure of those firms that cannot comply. However, many workers do not think their firms' role is 'necessary', or they do not feel safe in the workplaces. We have witnessed several wildcat strikes. Although grassroot and confederal unions see with favor (or at least do not deprecate) strikes, workers mobilize mostly spontaneously. They demand the government or the employers 'protect them' from the infection but, unfortunately, the strikes lack of any political horizon.

Big firms are under the public lens, but it is crucial to realize that small firms characterize Italian capitalism. These small firms are likely to pay the highest price in terms of job losses and workers are very concerned about a prolonged lockdown.

Fight Back!: How does your organization view the government's response to the pandemic?

Salza: The actual parliament’s majority arises from an agreement between the populist Five Star Movement and the Democratic Party. After years of public attacks against the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement has been forced to such arrangement by the defection of the far-right party Lega, when Salvini, Lega’s leader, called for general elections while Lega was leading the polls. Many Five Star Movement supporters look negatively at the new alliance with the Democratic Party, one of the main parties responsible of the neoliberal policies in the last 20 years of Italian history. Many think the Five Star Movement has gone so far only to protect their seats in Parliament. Both Democrats and the Five Star Movement are hence quite discredited in the public's eyes.

The prime minister has started to be seen as making a power play – becoming a 'man of power.' He is ruling through emergency measures. Being asked for ID by military and police in the streets is now becoming the daily routine. We are facing is a democratic emergency, in which the collective role of parliament is severely restricted, and the state leaves to military forces the control of its people.

We, of course, agree with the lockdown, as it is the most effective way, we have to stop COVID's spreading. The Italian government has been early in favour of lockdown, while many other countries were rejecting this idea, trying to gain from the situation economically. Yet, it is also likely that an even earlier economic and social lockdown would have avoided the present situation in Italy. This is particularly true for some highly industrial areas of Lombardia, in which deaths are now four or five times higher than in comparable periods of time.

That the situation was not to be underestimated in some areas of Lombardy was clear from February 23. Many hospitals were closed due to the contagion of some nurses and doctors. On March 5 the National Institute for Health recommended the establishment of a red zone in the most affected municipalities in the province of Bergamo (near Milan). The government, however, decided not to enact that course of action. Now there is a continuous finger-pointing between municipalities, regions and national government.

The government’s hesitation in imposing limits on economic activity has been even more evident in its latest intervention, which has been suddenly modified during the weekend so as to comply with large employers' requests.

Regarding the health system, the government has not been able to convincingly cope with the emergency. The provision of masks and other necessary personal protective equipment for health workers has been extremely scarce.

The hybrid nature of 'Protezione Civile,' the organism that is in charge of the emergency, characterized by fuzzy governance between state, region and local authorities, does not help.

The government now reckons we must mobilize an enormous amount of public money to cope with the actual health emergency, which soon will turn into a profound social and economic crisis. This is especially true in the most deprived areas of the country (as Southern Italy), as we start to see people forced to steal food to live.

Public spending has been a taboo for almost 30 years in Italy, and the government will find many oppositions to increasing public spending. Once more, we denounce the reactionary role of the European Union. The German-capital-led Nordic countries are the fierce adversary of any form of European solidarity. As a matter of facts, our people have received help from China and Cuba and even Russia, while our European 'partners' were calling us 'lazy,' looking for an excuse to not going to work – as one of the UK government's advisors has recently stated.

The Italian government is adopting the first emergency economic measures, which would be part of a bigger intervention plan. The aim is to establish credit channels and guarantees to shore up the economy against imminent collapse. However, the problem is not only whether or not to finance the economic and social categories affected by the crisis. With an alarming gap between rich and poor in our country, the question is who is asked for the money. In other words, it is a question of who has to pay the bill.

Fight Back!: What is your organization doing in response to this crisis?

Salza: Since day one, we have been calling our comrades to strictly comply with the social distancing measures, emphasising our individual responsibility in the collective effort to slow down the numbers of COVID’s infection.

Our National Health System, our economy and our society face unprecedented pressure from the post-war period to the present. The effort being made by the whole country to put itself in a position to cope with the emergency should not only not be underestimated, but is indeed a proof of the vitality of Italian society that we should be proud of.

As communists, we feel, now more than ever, the responsibility to play a leading role. This means first of all participating in the collective effort to face the emergency and overcome it.

Our militant community is at the forefront in helping to spread awareness of individual responsibility in making the containment measures ordered by the authorities effective and in scrupulously following the hygienic instructions necessary to avoid contagion. Each and every one of us feels the responsibility of participating in the prevention and discouragement of irrational behaviour which, by contravening the measures imposed by the moment, opens the way to irrational whose dangerousness multiplies that of infection.

But this is not stopping us from producing political campaigns to promote a democratic and socialist exit out of the present health and social crisis.

The pandemic is calling for a renewed role of the state in the management of economic life. The ideology of the invisible hand is showing itself a lie once again. It is becoming clear that the only way out is to (by far) improve the actual level of public spending. This is true also for multinational organizations as the EU, which now is slowly realising that they must relax debt policies to let countries spend, and they must also plan a continental intervention to back the economy of the eurozone.

As Fronte Popolare, we are campaigning for a full re-publicization of the Italian health system, and to drastically raise the public spending of our country.

We are working on a national and European campaign with other radical left and communist organizations to ask for a European tax. We ask for the quarantine of capital!

The principle of the free movement of capital, which allows this legalized theft against the peoples of Europe, was enshrined in the Maastricht Treaty as one of the most sacred cornerstones of the Union and then borrowed from the subsequent Lisbon Treaty. This is an absolute principle, which applies in relations between member states and between them and third countries.

We think the free movement of capital within the EU should be stopped immediately. States should tax dividends and big capital to the extent they need to finance income and living standards support for workers, small traders, owners of craft businesses and VAT numbers, pensioners, unemployed and small and medium-sized enterprises. We are proposing a real manoeuvre of expropriation in the name of responsibility and social solidarity.

But that is not enough, because a lot of capital has already moved, over decades, along the routes of European fiscal dumping. We, therefore, need to establish uniform solidarity taxation in all EU member states, whose resources must be channelled into the coffers of an ad hoc European institution (along the lines of the one proposed by the supporters of the so-called Coronabond).

The governments involved must participate with equal dignity. Resources must be fairly distributed, according to criteria of proportionality with the population and the volume of the economic damage suffered by each country. Funds' destination must be restricted to support the real economy, the income and standard of living of the working classes, and the safeguarding of productive activities and employment.

To this end, we propose that a rate of 80% should be set at which to tax annuities, capital and share dividends, modulating the taxation mechanism to safeguard the investments of small savers.

This is not, for our part, a form of recognition of the current European Union. On the contrary, it is a step towards establishing more significant margins of fairness and justice on our continent. The goal is to recover what has been taken away from the peoples of Europe. This is a necessary step to lead our continent out of the nightmare of neo-liberalism and the Maastricht logic and to establish, starting from the needs of the emergency, new forms of international cooperation and solidarity between nations.

There is another vital issue our organization Fronte Popolare is trying to raise: the workers' control of production. As Marxists, we believe all social wealth is produced by labour – both the wages and the profit of employers, as well as the budget of the state. Everything depends on the vitality of the productive factory, which in turn depends on human activity. The virtual economy, the speculative bubbles, the myth of overcoming work through automation, are fragile constructs when the fundamentals of the real economy are at stake and the unbreakable link between work and the satisfaction of social needs comes into play.

Unfortunately, even if we narrow down the list of categories that must continue to work despite the health emergency, they will always count millions of workers.

Hence, it is the only workers who can guarantee themselves, exercising a power of control to protect health and safety in the workplace. The state must legally recognize this power. No other solution is given.

To protect those who guarantee supply in the COVID emergency, we demand the workers' representatives be entitled with control powers, defined by law, which include functions of the reorganization of production activities and the possibility of sanctions against non-compliant employers on behalf of the state. This function should be coordinated at the central and local level by committees made up of representatives of the competent ministry and trade union associations and exercised under defined guidelines that guarantee an unambiguous operational framework and avoid abuse, protecting production and supply.

We say this explicitly: we put on the table an issue that has to do with real power and the very nature of production relations.

#Italy #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #Socialism #Coronavirus #FrontePopolare

Racism against Asian Americans is on the rise with 650 attacks reported this last week of March, 2020. As the COVID-19 pandemic deepens, Donald Trump is PURPOSEFULLY inciting these attacks. President Trump is using anti-Asian racism to distract from his bungled COVID-19 response and to demonize China. Despite the fact that Trump previously praised China’s transparency and heroic efforts to curb the pandemic, he is now maliciously labeling the coronavirus as the “Chinese virus.”

Trump has repeatedly defended his racist attacks on the Chinese people, ignoring reprimands from the scientific and medical community. Dr. Mike Ryan, an executive director in the World Health Organization responded implicitly to Trump, saying, “Viruses know no borders and they don’t care about your ethnicity, the color of your skin….it’s really important we be careful in the language we use lest it lead to the profiling of individuals associated with the virus”.

Trump is not alone in promoting these racist attacks. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo refuses to stop referring to Covid-19 as the “Chinese virus” and the “Wuhan virus”. Pompeo’s persistence in inserting racism into the public discourse about COVID-19 has hamstrung international efforts coordinating the efforts to fight the Covid19 pandemic. At the recent G-7 conference, Pompeo's insistence in using the term 'Wuhan virus' made it impossible for the G-7 foreign ministers to issue a joint statement on the pandemic.

In the U.S. House of Representatives, Representative Jim Banks (R-Ind.) and Representative Seth Moulton (D-Mass.) have introduced a resolution blaming China for the coronavirus. To these politicians, it’s more important to distract from U.S. government failures and smear China than to coordinate global efforts to save human lives.

It is certainly no surprise to us that Trump and his allies would react to this crisis by lashing out in ignorance and fear. We have seen hate-mongering by this Administration in the form of Islamophobic “Muslim bans,” an irrational promotion of the racist border wall, inhumane concentration camps for asylee children, and vindictive sanctions against Venezuela and Iran. Nor are these policies completely out of the blue, given the U.S.’s barbaric history with white supremacy from the two founding sins of genocide of indigenous peoples and the enslavement of Black people in chattel slavery, to the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the Japanese-American concentration camps in WWII, the Jim Crow era, and the mass incarceration of a disproportionate amount of people of color.

Our lamentable history makes it even more incumbent on all people of conscience to refuse to buy into the racist and white supremacist slop Trump is trying to force-feed us. As the COVID-19 pandemic and the consequent economic crisis grows, Donald Trump and his allies will become more frenzied, inciting greater anti-Asian racism in order to shift the blame for their neglectful handling of COVID to China and protect U.S. global domination. The Anti-War Committee condemns anti-Asian racism and all other forms of bigotry. Mass opposition against racist white supremacy, and solidarity with all peoples under attack by the U.S. government are immediately necessary.

The concentration camps imprisoning migrants swept up in Trump's racist immigration policies must be closed. Islamophobic attacks like the Muslim bans must be stopped, sanctions like those imposed on Iran must be lifted. Anti-Asian slurs like 'Wuhan virus' must be exposed as distractions and U.S. intervention. We must demand these from every level of government in the U.S., always pushing government officials to end these racist attacks.

When Chinese people are under attack, what do we do?! Stand up! Fight Back! When Asian Americans are under attack, what do we do?! STAND UP! FIGHT BACK! Fight anti-Asian racism, Islamophobia and all forms of racism! Fight U.S. imperialism!

#UnitedStates #AntiwarMovement #PeoplesStruggles #Racism #Antiracism #Trump #Coronavirus #COVID19 #AsianAmericans

New York, NY -This past week reports poured in as New York City opened and built several new medical support structures to aid the overwhelmed city hospital network. Over the weekend, pictures of the converted Javits Center, a huge convention center in Midtown, were circling around, boasting 1200 new hospital beds.

On Tuesday, March 30, tents began going up in Central Park. The makeshift tent hospital will have 68 beds, each with their own respiratory equipment. It will treat overflow patients from Mount Sinai Hospital as the spread of COVID-19 continues to overwhelm NYC hospitals. As Mayor Bill de Blasio praised the new makeshift hospital, he glossed over the finer details of the organization which funded and erected the new facility – Samaritan’s Purse.

Samaritan’s Purse is led by Franklin Graham, an anti-LGBTQ and Islamophobic preacher, who has used humanitarian and charitable missions to preach an evangelical agenda.

Samaritan’s Purse is already hard at work with its bigoted agenda as Graham’s son, Billy Graham, is seeking to recruit only Christian medical staff to the facility in Central Park. Graham and his son are asking all volunteers and staff to adhere to their statement of faith, where they define marriage as “exclusively the union of one genetic male and one genetic female” and the unrighteous are sentenced to “everlasting punishment in hell.”

Under normal circumstances, involvement from a right-wing fundamentalist organization in the medical field is troubling. During a pandemic, it’s dangerous and could cost the lives of hundreds. Under normal circumstances, folks have a choice to disregard certain medical facilities. During a pandemic, where hospitals are overwhelmed and access to a ventilator is a matter of life or death, many will have to turn to makeshift facilities.

A NYC city hall spokesperson stated that any field hospital must operate as an extension of the permanent facility, and therefore their code of conduct. The Samaritan’s Purse facility should be operating under Mount Sinai and therefore must adhere to the hospital's policy against discrimination.

Later that day, Mayor DeBlasio finally spoke about it. “We're going to send people over from the mayor's office to monitor,” de Blasio said. “I am very concerned that this is done right. But if it is done right, we need all the help we can get.”

Other doctors have spoken about their concerns of Samaritan’s Purse setting up in Central Park. They’ve mentioned that Samaritan’s Purse’s response to other crises, such as Ebola, was disastrous and only caused confusion and chaos.

Graham went on Sean Hannity’s FOX news show on Tuesday night to attempt to calm fears and salvage their image. “We're going to give the best health care we can to all New Yorkers, it doesn't matter who they are or what they are,” he said. “We're going to give them the best medical care that we possibly can in Jesus' name.”

New Yorkers shouldn’t have to worry about whether their doctors and specialists are discriminating against them, especially during this pandemic. This global virus continues to push the contradictions of imperialism and more and more working-class people are forced into a smaller and smaller corner.

#NewYorkNY #CapitalismAndEconomy #PoorPeoplesMovements #LGBTQ #SpecialCoverage #Healthcare #NYC #Coronavirus #COVID19 #CentralPark #SamaritansPurse

Minneapolis, MN – The world is the midst of a once-in-a-century disease pandemic. COVID-19 is a natural phenomenon that is quickly becoming a human disaster.

Steff Yorek, political secretary of the Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO) states, “We know that all the politicians serve the interests of the rich. We need to demand and win concessions that benefit poor and working people. This will be literally a life or death situation and will fall on those with the least resources the most.”

Join us for an on-line forum addressing how capitalism fails to address the public health crisis, brings impending economic disaster for working people, and fuels racist attacks in our communities. Speakers will address the failures of capitalism, in contrast with examples set by the socialist countries, and how our movements can fight back. We will be available to take questions live via chat.

Speakers will include FRSO leaders Frank Chapman and Masao Suzuki, and leaders from people’s movements across the U.S.

The program will take place Thursday, March 26, 7 p.m. Central on the Freedom Road Socialist Organization YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAht8JygKrI

#MinneapolisMN #CapitalismAndEconomy #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganization #Socialism #Coronavirus

Saint Paul, MN – In one of the first known protests organized since the widespread implementation of ‘social distancing’ and ‘shelter-in-place’ with the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus, a car caravan lined Summit Avenue outside Governor Tim Walz’s mansion in Saint Paul to demand immediate release of all immigrant detainees in Minnesota jails.

The protest participants stayed in their cars to avoid social spread of coronavirus. Cars were painted and adorned with posters with slogans like “Governor Walz: Free them all.” People in some cars led chants with megaphones. Periodically, all the cars would honk at the same time to make sure their message was heard. At the same time, an online campaign encouraged people to post selfies with the protest’s message and to call Governor Walz.

The protest was organized by Twin Cities Never Again Action, an organization of “Jews and allies to oppose, disrupt and end the detention and deportation machine.”

The demand of immediate release of immigrants from jails is based on the serious danger that COVID-19 could spread like wildfire in jails with people packed together in unsanitary conditions, which could cause rates of infection and death well beyond what has been seen outside of jails. Several signs at the protest warned that COVID-19 could turn prisons into death camps. The message painted on one car reminded people that Anne Frank, the famous young Jewish woman who died in Bergen Belsen Concentration Camp, was not executed there but died of typhus, a deadly bacterial infection that spread and killed many in the concentration camps.

Twin Cities Never Again Action encourages people to continue to call Governor Tim Walz at 651-201-3400 and demand that all detained immigrants in Minnesota be released immediately.

#SaintPaulMN #PeoplesStruggles #immigrantRights #Coronavirus

Guangdong, China – There is chaos in America right now surrounding COVID-19. Americans are receiving conflicting information every day about the virus, with no direction from the Trump administration. The Trump administration has decided that the best course of action is to do nothing, with Trump himself declaring “I don’t take responsibility at all.” When the Center for Disease Control (CDC) releases a report, Trump will directly contradict their findings in an attempt to downplay COVID-19’s immediate threat and bolster his own image. The resulting pandemonium has left Americans without guidance on how they should protect themselves and their families against this very deadly disease.

Here in China, I witnessed a much more concerted response to COVID-19. China’s centrally planned socialist system allowed for widespread and identical action in every single city. Entire cities were required to undergo quarantine, as businesses and restaurants were told to shut their doors. Only essential services like grocery stores and pharmacies were required to remain open. Through the aid of the government, these places experienced very few shortages and kept their shelves full. Everyone was required to wear a medical face mask if going out in public, and there were temperature checks at the entrance of every building. Entire hospitals in heavily afflicted areas were constructed in as little as 10 days. The government also guaranteed to pay for the full cost of testing and treatment for anyone infected with the virus. For those uninfected but forced to stay home during the quarantine, China also made it compulsory for businesses to pay their employees like normal.

The United States, with its absent leadership and for-profit healthcare system, is taking none of these steps on a national level. At the same point of the virus’s timeline that we’re now at in the United States, China already had entire cities under quarantine. For comparison, testing in the U.S. has been pathetic, where they only tested 77 people this last week. Trump has already said that even if a vaccine were to be released, our for-profit system wouldn’t guarantee it would be available to everyone. Without access to guaranteed sick leave, working-class people are forced to make the difficult choice between remaining at work and exposing themselves to the virus or staying at home with their families while earning no income.

Instead, the Trump administration’s response to the outbreak has been solely focused on propping up Wall Street. The Federal Reserve released $1.5 trillion in stimulus to prop up a zombie bull market, with seemingly no effect as shareholders continued to shed assets. Trump has also implemented a strict 30-day travel ban from Europe, creating chaos at airports that saw places like Chicago O’Hare dangerously jam-packed with Americans trying to return home and risking spread of the virus. Trump’s response to the outbreak has been so catastrophic that Americans can’t even get the simplest things like consistent information about the virus.

One of the most underrated parts of the Chinese government trying to limit the virus's spread was a massive public safety awareness campaign. Every day I received multiple text messages with updates about the outbreak. Every major Chinese app, such as WeChat and Meituan, had a section about the virus with statistics about it, if there were cases near you, and what vital information you should know in order to protect yourself. There were signs in every apartment building about how to wash your hands, what you should do to self-quarantine, and what kinds of supplies you should have on hand. Many places even required you to register in an app with your recent travel and health information before you were allowed entry.

The United States’ messy capitalist system has made it so that there is no such widespread and effective campaign designed to protect working-class people. As such, many are without guidance at the moment. In a return to an almost feudalistic society, states and cities are left to fend for themselves and make up their own public safety policies. So here are some tips that I learned from China’s carefully coordinated response to the epidemic:

1. Stay calm — Mass panic buying only leaves fewer supplies for people who need it. The virus needs to be taken seriously, but level heads allow us to combat it more easily. Hoarding things like toilet paper or face masks helps no one; take only what you need. You should be buying canned goods, non-perishables, and any prescription medications you might need in case you need to quarantine. Think of it like preparing for a hurricane or a major snowstorm.

2. Wash your hands — Do it for at least 20 seconds with soap and water. This is the best tool you can use to help prevent getting it yourself. We use our hands for everything, and just about any time you touch an outside surface somewhere, you should wash your hands. Cough or sneeze into a tissue or your sleeve, not your hands. Carry hand sanitizer with you in case you can't get to a bathroom quickly. If you've been handling anything others may have used, like a shopping cart or a door handle, don't touch your face until you can wash your hands. Also disinfect your phone. They’re one of the most unclean things we handle on a daily basis.

3. Assume everyone has the disease by now — This isn't to say that everyone does actually have it, but you should be living under the assumption that everyone you come into contact with already does. The amount of testing done in the U.S. is a disgrace at best and a human rights violation at worst. Thousands of people we don't know about already have it, so you should assume it's around you already and take the necessary precautions. Even if your city is only reporting a handful of cases, we just don't know because of how people travel. Someone could have caught it in Seattle and then traveled to Miami where they are now spreading it. Just try and keep your distance.

4. Don't go to crowded places — While those cheap plane tickets might seem alluring, just don't do it. Airports are the last place you want to be right now. Crowded places also include things like restaurants and movie theaters – anything that has you in close proximity to other people. Avoid them for now. Although it's painful for many, it’s a good thing that major outlets such as the NBA or Broadway are suspending or canceling their activities. We are talking about an epidemic here. Social events such as weddings, parties, or even children’s play dates should also be postponed.

5. If you think you're sick, please do not go out in public — Symptoms of COVID-19 include high fever, dry cough, and shortness of breath. If you’re suddenly experiencing any of these, stay home. For many the symptoms might be mild, but to others they are deadly. Avoid spreading it to other people if you think you might be sick. This is why you should have food supplies and medication at the ready in case you need to stay home for an extended period of time. We are herd animals and we need to protect the weakest among us. Only go to a doctor if you have very severe symptoms and inform them of your situation beforehand.

These tips were just a few examples of the widespread information China provided to every one of its citizens. Due to the rudderless leadership of the Trump administration, the United States is still unable to effectively provide even the most basic information to its people. These two systems’ responses to the COVID-19 outbreak could not be more diametrically opposed.

In China, its socialist system provided a meticulous, centrally planned response that completely suffocated the epidemic and protected its people. Things are finally returning to normal here only because of the carefully organized actions from the government. Meanwhile in the U.S., its capitalist system continues to haphazardly and inefficiently combat the outbreak which is quickly spiraling out of control. The U.S. would be well served in following the shining example from China and developing a universal healthcare system that puts the needs of its people over the profits of wealthy corporations.

#GuangdongChina #Guangdong #PeoplesStruggles #China #Coronavirus #Asia

The Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) condemns the Duterte regime's incompetence in providing concrete solutions in addressing the spread of COVID-19 in the country and using the scheduled lockdown to camouflage its intensified martial law in the national capital.

Rodrigo Duterte announced yesterday that the region will be locked down starting March 15 purportedly to stop the spread of the COVID-19. Around 12 million people will be barred from traveling to and from the region, whether by land, air or sea. Up to 3 million more workers from nearby provinces will have their movements restrained.

Failing to make restitution for cuts in the health budget and its failure to take decisive action at the onset of the disease outbreak, Duterte disregarded the deployment of health practitioners and setting up of adequate testing centers to contain the virus by providing accessible and immediate aid in affected areas. Instead, he ordered the massive deployment of armed state forces across the region. The Philippine National Police earlier announced its plan to dispatch around 40,000 cops should a lockdown be implemented. As per reports, police forces and soldiers are already stationed in key areas of Metro Manila for the lockdown.

In line with this, Duterte ordered his state forces to arrest anyone who will not abide by “their rules.” This marching order and the massive deployment of troops are reminiscent of martial law in Mindanao and under Marcos wherein cases of warrantless arrests and arbitrary detention were pervasive. The lockdown will be weaponized to silence dissenters,curtail the people's right to protest and just demands to address the spread of COVID-19.

Duterte’s approach to the pandemic reflects his militarism in the National Task Force to End Local Communist Armed Conflict (NTF-ELCAC), whose warmongers spearhead his “counterinsurgency” campaign and at the same time comprise the Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Disease (IATF-EID), which was formed and tasked by Duterte to address the public health emergency.

Apart from this, Duterte has not presented concrete plans for Filipino workers who will be gravely affected by the said lockdown. Millions of Filipinos in the capital will be forced to live with pressed down incomes and under threat of COVID-19 infection. As of today, the virus has infected more than 128,000 people worldwide and has caused at least 4,717 deaths. The Duterte regime officially claims 52 local cases with five deaths.

The CPP calls on the Filipino people to vigorously protest the inutile and incompetent handling of the COVID-19 issue by the regime. They must demand adequate testing centers and accessible health services, and the pullout of state forces deployed even prior to the lockdown’s onset. They must stand against the implementation of the lockdown and condemn the Duterte regime for using it as pretext to justify intensified fascist attacks against civilians. They must defy martial law in Metro Manila. ###

#Philippines #OppressedNationalities #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #CommunistPartyOfThePhilippines #Antifascism #RodrigoDuterte #DonaldTrump #Coronavirus #COVID19

Joint declaration of the Popular Front, the Italian Communist Party and the collective of “La Città Futura”

Italy, like many other countries, is facing a severe health emergency in these weeks. Many people are in deadly danger and suffering from coronavirus infection. Others are in isolation in their homes, waiting for a complete recovery. There have been hundreds of deaths so far. We wish to express our warmth and closeness to the families and communities affected.

We address our sincerest thanks to all those who work in health care facilities as elsewhere. Every day they expose themselves and commit themselves to protect public health and the functioning of services to the citizens. We extend our sincere solidarity to the many who continue to work in the current challenging conditions.

Our National Health System, our economy and our society face unprecedented pressure from the post-war period to the present. We shall not underestimate the commitment by the whole country to cope with the emergency: it is indeed a proof of the vitality of the Italian society that we shall be proud of.

As communists, we carry now more than ever the responsibility to play a leading role, which means primarily to participate in the collective effort to face the emergency and overcome it.

Our militant community is at the forefront in helping to spread awareness of individual responsibility; in making the containment measures ordered by the authorities effective; and in carefully following the hygienic instructions necessary to avoid the further spread of the contagion. Each one of us feels the responsibility of participating in the prevention, and we must discourage any irrational behavior. The non-compliance to the measures opens the way to dangerous mass psychosis that multiplies the infection.

In recent decades, communists have been among the very few to fight against cutbacks in public health care. We have called to fight against the model of 'differentiated autonomy', which promotes a de facto privatization by fostering 'subsidiarity' with local and regional authorities. The events of these days dramatically show the validity of our concerns. Two dramatic examples are the institutional disorder created by Regions-State overlapping competences, and the rush to mobilize the best energies of the country to recover the lost ground in the medical garrison of the territory.

#Italy #CapitalismAndEconomy #Europe #Healthcare #PeoplesStruggles #Coronavirus #ItalianCommunistParty #LaCittàFutura

The anti-science Trump administration and the for-profit corporate healthcare systems are ill equipped to deal with the unfolding crisis.

On March 2, Vice President Pence promised there would be a million test kits available by the end of the week. That proved to be false. Only 160,000 test kits were available and most of them went unused. It’s impossible to know the extent of the viral spread. For example, there are 71 confirmed cases in the Seattle area and 15 deaths. Either the corona virus in the U.S. has a 21% death rate or there are in the range of 1000 actual cases in the area. The second is the more likely from the perspective of science.

Rather than take any responsibility, Trump chose to blame Obama for a lack of test kits.

Given that Trump places how he looks far above the health and safety of the American people, it’s not surprising that there is a delay in testing. After all, less than two weeks ago he cooked the numbers to claim that there were only really 15 cases and that those were going down to zero really soon.

Donald Trump went on Fox last week to put out nonsense theories minimizing the coronavirus' threat to Americans. He went to great lengths to contradict the World Health Organization, which put the global mortality rate for the coronavirus at 3.4%.

Trump said, “Well, I think the 3.4% is really a false number. Now, and this is just my hunch, and – but based on a lot of conversations with a lot of people that do this. Because a lot people will have this and it's very mild. They'll get better very rapidly. They don't even see a doctor. They don't even call a doctor,” Trump said.

“You never hear about those people. So you can't put them down in the category of the overall population in terms of this corona flu and – or virus. So you just can't do that,” Trump continued. “So if, you know, we have thousands or hundreds of thousands of people that get better, just by, you know, sitting around and even going to work – some of them go to work but they get better.”

Michael J. Ryan Executive Director of Emergency Services, World Health organization responded to the mortality rate issue, stating, “Obviously there is a lot of speculation on mortality rates, and the modeling is an attempt to understand why so few people under 40 have been clinically unwell. Most of the people who are really sick are between the ages of 40 and 90. When we look to calculate a case fatality, it’s possible we could add a bunch of young people who are not getting very sick and then the case fatality rate will drop.

That may not necessarily reflect the experience of older people; the actual case fatality goes up with age and other conditions. We need to look to people who are older, who have underlying conditions, are undernourished or have long term infectious conditions, in order to put in the necessary services to save their lives. Everything we do should be focused on protecting the most vulnerable.

#MinneapolisMN #US #PeoplesStruggles #DonaldTrump #Coronavirus #COVID19

Bad news on the COVID-19 front continued to pour in from both the U.S. and the rest of the world, excepting China. The John Hopkins University COVID-19 tracker reported 330 cases in the United States. The World Health Organization daily situation report for March 6 showed that Germany had joined South Korea, Iran, and Italy in having more new infections than China, with France in striking distance.

The only good news continues to come out of China, where the province of Hubei report zero new infections outside of Wuhan, where the COVID-19 epidemic began. Outside of Hubei there were only 20 new infections in China, despite the gradual lifting of quarantines and return of more and more people to work.

Concern about the economic impact of the COVID-19 on capitalist economies continued to grow. Austan Goolsbee, the former chair of the Council of Economic advisors under President Obama wrote that the impact of epidemic in the United States could be worse than in China. He cited the facts that the United States had fewer people working in agriculture and more people living in cities where disease can spread more easily. Goolsbee also pointed out the larger role of services means that as people cut back on going out, service businesses would be hurt more.

#SanJoséCA #US #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #China #stockMarket #DonaldTrump #Coronavirus #COVID19

San José, CA – On Thursday, March 5, the day after U.S. stocks soared on hopes that a Biden presidency would be better for Wall Street, economic worries about the new Coronavirus (COVID-19) drove down stocks again. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 1000 points, or 3.5%, with other averages falling a bit less. Interest rates on the ten-year U.S. Treasury Bonds fell to another record low of less than 0.92%, showing both fear among U.S. investors and expectations of weaker economic growth.

Hardest hit were travel-related companies on the news that United Airlines was cutting their flight schedule and offering unpaid furloughs for their workers. A regional airline in Europe collapsed, threatening its workers’ jobs. A smaller Japanese cruise line company also entered bankruptcy as cruise ship bookings continued to plummet with the news that another Carnival cruise ship was returning to San Francisco after a former passenger died of the coronavirus and a number of passengers fell ill.

Apple computer reported shortages of replacement parts and older replacement phones as the tech industry’s production in China and south Korea took major hits. Oil tankers are now floating at sea as demand for oil drops, especially in China, which is the world’s largest oil importer. Oil prices have dropped more than 25% since the beginning of the year, promising more pain to oil-exporting countries.

Auto sales are down in double digits in south Korea, the country with the second-most corona virus infections and whose new infections, along with Italy and Iran, and now greater than China. Car sales in February fell 80% from a year ago as China’s stiff quarantine measures have cut into retails sales – although reports say that there was an increase at the end of February. While China’s economy has taken a hit, the socialist government’s firm response has cut the rate of new infections below 150 a day, far less than the rest of the world which saw more than ten times as many – more than 2000 in the last World Health Organization or WHO report.

#SanJoséCA #US #PeoplesStruggles #stockMarket #DonaldTrump #Coronavirus #COVID19

Minneapolis, MN – Freedom Road Socialist Organization’s Political Secretary Steff Yorek stated today, March 4, “As COVID-19 spreads here in the United States, the potential exists for the corporate health care system to be overwhelmed. American capitalism has developed a health care system that’s poorly equipped to do basic public health. There is no profit in disease prevention.”

Yorek noted, “The epicenter of the U.S. outbreak today is Washington state. Nine people have died in the Seattle area and health care workers are under quarantine. A new case in North Carolina can be traced to travel to Washington state. We can expect it to continue to spread while a vaccine is 12 to 18 months away. When a vaccine does come available the rich intend to make as much money off it as possible. Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar said he won’t promise a vaccine will be affordable to working people because profit trumps human needs.”

Yorek also stated, “In the meantime, the virus is hitting Iran hard. The World Health Organization is very concerned that because of U.S. sanctions, there will not be sufficient disposable medical supplies and ventilators. Iran is taking many positive steps, including rapidly releasing non-violent prisoners who are clear of the virus to prevent prison-based outbreaks. It is a good thing that socialist China is providing medical assistance.

“This is the time to practice solidarity with the neighbors on the block and across the globe. We will have to be prepared and not panicked and demand that the pandemic measures meet people’s needs – not profit,” she concluded.

#MinneapolisMN #International #Iran #US #MiddleEast #Asia #PeoplesStruggles #China #FreedomRoadSocialistOrganizationFRSO #SteffYorek #Socialism #DonaldTrump #Coronavirus #COVID19

COVID-19 is the disease caused by a new type of coronavirus circulating the world. The virus, SARS-CoV-2, passed from bats to mammals to people in Wuhan China in December 2019.

For about a month the virus remained isolated in China. China undertook intense measures in an attempt to contain the virus. In so doing they gave the rest of the world some time to prepare for a possible outbreak. In this past week the viral illness Covid-19 has begun to circulate in the community in Iran and Italy in significant numbers.

The United States has had its first death from COVID-19 and the virus is circulating in some communities.

It’s important to be factual and scientific about the spread of COVID-19 and not to promote panic. For many people, the risk, even if infected by the virus, is low. It is still unknown whether this will become an epidemic in the U.S., though it seems more likely each passing day.

That said, the threat is not a hoax as Trump claimed and shouldn’t be minimized.

If large numbers are infected at the same time, the health care system would be overwhelmed by the number of patients as 20% of COVID-19 patients need inpatient hospital care. At this time the mortality rate is estimated at between .4 and 2%.

One of the irresponsible claims is that the COVID-19 outbreak will die out when the northern hemisphere weather warms. It may or it may not die out. There is no science behind the claim.

We need to demand that leaders on the local, state and federal level prepare for the worst and don’t leave working people in crisis. Some policies that could be put in place now include:

1. Testing and treatment for COVID-19, when not covered by existing insurance, needs to be free.
2. A special focus should be made to mitigate the impacts of COVID-19 in oppressed nationality communities who will be impacted differently by the epidemic – because they tend to have worse health, less money in the bank and less access to insurance. African Americans, for example, have much higher rates of asthma, heart disease and diabetes which are risks for worse outcomes from COVID-19.
3. Unemployment laws and regulations need to be revised so workers who can't work due to business closures and quarantine get paid immediately with no waiting period.
4. Non-violent prisoners and detained immigrants need to be assessed now, with preparations made for release. Prisons and county jails and detention centers will be epicenters of infection.
5. Stocks of personal protective equipment, masks, gloves, gowns etc., need to exist for every worker in a high density environment, from doctors to janitors.
6. We will need health workers with personal protective equipment visiting the homes of vulnerable people to check on their health and preexisting conditions. A system needs to be in place for this in the event of quarantine measures.
7. Price controls and food distribution systems need to be planned for the possibility of localized quarantines.

Let's not let a natural disaster turn into a larger human-made disaster.

#MinneapolisMN #Coronavirus

San José, CA – By Friday, February 28, the U.S. stock markets had their worst week since the financial crisis in 2008. Stocks closed down 15% on average from their record highs just the week before. The Dow Jones Industrial Average had lost 1000 points during the day but ended down 350 points on hopes that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates at their next meeting in mid-March.

Over the weekend the first death from the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, was reported in the state of Washington. The death was one of four cases on the West Coast which could not be traced to any international travel. From the similarities of the infections, experts estimated that the virus had been circulating in the United States for six weeks, meaning that there could be 150 to 1500 more infections in the United States.

Up until this weekend, all testing for the COVID-19 virus had to go through the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta. This led to delays in testing on of the coronavirus patients in California and was just another sign of how unprepared the United States is. A study from a decade ago estimated that U.S. hospitals had only one-tenth the number of respirators needed to deal with a bad flu epidemic. Another sign was the plea by the U.S. Surgeon General for the general public to not buy masks in order to preserve the limited supply for health workers. The United States has only about one-tenth the number of masks needed, and almost all of the masks are produced in other countries.

Trump’s top economic advisor, Larry Kudlow, repeated that the threat was low and that the administration is “staying the course.” Trump continued to say that the virus was still coming from outside the country, announcing travel restrictions on Iran, Italy and South Korea, despite the news of a man dying in the state of Washington.

Around the world stock markets also fell about 15% as bad news continued to pile up outside of China. On Saturday there were more than twice as many new infections outside China as inside, with more cases in South Korea alone than in all of China. The impact of the virus and the fight against it continued to pound the South Korean economy, with more auto plants shutting down because of parts shortages. The South Korean economy took the biggest tumble in February since the financial crisis of 2008.

All the news was not so grim. New infections have fallen in China and the economy, while still hurting, is starting to improve as businesses start to reopen. China felt confident enough about its fight against the COVID-19 that on Saturday the Chinese Red Cross sent medical supplies, equipment and doctors to Iran to help in their fight against the novel coronavirus.

#SanJoseCA #PeoplesStruggles #stockMarket #Coronavirus

San José, CA – For a second day in a row, U.S. stock prices fell about 3% Tuesday, February 25. After a 1000-point drop on Monday, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell almost 900 points, or more than 3%, while the broader S&P 500 fell 3%. Investors fled to buy bonds, pushing their prices up and their interest rate down to all-time record lows, with the ten-year U.S. government bond interest rate falling to 1.35%. Typically falling interest rates show fear of slower economic growth or even a recession ahead.

While stocks tried to bounce at the beginning of the day after Monday’s loss, they started to fall after a top U.S. Center for Disease Control doctor warned that it was a matter of when, not if, the coronavirus spreads to the United States. This warning came after infections continued to rise in south Korea, now with more than 1100 cases, and in Italy, with more than 300 infections. Even worse, five more countries – Austria, Croatia, France, Spain and Switzerland – reported new coronavirus infections traced back to Italy.

President Trump, in an attempt to prop up the stock market, claimed that U.S. coronavirus cases were “down to about ten” when in fact they have risen to 57. He then returned to tweeting about his trip to India and complaining about the prosecution and conviction of his associate Roger Stone. Larry Kudlow, Trump’s chief economic advisor, claimed that the coronavirus is “well contained.” But these reassurances rang hollow on Wall Street.

Meanwhile, in Washington D.C., the Trump administration acting head of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, in testimony before Congress, showed his ignorance of the coronavirus issue. Like Trump he tried to downplay the issue, claiming that the seasonal flu has about the same death rate as the novel coronavirus COVID-19, when in fact the coronavirus is about 20 times more deadly.

The Trump administration has tried to cut funding for the CDC every budget year and proposed a 20% cut for this fiscal year. Trump’s former National Security advisor John Bolton eliminated the Global Health Security directorate. While Congress has restored most of the CDC funding cuts, Trump has focused on creating a new military Space Force.

While the Trump administration was quick to ban travel from China, this approach can give a false sense of security that is no substitute for public health preparedness. Italy was the first and only E.U. nation to ban flights from China, but now finds itself at the center of a new outbreak of the disease. Trump’s secretary for Health and Human Services admitted that the government only has 10% of the total number of medical masks that it would need to fight an outbreak.

The Trump administration proposal for $2.5 billion to fight the coronavirus came only after it has become clear that the virus is spreading. His proposal actually only has $1.25 billion in new funding, mostly for vaccine development that could be a year away. Even worse his proposal wants to take hundreds of millions of dollars from the fight against the deadly Ebola virus, which still has scattered outbreaks in Africa.

#SanJoséCA #US #PeoplesStruggles #economy #stockMarket #DonaldTrump #Coronavirus