28 April 20
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27 April 20
Ilhan Omar and Leah Hunt-Hendrix | Trump's Isolationism Won't Work. We Have to Think Global - and the US Should Lead
Ilhan Omar and Leah Hunt-Hendrix, Guardian UK
Rep. Ilhan Omar. (photo: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)
Ilhan Omar and Leah Hunt-Hendrix, Guardian UK
Rep. Ilhan Omar. (photo: Mandel Ngan/Getty Images)
EXCERPT:
s a global superpower, it is more important than ever that the US takes a leadership role in the international response to this crisis. And yet, so far, President Trump has placed his own near-term political interests above the country and world, placing blame for the virus on other countries, even taking the extreme step of halting funding for the World Health Organization. In a world as connected as ours, an isolationist strategy will be devastating to millions of people around the world and here at home. The US should instead seize this opportunity to lead the global response and reinvest in diplomacy.
As grave as the threat is to the American people, it is even starker for poor countries. The World Economic Forum has expressed concern over how the economic shutdown is affecting supply chains and could potentially worsen hunger in the developing world. In a devastating real-life Hunger Games, richer countries are snatching up life-saving supplies and driving up their costs, leaving poorer countries helpless. Millions live in refugee camps, where water and latrines are shared. Millions more live in densely packed urban areas, where social distancing is a fantasy. The 1.2 billion people who live in Africa, where there are just five ICU beds available for every 1 million people, are essentially facing a time bomb that they must try to defuse.
While we are justifiably consumed with fighting the virus within our borders, there are steps we should take to ease the ability of other nations to take on the virus in their communities.
Two people walk in Chicago's South Side. (photo: Tannen Maury/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock)
How Covid-19 Is a Perfect Storm for Black Americans
Kenneth R. Alleyne, The Washington Post
Alleyne writes: "As America fights its war against the novel coronavirus, there is a separate battle being fought by African Americans. This battle finds them outmatched, underresourced, undersupported and undertested. It is a fight none would call fair."
Kenneth R. Alleyne, The Washington Post
Alleyne writes: "As America fights its war against the novel coronavirus, there is a separate battle being fought by African Americans. This battle finds them outmatched, underresourced, undersupported and undertested. It is a fight none would call fair."
I am a board-certified African American orthopedic surgeon. I continue to see patients and care for trauma cases, but I am not on the front line of this fight. My practice encompasses patients from some of the wealthiest Zip codes in Manhattan and from some of the poorest in rural and inner-city Connecticut. My wife, also a physician, works at a care facility for underserved areas, known as a federally qualified health center. It is from these perspectives I observe the inequities deeply rooted in the nation’s health-care system.
Many factors have fueled the racial disparities in covid-19 outcomes: lower access to health care and higher rates of asthma, diabetes and heart disease. There are social, economic and political reasons for these lopsided outcomes. We call them the “social determinants of health” — a group of nonmedical variables that impact up to 80 percent of health outcomes. These social determinants include access to healthy food, transportation, Zip code, health insurance and even mold levels. Most of these are not immediately correctable. New supermarkets to place fresh vegetables in communities that are food deserts will not be built tomorrow. The next day we will not narrow education achievement gaps.
To that long list of traditional social determinants affecting my community, I would like to add one more, with a 400-year context: the African American “essential worker” designation.
In the medical world, as elsewhere, these workers often go unnoticed and too often unnamed. They are the hospital cleaning personnel, the delivery, food service and warehouse workers, and municipal employees who truly are on the front line. They stand between us and pure social chaos. These workers are black or brown, low-wage and with limited formal education. They come in contact with the coronavirus in its most pernicious forms: on cardboard, stainless steel, on clothing and in the air. Pandemic 1, African Americans 0.
As if fighting this silent enemy were not enough, the communities of these essential workers often have low rates of testing and few testing facilities. Everyone I know who desired a test has managed to get one. My neighbors line their vehicles up for tests at one of Connecticut’s many drive-through sites, just as they lined up at Starbucks in January. Instead of using an app to order a latte, they grasp the winning ticket of a prescription for testing from their primary-care physician. I know of only a few walk-up testing facilities in the neighborhoods where the disease is most prevalent. For essential workers who don’t have a car or primary-care physician, and can’t find a local walk-up site, that means one thing: no covid-19 tests. Pandemic 2, African Americans 0.
In cities where essential workers rely on public transportation, they now find reduced train and bus schedules — placing more people onto fewer transports and making social distancing unlikely. With many doctors and nurses scrambling to find personal protective equipment, what are the chances that these workers — also laboring in proximity to the disease — are going to be adequately supplied? After work, they nonetheless must head home on that same overcrowded public transportation. Pandemic 3, African Americans 0.
I rely on telemedicine to help many of my patients, communicating with them through what is essentially a one-on-one video conference. Though minorities have high levels of smartphone ownership, telemedicine has largely failed to catch on in African American and Latino communities. That’s unfortunate, because it removes an important tool for screening, reassurance, education and care. Pandemic 4, African Americans 0.
In trying to inform the public about the pandemic, have we done our best to reach young people where they interact? I worry particularly about the young black men and women. Their media diet may not include CNN or The Post or other major news outlets. Why can’t the same systems used for flash-flood warnings and Amber Alerts be deployed to reach a population with high rates of cellphone use? Until that happens, Pandemic 5, African Americans 0.
Addressing any or all of these social determinants is not just the moral thing to do — it is vital for flattening the curve of covid-19 infections nationwide. African American outcomes are America’s outcomes.
Bernie Sanders. (photo: Bernie Sanders)
Sanders Outlines Steps on Health Care for Biden
Tal Axelrod, The Hill
Axelrod writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders outlined steps Joe Biden can take on health care that he says would be popular as the former vice president prioritizes uniting the Democratic Party ahead of the general election."
Tal Axelrod, The Hill
Axelrod writes: "Sen. Bernie Sanders outlined steps Joe Biden can take on health care that he says would be popular as the former vice president prioritizes uniting the Democratic Party ahead of the general election."
Sanders, a vocal progressive and advocate for “Medicare for All,” recognized that Biden, a centrist, is unlikely to adopt a single-payer system. However, he said decreasing the age to qualify for Medicare from 65 to 55 and expanding coverage for children would be positive steps.
“My best outcome is to go forward in the direction of Medicare for All but not do it perhaps as quickly as I would want,” Sanders said on MSNBC on Saturday.
“At least what we should do is lower the eligibility of Medicare from 65 to 55 and cover all of the children in this country. And then we can figure out ways that we can expand and improve the [Affordable Care Act]," he continued. "Those are some of the things Joe Biden can do without embracing a full Medicare for All concept.”
Sanders made Medicare for All one of the cornerstones of his failed presidential bid, thrusting an idea once unpopular deeper into the mainstream and making the policy a priority among progressives.
Biden has offered overtures to liberals since Sanders dropped out of the race and he all but clinched the nomination, including proposing dropping the age to qualify for Medicare from 65 to 60 and unveiling a plan to cancel some student debt.
While Biden still faces an uphill climb among Sanders’s most arduous supporters, some of whom have vowed to not support the former vice president, Sanders said the steps he proposed could gain support.
“If Joe Biden said tomorrow that every American 55 years of age or older would be eligible for Medicare, I think that would be enormously popular and an enormously effective policy program,” Sanders said.
Despite disagreements over Medicare for All, Sanders gave a full-throated endorsement to Biden earlier this month.
“We need you in the White House. I will do all that I can to see that that happens, Joe,” Sanders told Biden during a virtual event on the coronavirus. “Today, I am asking all Americans — I'm asking every Democrat, I'm asking every independent, I'm asking a lot of Republicans — to come together in this campaign to support your candidacy, which I endorse.”
Shelves at a CVS pharmacy. (photo: Reuters)
US FDA Says Steps Needed to Stop People Drinking Hand Sanitizer
Manojna Maddipatla, Reuters
Maddipatla writes: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday asked makers of hand sanitizers to add denatured alcohol to the products in order to make them less palatable in a bid to discourage people from drinking the liquid."
Manojna Maddipatla, Reuters
Maddipatla writes: "The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Monday asked makers of hand sanitizers to add denatured alcohol to the products in order to make them less palatable in a bid to discourage people from drinking the liquid."
The regulator’s advisory follows U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent comments on whether injecting disinfectants might treat COVID-19, which raised concerns that frightened people could poison themselves with untested treatments.
"Hand sanitizers are not proven to treat COVID-19, and like other products meant for external use, are not for ingestion, inhalation, or intravenous use," FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn said in a statement here
Demand for hand sanitizers has soared after the government and health agencies advised people to clean their hands thoroughly to discourage the spread of the new coronavirus, which has caused over 51,000 deaths in the United States.
The agency said adding denatured alcohol to hand sanitizers renders a bitter taste making the liquid less appealing for consumption.
Calls to the National Poison Data System last month related to hand sanitizer increased by 79% compared to March 2019, and a majority of them were about unintentional exposure to children aged 5 and younger, the FDA said.
The agency recommended that the products carry child safety warnings and information to get medical help upon accidental consumption.
The FDA, which in March relaxed rules to allow pharmacists to supply alcohol-based hand sanitizers without prescriptions, also said it was taking measures to help ensure continued supply of the product.
More than 1,500 new makers of alcohol-based hand sanitizers have registered with the agency as it works to improve the safety and supply of the product amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency said.
Maria, a 37-year-old US citizen living in Georgia, petitioned for her parents' green cards last year.(photo: BuzzFeed News)
US Citizens Trying to Get Their Parents Green Cards Feel Hopeless After Trump's Latest Immigration Ban
Adolfo Flores and Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed
Excerpt: "Ana took a break from her warehouse job, which has been focused on getting gloves, sanitizer, and cleaning supplies to hospitals because of the coronavirus pandemic, to read the latest on Trump's order suspending immigration to the US."
Adolfo Flores and Hamed Aleaziz, BuzzFeed
Excerpt: "Ana took a break from her warehouse job, which has been focused on getting gloves, sanitizer, and cleaning supplies to hospitals because of the coronavirus pandemic, to read the latest on Trump's order suspending immigration to the US."
EXCERPT:
“They have faith in the American dream. I have several clients who are American citizens who have filed for green cards for their parents. They are going through the legal process, which the government encourages everyone to do.”
Charles Kuck, an immigration attorney in Atlanta, said he heard from those in the corporate world immediately.
“A wide variety of clients, from senior HR directors of multinational companies, to US citizens with applications pending for their parents, to humble people asking if their case asking for a victim of crime visa, are all asking the same question — how does this proclamation impact me and my employees?” Kuck said. “The biggest thing for me, as an immigration lawyer, is to help people to understand that every case is different in how it is affected, and to walk that person through their concern. And, occasionally answer the existential question — why would Trump do this now?”
Maria, a 37-year-old US citizen living in Georgia, petitioned for her parents’ green cards last year and was hoping they would be with her at the beginning of 2021. But that timeline has been put on hold following the proclamation.
Maria, who declined to use her full name for fear that speaking about the green card applications will affect their chances of coming to the US, said it's particularly hard because of the instability in Venezuela where her parents live. The country's economic crisis has resulted in shortages of food, water, and basic medical supplies that's also led to violent protests — a situation made worse by the coronavirus pandemic.
"Everything there is fragile... I worry that something is going to happen and we'll never see them again," Maria told BuzzFeed News. "Everything has been so unstable, not only with the virus, but the entire situation in Venezuela."
When Trump tweeted Monday night that he was going to ban immigration to the US in response to COVID-19, Maria and her sister, who is also in the United States, waited to tell their parents, who are retired. When the sisters eventually told them, their parents said they would all have to be patient and ride it out.
Maria, an executive at a software company, hopes the ban will be removed soon and her parents’ application can move forward, though she worries the proclamation will be extended for an indefinite amount of time.
Zdeněk Hřib at the renaming of a Prague square after the slain Russian opposition politician Boris Nemtsov, whose daughter is alongside him. (photo: Getty Images)
Prague Mayor Under Police Protection Amid Reports of Russian Plot
Andrew Roth, Guardian UK
Roth writes: "The mayor of Prague has said he is under police protection from a 'risk to my life,' with one Czech investigative outlet reporting he had been targeted in a Russian poisoning plot."
READ MORE
Andrew Roth, Guardian UK
Roth writes: "The mayor of Prague has said he is under police protection from a 'risk to my life,' with one Czech investigative outlet reporting he had been targeted in a Russian poisoning plot."
READ MORE
Forest destruction caused by mining gold deposits in Venezuela. (photo: Martin Harvey/The Image Bank/Getty Images)
Scientists Warn Worse Pandemics Are on the Way if We Don't Protect Nature
Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch
Davidson writes: "A group of biodiversity experts warned that future pandemics are on the horizon if mankind does not stop its rapid destruction of nature."
Jordan Davidson, EcoWatch
Davidson writes: "A group of biodiversity experts warned that future pandemics are on the horizon if mankind does not stop its rapid destruction of nature."
group of biodiversity experts warned that future pandemics are on the horizon if mankind does not stop its rapid destruction of nature.
Writing an article published Monday by The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), the authors put the responsibility for COVID-19 squarely on our shoulders.
"There is a single species that is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic – us. As with the climate and biodiversity crises, recent pandemics are a direct consequence of human activity – particularly our global financial and economic systems, based on a limited paradigm that prizes economic growth at any cost. We have a small window of opportunity, in overcoming the challenges of the current crisis, to avoid sowing the seeds of future ones," the authors wrote on IPBES.
The authors of the report include the three co-chairs of the comprehensive 2019 IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services, which found that one million species of plants and animals are at risk of extinction within decades. The fourth author, Peter Daszak, is the president of EcoHealth Alliance and is tasked with spearheading the IPBES' next global assessment, as The Guardian reported.
The authors argue that government stimulus plans need to include sustainable and nature-positive initiatives.
"It may be politically expedient at this time to relax environmental standards and to prop up industries such as intensive agriculture, long-distance transportation such as the airlines, and fossil-fuel-dependent energy sectors, but doing so without requiring urgent and fundamental change, essentially subsidizes the emergence of future pandemics," the authors wrote.
They also fault wanton greed for allowing microbes that lead to novel diseases to jump from animals to humans.
"Rampant deforestation, uncontrolled expansion of agriculture, intensive farming, mining and infrastructure development, as well as the exploitation of wild species have created a 'perfect storm' for the spillover of diseases from wildlife to people," they wrote in their article.
They warn that 1.7 million unidentified viruses known to infect people are estimated to exist in mammals and water birds. Any one of these may be more disruptive and lethal than COVID-19.
With that in mind, the authors suggest three facets that should be considered for COVID-19-related stimulus plans. Countries should strengthen environmental regulations; adopt a 'One Health' approach to decision-making that recognizes complex interconnections among the health of people, animals, plants, and our shared environment; and prop up healthcare systems in the most vulnerable countries where resources are strained and underfunded. "This is not simple altruism – it is vital investment in the interests of all to prevent future global outbreaks," the scientists argue in their IPBES article.
"The programs we're talking about will cost tens of billions of dollars a year," Daszak told The Guardian. "But if you get one pandemic, even just one a century, that costs trillions, so you still come out with an incredibly good return on investment.
"Business as usual will not work. Business as usual right now for pandemics is waiting for them to emerge and hoping for a vaccine. That's not a good strategy. We need to deal with the underlying drivers."
Their assessment has been supported recently by others in the scientific community. A study published earlier this month blamed human impact on wildlife for the current outbreak, as The Guardian reported.
The authors of the new article end their piece on an optimistic note about nature's resiliency. "We can build back better and emerge from the current crisis stronger and more resilient than ever – but to do so means choosing policies and actions that protect nature – so that nature can help to protect us," they wrote.
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