Coronavirus pandemic update, USA

This 29 March 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

[Trump supporter] Glenn Beck advocates for killing old people to save the country. John Iadarola and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.

Glenn Beck advocates for killing old people to save the country. John Iadarola and Ana Kasparian discuss on The Young Turks.

“TV and radio personality Glenn Beck is urging older Americans to return to work to keep the economy going despite the coronavirus infection risks.

Younger people, he said, could stay home to protect themselves from the virus that causes COVID-19 while older people ― who the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says are more prone to the most serious cases ― should keep working.

“I would rather have my children stay home and all of us who are over 50 go in and keep this economy going and working,” he said in comments posted online by Media Matters. “Even if we all get sick, I’d rather die than kill the country.”

From Our Revolution in the USA today:

President Trump is openly asking Americans to die on behalf of the stock market, and our health care and economic safety nets have been exposed as tragically insufficient.

The ongoing catastrophe unleashed by the coronavirus and decades of anti-worker policies only underlines how much America needs Bernie [Sanders]’s progressive policies.

Donate here to help Our Revolution continue challenging corporate politicians in both parties and electing progressives who put the health and economic security of Americans ahead of special interest profits.

Mike Oles
Field Director
Our Revolution

The coronavirus crisis has exposed the failure of our for-profit health care system and our cruel lack of a stable economic safety net for working families.

President Trump called COVID-19 “a hoax”. He failed to acquire lifesaving medical equipment to protect health care workers and patients and has pushed for policies that value the stock market more than American lives.

Now more than ever, we need Bernie’s transformational progressive policies that put the health and economic security of people ahead of corporate profit.

Over the weekend, the global public health disaster caused by the coronavirus pandemic reached a new point of crisis at its center, the United States. Nationally, confirmed cases of COVID-19 soared to more than 135,000, for the first time rising by more than 20,000 in a single day. Deaths doubled in two days, surpassing 2,400: here.

With the number of coronavirus cases surging to 5,486 and 132 deaths over the weekend, Michigan has moved to number four on the list of states with the most severe outbreaks of the pandemic in the US. The epicenter in Michigan continues to be the city of Detroit, where the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases stands at 1,542 and 35 deaths. The tri-county metropolitan area of Wayne, Oakland and Macomb counties have 82 percent of the state’s total with 4,494 cases and 110 deaths: here.

This 28 March 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

Detroit Will See a ‘Tsunami’ of Coronavirus Cases

Infectious disease specialist with the Detroit Medical Center Dr. Teena Chopra says the growth curve of COVID-19 cases in Detroit is steeper than that in New York. Southeast Michigan has become an epicenter of the coronavirus crisis.

At least nine US autoworkers have lost their lives so far to the COVID-19 pandemic, after four deaths were reported in the media over the weekend. According to a Saturday report in the Detroit Free Press, two hourly Ford workers died after being diagnosed with COVID-19. Coworkers identified one of the workers as Gregory Boyd from Dearborn Stamping Plant, part of Ford’s massive River Rouge complex. The second death was a skilled trades worker at the Ford Data Center, also in Dearborn, whose identity is not yet known. On Sunday, the Free Press reported that two more Fiat Chrysler workers died of COVID-19, one from Warren Truck Assembly Plant and another from the MOPAR parts distribution center in Center Line, Michigan. These bring the death toll to seven at FCA’s US plants, including two at a single facility, Warren Truck: here.

By Erik Schreiber in the USA, 30 March 2020:

Instacart workers in US begin nationwide walkout as Whole Foods workers plan sickout Tuesday

Workers for Instacart, a grocery shopping and delivery service, began a nationwide walkout in the United States today to protest the company’s refusal to protect them or provide hazard pay during the coronavirus pandemic. They have vowed not to return to work until the company meets their demands. Instacart employs more than 150,000 workers across the country.

The planned walkout is part of a nationwide and international fight by workers to demand safe conditions, including strikes and protests by Amazon workers, sanitation and public transit workers and workers in the auto, steel and meatpacking industries. Amazon workers in Staten Island plan to strike Monday, and workers at Whole Foods—also owned by Amazon—plan to strike Tuesday.

The coronavirus pandemic has increased demand for shopping and delivery services dramatically, as many people stay at home or in quarantine. Last week, Instacart announced plans to hire 300,000 new workers during the next three months to meet this demand.

Instacart workers (or “shoppers,” as the company calls them) have been demanding for weeks that the company institute the most elementary safety measures. “We don’t feel safe at work and we don’t feel we have the tools to keep customers safe,” said Ashley, a full-service shopper in Washington who is participating in the walkout. “The shoppers I know who aren’t sick are certainly not at their mental best. It’s a very dehumanizing and draining job right now.”

“Instacart has still not provided essential protections to shoppers on the front lines that could prevent them from becoming carriers, falling ill themselves, or worse,” said Instacart Shoppers and Gig Workers Collective in a statement posted on Medium on Friday. “They are profiting astronomically off of us literally risking our lives, all while refusing to provide us with effective protection, meaningful pay, and meaningful benefits.” …

https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/1243987852242948096

Whole Foods workers have announced their intention to conduct a sick-out tomorrow, March 31, with a flyer circulating online reading: “We put ourselves at risk! We have demands!”

Whole Foods, like Amazon.com and the Washington Post daily, is owned by the richest man in the world, Jeff Bezos.

Whole Foods workers’ demands include three weeks’ paid time off for everyone, “not when we get sick but so we don’t get sick!” In addition, workers demand double hazard pay. “Don’t tell us we’re not emergency workers. Make the $2 wage increase permanent.” The flyer concludes, “The crisis has shown that we are worth more. We are no longer scared, but you should be.”

Sanitation workers in Pittsburgh, autoworkers in Detroit, bus drivers in Birmingham, Alabama, and Amazon workers in New York and Italy have all walked off the job after coworkers tested positive for the novel coronavirus. “I know other jobs are also walking out for mistreatment right now, and I support that,” said Ashley. “Being in public right now is well known to be dangerous and bad for the community. People should be compensated for that risk and protected if they’re forced to take it.”

Chicago’s largest convention center to become 3,050-bed field hospital: here.