United States coronavirus update

This photo shows workers wearing personal protective equipment burying dead bodies in a trench on Hart Island, New York City, USA, April 9, 2020. Credit: AP Photo/John Minchillo.

New York City digging mass graves for coronavirus victims. By Josh Varlin, 11 April 2020. Victims of the pandemic are being buried en masse on Hart Island off the coast of the Bronx, just 16 miles from Wall Street, the center of world finance.

The COVID-19 crisis in New York City. Interview with Bronx emergency room nurse: “Some critical patients are not getting the medication and IV pumps they need. By Clara Weiss, 11 April 2020. Hospitals throughout New York City, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, are running out of medication and equipment.

Detroit nurse fired by Sinai-Grace Hospital for demanding action to improve desperate conditions. By Stephen Fuller, 11 April 2020. Kenisa Barkei was dismissed for insisting hospital management protect staff and provide the necessary care for the expanding number of coronavirus patients.

Trump’s campaign to reopen businesses risks hundreds of thousands of lives. 11 April 2020. By the US government’s own calculations, a premature return to work could lead to 140,000 additional deaths: here.

“Show up and do your job”, Vice President Pence tells workers. Rapid spread of COVID-19 in US meat processing facilities. By Shannon Jones, 11 April 2020. Coronavirus has hit the US meatpacking industry, provoking worker protests, short-term closures and an outburst by Vice President Mike Pence.

“This is forced labor”: Six General Motors workers stricken with COVID-19 at parts warehouse. By Sheila Brehm, 11 April 2020. While GM assembly plants remain shut, the company’s Burton, Michigan parts warehouse is operating with 200 “volunteers.”

Cruise ship workers expose deadly conditions, financial ruin in light of coronavirus pandemic. By Tom Casey, 11 April 2020. Some 200,000 crew members are stranded on board, half in US waters.

Testimony from US and Canadian inmates exposes deadly conditions inside prisons. By Sam Dalton, 11 April 2020. Many harrowing accounts have emerged in the form of videos and written testimony from prisoners outlining the conditions they face in the last two weeks.

Trump administration using pandemic to deport 30,000 refugees and asylum seekers to Mexico. By Joe Williams, 11 April 2020. US government has been using an obscure statute on communicable diseases to expel tens of thousands.

Thousands line up at US food pantries as hunger surges due to coronavirus crisis. By Julian James and Kate Randall, 11 April 2020. With supermarkets emptied of staples and cupboards increasingly bare, people struggling with hunger are lining up in record numbers at food pantries across the country.

Thousands of Florida residents claim unemployment benefits as state governor says schools must reopen despite increasing COVID-19 infections. By Matthew MacEgan and Alex Johnson, 11 April 2020. So many people are applying for unemployment compensation in Florida that the state’s web site has collapsed.

US blocks IMF loan for Iran’s fight against COVID-19. By Bill Van Auken, 11 April 2020. The denial of desperately needed aid as Iran confronts one of the worst coronavirus outbreaks in the world is part of a US sanctions regime that is tantamount to a state of war.