COVID-19 crisis in the USA

This 1 May 2020 video from the USA says about itself:

May Day People’s Strike! Target, Amazon, Instacart Workers Demand Safe Conditions & Pandemic Relief

This May Day, an unprecedented coalition of essential workers from Amazon, Instacart, Whole Foods, Walmart, Target and FedEx are calling out sick or walking out during their lunch break to demand better health and safety conditions, along with hazard pay. Others are joining them for May Day actions that include rent strikes, car caravan protests and online organizing calling for a “People’s Bailout” and economic recovery plan that prioritizes workers.

We speak with Kali Akuno, co-founder and co-director of Cooperation Jackson, which issued a call for a people’s strike starting May 1. “The corporations and the government are willing to sacrifice tens of thousands of us,” Akuno says. “We have to put people before profits.”

Dozens of decaying corpses found piled in unrefrigerated trucks at New York City funeral home. By Philip Guelpa, 1 May 2020. More than 18,000 New York City residents have so far died from COVID-19, and the city’s ability to deal with the bodies is at the breaking point.

Millions spent by Trump to “salute” health care workers with military flyovers. By Trévon Austin, 1 May 2020. Vast sums of money are being spent to fly military aircraft over America’s hospitals while health care workers still lack adequate protection from the coronavirus

At least 31 US states easing restrictions despite rising pandemic death toll. By Kate Randall, 1 May 2020. Trump is promoting a reckless and criminal policy of reopening the economy, placing the health and lives of countless millions of Americans in danger.

New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman calls for letting COVID-19 run rampant. By Andre Damon, 1 May 2020. Friedman has published an op-ed endorsing a policy of allowing large portions of the US population to be infected with COVID-19.

Remdesivir as “miracle drug”: Back-to-work propaganda vs. science. 1 May 2020. The media’s adulation of this “breakthrough” takes place in the midst of an increasingly frenzied effort to create the impression that the virus is “under control” and the crisis is all but over: here.

Detroit mayor pushes back-to-work agenda as COVID-19 cases rise across Michigan. By Kevin Reed, 1 May 2020. The number of confirmed cases and deaths across the state of Michigan continues rising as Democratic Governor Whitmer and Mayor Mike Duggan push for a rapid reopening of Detroit.

Florida governor reopening state while suppressing reporting of COVID-19 deaths. By Matthew MacEgan, 1 May 2020. The Florida Department of Health is blocking medical examiners from reporting the accurate number of COVID-19 deaths.

As US unemployment reaches Great Depression levels, millions still unable to obtain assistance. By Shannon Jones, 1 May 2020. With the official jobless rate expected to reach 20 percent, millions find they cannot get state unemployment benefits as overloaded systems crash.