When White Folks Catch a Cold, Black Folks Get Pneumonia...

Photo by Julian Wan on Unsplash

With the U.S.’s history of institutional, structural, and medical racism, it is unsurprising that communities of color are being hit the hardest by COVID-19. In Louisiana, black people make up one third of the population but 70% of coronavirus deaths; in Michigan, black people make up 14% of the population but 40% of deaths. Meanwhile, American Indians face health disparities which make them particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, at the same time that they are facing health services funding disparities. Time to get to work.

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Coronavirus Edition #6

Photo by Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash

We’re starting off this week with a “zero-minute” action: Workers at Amazon, Instacart, and Whole Foods are striking this week to demand safe working conditions. Support them and don’t order from any business whose workers are striking unless this is literally the only way for you to obtain groceries. Also, if you’re food secure, since WIC benefits are distributed the first of the month, refrain from grocery shopping until April 4 to give priority to those who’ve been waiting to shop and need essential items the most.

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Coronavirus Edition #5

Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Healthcare workers need personal protective equipment, or PPE, to keep themselves safe when treating coronavirus patients, and they need to throw it out after using it to avoid spreading the virus. N95 respirator masks are especially important, but so are surgical masks, protective goggles, nitrile gloves, face shields, and disinfectant wipes. With the ongoing PPE shortage, medical workers are facing the grim prospect of administering tests and care with inadequate or no protection. (Homemade masks are not PPE.) We know from other countries that medical personnel are contracting the coronavirus at high rates, putting their lives at risk and forcing them to live in isolation from their families. 

We need to get all existing PPE to the people who need it and make sure that more is being manufactured, so let’s get to it.

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