Greta Thunberg donates $100,000 to support children during pandemic
 April 30, 2020 By Agence France-Presse


Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg has donated a $100,000 prize she won from a Danish foundation to the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) for use against the COVID-19 pandemic, the world body said Thursday.

“Like the climate crisis, the coronavirus pandemic is a child rights crisis,” Thunberg, 17, was quoted as saying in the UNICEF statement.
“It will affect all children, now and in the long term, but vulnerable groups will be impacted the most,” she added.

“I’m asking everyone to step up and join me in support of UNICEF’s vital work to save children’s lives, to protect health and continue education.”

The Danish anti-poverty non-governmental organization, Human Act, will match the $100,000 donation, the statement added.

UNICEF said the funds would give it a boost as it struggles to support children impacted by anti-virus lockdowns and school closures, particularly in the fields of “food shortages, strained health care systems, violence and lost education.”

Thunberg said at the end of March that she had “likely” contracted the coronavirus, after experiencing several symptoms after a trip to central Europe.

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From Ukraine to coronavirus: Trump’s abuse of power continues — and the real hoax is his commitment to America

THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BUSINESSMAN IS PREZ
 April 30, 2020 By Robert Reich - Commentary


Donald Trump has spent a lifetime exploiting chaos for personal gain and blaming others for his losses. The pure madness in America’s response to the coronavirus pandemic – shortages of equipment to protect hospital workers, dwindling supplies of ventilators and critical medications, jaw-dropping confusion over how $2.2 trillion of aid in the recent coronavirus law will be distributed – has given him the perfect cover to hoard power and boost his chances of reelection.


As the death toll continues to climb and states are left scrambling for protective gear and crucial resources, Trump is focused on only one thing: himself.

He’s told governors to find life-saving equipment on their own, claiming the federal government is “not a shipping clerk” and subsequently forcing states and cities into a ruthless bidding war.

Governors have been reduced to begging FEMA for supplies from the dwindling national stockpile, with vastly different results. While we haven’t seen what “formula” FEMA supposedly has for determining who gets what, reports suggest that Trump’s been promising things to governors who can get him on the phone.

Our narcissist-in-chief has ordered FEMA to circumvent their own process and send supplies to states that are “appreciative”.


Michigan and Colorado have received fractions of what they need while Oklahoma and Kentucky have gotten more than what they asked for. Colorado and Massachusetts have confirmed shipments only to have them held back by FEMA. Ron DeSantis, the Trump-aligned governor of Florida, refused to order a shelter-in-place mandate for weeks, but then received 100% of requested supplies within 3 days. New Jersey waited for two weeks. New York now has more cases than any other single country, but Trump barely lifted a finger for his hometown because Governor Andrew Cuomo is “complaining” about the catastrophic lack of ventilators in the city.

A backchannel to the president is a shoe-in way to secure life-saving supplies. Personal flattery seems to be the most effective currency with Trump; the chain of command runs straight through his ego, and that’s what the response has been coordinated around.

He claims that as president he has “total authority” over when to lift quarantine and social distancing guidelines, and threatens to adjourn Congress himself so as to push through political appointees without Senate confirmation.

And throughout all of this, Trump has been determined to reject any attempt of independent oversight into his administration’s disastrous response.

When he signed the $2 trillion emergency relief package into law, he said he wouldn’t agree to provisions in the bill for congressional oversight – meaning the wheeling-and-dealing will be done in secret.

He has removed the inspector general leading the independent committee tasked with overseeing the implementation of the massive bill.

He appointed one of his own White House lawyers, who helped defend him in his impeachment trial, to oversee the distribution of the $500 billion slush fund for corporations. That same day, he fired Inspector General Michael Atkinson – the inspector general who handed the whistleblower complaint to Congress that ultimately led to Trump’s impeachment.


There should never have been any doubt that Trump would try to use this crisis to improve his odds of re-election.

Stimulus checks going to the lowest-income earners were delayed because Trump demanded each one of them bear his name. As millions of the hardest-hit Americans scrambled to put food on the table and worried about the stack of bills piling up, Trump’s chief concern was himself.

It doesn’t matter that this is a global pandemic. Abusing his power for personal gain is Trump’s MO.

Just three and a half months ago, Trump was impeached on charges of abuse of power and obstructing investigations. Telling governors that they need to “be appreciative” in order to receive life-saving supplies for their constituents is the same kind of quid pro quo that Trump tried to extort from Ukraine, and his attempts to thwart independent oversight are the same as his obstruction of Congress.

Trump called his impeachment a “hoax”. He initially called the coronavirus a “hoax”. But the real hoax is his commitment to America. In reality he will do anything – anything – to hold on to power.

To Donald Trump, the coronavirus crisis is just another opportunity.

‘No one’ in Puerto Rico has received their $1,200 stimulus check: San Juan mayor

STATEHOOD OR INDEPENDENCE

 April 30, 2020 By Igor Derysh, Salon


Carmen Yulín Cruz, the mayor of San Juan, Puerto Rico, alleged that the federal government has yet to provide a single resident on the island with a coronavirus stimulus check, weeks after payments began to go out.

Cruz, who feuded with President Donald Trump over his administration’s lagging response to the damage wreaked by Hurricane Maria in 2017, called out the administration for neglecting the island’s residents once again in its distribution of the stimulus funds.

Cruz told MSNBC that the island has also struggled to distribute $500 payments that were promised by Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced and unemployment benefits to more than 130,000 residents who have applied since the outbreak began.
Defend democracy. Click to invest in courageous progressive journalism today.

The Mayor of San Juan says no one in Puerto Rico has received their $1200 stimulus money pic.twitter.com/4jSmG3feHl
— Acyn Torabi (@Acyn) April 25, 2020

“No one in Puerto Rico has received their $1,200 coronavirus stimulus checks from the federal government,” she told the network. “We’re having problems with a local $500 check that the governor said was going to be distributed.”

Cruz said that she and other mayors have had to rely on religious and community leaders to distribute food to those in need because of the delays.

“Money is not getting into people’s hands because of the current local government of Puerto Rico, and perhaps guidelines that have not been distributed,” she added. “But the problem is not getting the support that we need. The problem is that the support goes to the higher levels of government, and doesn’t reach the people that it’s supposed to reach.”

Cruz’s comments came after the Treasury Department, which has already sent out more than 88 million payments across the country, vowed to start sending payments to Puerto Ricans in the coming “weeks.”

“As we complete the agreements with the Internal Revenue Service and the U.S. Treasury on the distribution of the Economic Impact Payment, we have already identified some 486,000 taxpayers who would receive approximately $800.1 million, in all likelihood, in the upcoming weeks,” Francisco Parés, secretary at the Puerto Rico Treasury Department, told the Puerto Rican business news outlet News Is My Business.

He insisted that the Treasury’s distribution plan is “very close” and said he received assurances from the IRS that it would send a distribution plan to the Treasury “later this month.”

Puerto Rico has long dealt with severe health challenges. The Health Resources and Services Administration reported that 72 of its 78 municipalities faced “unmet health care needs” before the outbreak. The island, a U.S. commonwealth, also filed for bankruptcy in 2017 after determining its government could not pay $120 billion owed in bond and pension obligations.

A group of 11 U.S. House members, many of Hispanic descent, called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to “guarantee that Puerto Rico is treated equally to the states in any of the upcoming coronavirus stimulus packages.”

“Even before COVID-19, Puerto Rico was suffering immensely from earthquakes earlier this year, longstanding economic and physical damage from Hurricane Maria and decades of economic neglect,” Rep. Nydia Velázquez, D-N.Y., told NBC News.

The letter, which was first obtained by the outlet, called for future stimulus packages to include “robust funding for nutritional assistance” and “debt forgiveness of community disaster loans.”

“As Congress begins the next phase of legislation with help for states and localities,” Velázquez said, “I’ll be working hand-in-glove with Speaker Pelosi on solutions that address the unique challenges facing Puerto Rico and the 3.5 million U.S. citizens who live there.”

Why are white supremacists protesting to ‘reopen’ America’s economy?

 April 30, 2020 By The Conversation


A series of protests, primarily in state capitals, are demanding the end of COVID-19 lockdown restrictions. Among the protesters are people who express concern about their jobs or the economy as a whole.

But there are also far-right conspiracy theorists, white supremacists like Proud Boys and citizens’ militia members at these protests. The exact number of each group that attends these protests is unknown, since police have not traditionally monitored these groups, but signs and symbols of far right groups have been seen at many of these protests across the country.

These protests risk spreading the virus and have disrupted traffic, potentially delaying ambulances. But as researchers of street gangs’ and far-right groups’ violence and recruitment, we believe these protests may become a way right-wingers expand the spread of anti-Semitic rhetoric and militant racism.

Proud Boys, and many other far-right activists, don’t typically focus their concern on whether stores and businesses are open. They’re usually more concerned about pro-white, pro-male rhetoric. They’re attending these rallies as part of their longstanding search for any opportunity to make extremist groups look mainstream — and because they are always looking for potential recruits to further their cause.


While not all far-right groups agree on everything, many of them now subscribe to the idea that Western government is corrupt and its demise needs to be accelerated through a race war.

For far-right groups, almost any interaction is an opportunity to connect with people with social or economic insecurities or their children. Even if some of the protesters have genuine concerns, they’re in protest lines near people looking to offer them targets to blame for society’s problems.

Once they’re standing side by side at a protest, members of far-right hate groups begin to share their ideas. That lures some people deeper into online groups and forums where they can be radicalized against immigrants, Jews or other stereotypical scapegoats.


It’s true that only a few will go to that extreme — but they represent potential sparks for future far-right violence.

Official responses

President Donald Trump, a favorite of far-right activists, has tweeted encouragement to the protesters. Police responses have been uneven. Some protesters have been charged with violating emergency government orders against public gatherings.

Other events, however, have gone undisturbed by officials — similar to how far-right “free speech” rallies in 2018 often were treated gently by police.


Police have tended to be hesitant to deal with far-right groups at these protests. As a result, the risk is growing of right-wing militants spreading the coronavirus, either unintentionally at rallies or in intentional efforts: Federal authorities have warned that some right-wingers are talking about specifically sending infected people to target communities of color.

One thing police could do — which they often do when facing criminal groups — is to track the level of coordination between different protests. Identifying far-right activists who attend multiple events or travel across state borders to attend a rally may indicate that they are using these events as part of a connected public relations campaign.



Shannon Reid, Associate Professor, University of North Carolina – Charlotte and Matthew Valasik, Associate Professor of Sociology, Louisiana State University

#COVIDIOT

North Carolina pastor calls COVID-19 a ‘delusion’ and attacks media reports as ‘communist propaganda’

April 29, 2020 By Sarah K. Burris


Pastor Gene Gouge at Liberty Baptist in Hickory, North Carolina isn’t mincing words about his thoughts on the coronavirus crisis that has taken the lives of over 60,000 Americans, reported WSOC-TV.

In his broadcast message, Gouge alleged that the “news media is pure evil, communist propaganda,” and “95 percent of everything that has gone on about the last month or two months is a mirage. It is an illusion, a delusion. It ain’t real.”


Far-right political activists have become known as COVID-truthers over the past several weeks, claiming that the coronavirus is some kind of false flag or fake crisis created by the government. THEY WERE CALLED COVIDIOTS FIRST

He explained that President Donald Trump’s “stay at home” order and the orders in the states are violating his civil rights.

Outside of his church on the sign, he asked the governor to stop the persecution of churches and Christians.” It’s unknown how Christians are specifically being persecuted since all religious institutions are being told to shelter in place.

“We believe this virus has been weaponized and has been used to hurt our country and hurt our constitution,” he claimed.



While he’s not a medical doctor, he has decided that herd immunity is the best way to combat the virus. Scientists and virologists have said that herd immunity will happen eventually, but some people won’t survive the virus and the numbers will overwhelm the healthcare system. Without a vaccine, additional lives will be lost.

While the lives lost may be a concern to some, to Gouge, he said it’s just part of the process.




“You’re not going to develop an immune system by staying in the house and by wearing gloves and wearing [a] mask. People who are susceptible, cancer patients, elderly people no doubt should be extra precautions,” he said.

SOMEONE YOU HOPE BELIEVES IN TRUMPS LYSOL TREATMENT

See the video of the pastor below:

Burke County- a local pastor is speaking out tonight about Covid-19. He says Governor Cooper should allow the state and churches to reopen immediately. Tonight at 5:45 on channel 9 why the pastor believes we’ve been taking the wrong approach to beat the virus. pic.twitter.com/6APodBBy1x
— Dave Faherty (@FahertyWSOC9) April 29, 2020

Facebook vowed to delete posts promoting bleach as COVID-19 cure — but won’t censor Trump’s disinfectant rant

April 30, 2020 By Brad Reed

Facebook earlier this month pledged to take down posts that promoted drinking bleach as a cure for the coronavirus — but it has faced difficulty keeping that promise in the wake of President Donald Trump’s musings about injecting disinfectants.

The New York Times reports that “Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have declined to remove Mr. Trump’s statements posted online in video clips and transcriptions of the briefing” on the grounds that “he did not specifically direct people to pursue the unproven treatments.”

But this has also led to a flurry of activity using the Trump comments as a pretext to push for “miracle” COVID-19 cures.

“A New York Times analysis found 768 Facebook groups, 277 Facebook pages, nine Instagram accounts and thousands of tweets pushing UV light therapies that were posted after Mr. Trump’s comments and that remained on the sites as of Wednesday,” the paper writes. “More than 5,000 other posts, videos and comments promoting disinfectants as a virus cure were also on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube this week. Only a few of the posts have been taken down.”

Renee DiResta, a technical research manager at the Stanford Internet Observatory, tells the Times that social media companies’ policies would make sense if there were a “competent government” that could serve as a “reputable health authority,” but the president so far has not proven capable of being one.

The “Human Good” Throughout the Nation 

Nurses’ Views From the Frontlines of COVID-19
Last Updated/Verified: Apr 17, 2020


If you are someone who regularly watches the news, it can be difficult to avoid all of the negativity in the world right now. I believe that it's healthier to not watch the news obsessively, but instead, take an evidence-based approach to the COVID-19 crisis. Nurses are caring individuals who always try to see the good in others. You will never see a good nurse treat a convict or drug addict any different than the president.

This article is designed to open everybody's eyes to see the good in human society. It's heartwarming to see businesses unexpectedly step up and become creative in their ways to help healthcare workers by creating reusable PPE.

It's even more inspiring to see nurses like this one, who is currently retired but still came back to help. How about these amazing medical students in Ohio who are volunteering to babysit, grocery shop, and pet-sit while nurses and doctors work?

Nurses' Views From the Frontlines

Emily M. says, "I work in Long Island and most hospitals get free food delivered daily by local businesses as a token of appreciation. I also saw someone who works in a local hospital that would visit people's relatives since there are no outside visitors allowed. People were also collecting money to send food to pediatric offices. Plenty of people donated to their children's doctors."

Melody D. says, "Volunteers are spending time outside of our facilities, writing inspiring messages on the sidewalk and expressing their gratitude. It's nice to see when walking into work."

Tiffany A. says, "Our hospital received food donations from a local restaurant. Many of my friends who sew volunteered to make cloth masks for their friends in the medical community. They only asked for donations if possible."

Those in New Jersey who feel they can't directly help are providing financial assistance by donating money to support people in the healthcare field... Across America, communities are cheering on healthcare workers.

One nurse in Ohio said, "This is nothing like I have ever seen in a crisis. You have to believe that (most) people are good people."

I agree with this statement. With all the negativity in the media, try to do your best to focus on the good. It's the only way to make it to the other side of this pandemic.

JUMP TO SECTION
Nurses' Views From the Frontlines

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What’s it like to be a healthcare worker in a pandemic?

POSTED APRIL 08, 2020, 2:30 PM

Robert H. Shmerling, MD
Senior Faculty Editor, Harvard Health Publishing

We all know that some jobs are more dangerous than others. Truck drivers, loggers, and construction workers are more likely to die on the job than most others. Firefighters and police officers also face more than the average amount of risk while at work. It’s expected that people who take on these jobs understand the risks and 

follow guidelines to stay as safe as possible.

But what would you do if your job suddenly became much more dangerous? And what if your workplace was unable to follow recommended guidelines to reduce that increased risk?

That’s the situation now facing millions of healthcare workers who provide medical care to patients, including nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, EMTs, and many others. They have a markedly higher risk of becoming infected with the coronavirus that causes COVID-19, especially if they are exposed to a high volume of sick patients (such as in the emergency room) or respiratory secretions (such as intensive care unit healthcare providers). Early in the outbreak in China, thousands of healthcare workers were infected, and the numbers of infected healthcare workers and related deaths are now rising elsewhere throughout the world.

While consistent use of personal protective equipment (PPE), such as N95 medical masks, reduces the risk of becoming infected with the new coronavirus, PPE is in short supply in many places.

The challenges now facing healthcare workers

Outside of work, people who have healthcare jobs have the same pandemic-related stressors as everyone else. On top of these worries come added challenges, including

• the fear and uncertainty of a heightened risk of infection
• worry that they may carry the COVID-19 coronavirus home and infect loved ones
• a dwindling or already inadequate supply of PPE needed to minimize the risk of infection
• ever-changing recommendations from local leadership, medical and public health experts, and political leaders
• unusually high and increasing demands to work longer hours as their colleagues become sick or are quarantined
• balancing their commitment to help others (which likely led them to their current profession in the first place) with an understandable commitment to protect themselves and their loved ones.

And when ICU beds, ventilators, or staffing prove inadequate to meet demand, some healthcare workers will have to make enormously distressing and difficult ethical decisions about which patients get lifesaving care and which do not.

An echo from the AIDS crisis

I remember well the uncertainty and fear surrounding the earliest days of AIDS decades ago. There were healthcare professionals who were reluctant to treat (or even touch) people with HIV infection. Soon, it became clear that HIV was transmitted primarily by blood exposure or sexual contact. As a result, simple precautions made it quite unlikely that healthcare workers would become infected with HIV by treating patients with AIDS.

But this new coronavirus is a respiratory virus. Because personal protective equipment is being rationed in some cases and has not even been universally adopted, it is far easier for healthcare workers to be infected with the new coronavirus. And it’s terribly frightening to be on the front lines of treating a new — and potentially deadly — contagious disease about which so much is uncertain.

How have healthcare workers responded?

By all accounts, healthcare workers have responded exceedingly well. They are showing up. They are putting in long hours. They have rapidly adapted to the situation by changing how they provide care, revising schedules, embracing telehealth, and even repurposing facilities — for example, turning operating rooms into intensive care units — or creating improvised protective equipment, though that’s far from ideal. And they have continued to demonstrate compassion and a brave front despite the fears they may harbor.

Remarkable stories are circulating about the lengths to which healthcare workers are going in order to protect themselves and their families: doctors staying in the garage, hotels, or rental apartments rather than returning home to risk unwittingly infecting a family member; healthcare workers avoiding their small children when they come home until they can change out of their work clothes. And I learned of a nurse who had recently given birth and decided to self-quarantine out of concern she might infect her newborn; she pumped breast milk and left it outside her door for her husband to feed to their baby. (See this link for more information about pregnancy and breastfeeding during the COVID-19 pandemic)

All of this takes a toll, of course. Already, reports are surfacing describing the significant psychological distress healthcare workers are experiencing.

The bottom line

We know how to protect healthcare workers from this new virus. Fixing the lack of masks and other protective equipment must be a priority: not only is the healthcare system obliged to protect its workers but, importantly, if enough healthcare workers get sick, our healthcare system will collapse. This will become even more important in the coming weeks, when the volume of COVID-19 cases in many areas is expected to peak.

Nurses, doctors, and other healthcare workers did not sign up for such a dangerous job. So, take a moment to recognize the healthcare workers you know personally or see for medical care (as this man did). Dealing with this pandemic is not easy for anyone, but it’s especially hard on healthcare workers. Let them know you are glad they’re there for you.

When life has returned to some sense of normalcy, I am hopeful that the bravery, commitment, and yes, heroism of healthcare workers throughout this crisis will be recognized and appropriately acknowledged.

Follow me on Twitter @RobShmerling

Related Information: Harvard Health Letter

What happens when the workers who make hand soap get COVID-19? They protest.

April 30, 2020 By Pro Publica


After a worker at a beauty supply factory near Chicago died of COVID-19, her former co-workers staged a protest. But they didn’t seek help from OSHA. They sought help from a new advocate: the state attorney general’s office.

In the weeks before Norma Martinez died of COVID-19, she and her co-workers talked about their fears of contracting the coronavirus on the factory floor where they make and bottle personal care and beauty products, including hand soaps.

Rumors had been circulating among the workers — particularly those, like Martinez, who were employed through temporary staffing agencies -— that somebody at the facility in the southwest suburb of Countryside had tested positive for the virus or had been exposed to someone who had. Martinez, 45, told relatives she walked quickly and tried to hold her breath when she got close to other workers.

Some employees stopped taking shifts, worried about the risks of working elbow to elbow on tight factory lines or swiping in with their fingertips on biometric time clocks. But many more kept showing up, unable to afford to stay home and isolate.

“Norma went to work scared like all of us, but taking the safety precautions she could: washing hands, using gloves, wiping down machinery with rubbing alcohol,” said one of her co-workers, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing her job. “We weren’t OK with the factory still being open.”

Martinez, a Mexican immigrant and mother of two, died April 13. Her death came just days after the Voyant Beauty facility shut down for a deep cleaning after another employee tested positive for the coronavirus, according to several workers.

After Martinez’s death, her former co-workers, with the help of a workers’ advocacy center, went to the Illinois attorney general’s office, which has taken on the role of investigating workplace safety complaints from the private sector amidst the pandemic. The office is filling a void left by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration, which has taken a largely hands-off approach to investigating coronavirus-related complaints from workers outside the health care industry, leaving employers to mostly police themselves.

Workers’ advocates and a group of Latino lawmakers say that they are grateful the attorney general’s office has taken on worker safety issues during this crisis, but that it’s a piecemeal solution, one that has led workers in some area factories to stage walkouts or other protests over safety related to the pandemic.

“It’s a Band-Aid for a flood,” said Tim Bell, the executive director of the Chicago Workers’ Collaborative, a nonprofit organization that focuses on temporary workers. He and others worry that more factory and warehouse workers will get sick and die unless the state establishes and enforces strong COVID-19 workplace safety rules at facilities considered too essential to shut down during the pandemic. “Given OSHA is still hiding under their desks,” Bell said, “there’s got to be something the state does to protect its residents.”

It’s unknown how many factory, food processing or warehouse workers have died of COVID-19 in Illinois. This weekend El Milagro, a popular Chicago tortilla maker,announced it would shut down for two weeks after one of its workers died from complications related to COVID-19. Martinez’s death was the first reported to the attorney general’s office. A spokeswoman for the Illinois Department of Public Health said the agency has some limited occupational data related to COVID-19 cases, but it is incomplete and not publicly available. The department, the spokeswoman said, is working on this issue.

But state officials recognize that workplace safety is a massive area of concern right now. So many complaints from workers have flooded the attorney general’s office that its workplace rights bureau has had to more than quadruple in size, pulling in attorneys from across the office.

“My understanding is that OSHA has taken the position … that they were not enforcing the CDC guidelines that were put out,” said Alvar Ayala, who heads the bureau. “That put a special urgency on this, and that’s where a lot of these organizations were coming to us and workers were coming to us for enforcement.”

In the past six weeks, the bureau has received more than 1,000 workplace safety complaints related to COVID-19, ranging from employers failing to maintain safe spacing on assembly lines to not conducting a deep cleaning of a workplace after a worker tests positive. Many complaints have come in Spanish and from employees in the manufacturing, food processing and packaging industries.

The attorney general’s office then works with local health department officials to conduct inspections of factories and warehouses to determine what changes, if any, are needed. So far, the office has not brought any lawsuits against manufacturers or other companies for violating workplace safety, though it has the authority to do so under state law and Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s March order on social distancing. The possibility of a lawsuit, officials said, has been enough to prompt compliance.

Mark Denzler, president and CEO of the Illinois Manufacturers’ Association, said he thinks local, state and federal agencies are doing their best when it comes to responding to workers’ safety concerns amidst an unprecedented situation. “Everybody is struggling to get a grasp of how to handle it, whether it’s the state, the city, OSHA, the CDC,” he said. “Certainly the AG is vested with certain powers to fulfill its job. The Department of Labor has powers to fulfil their jobs. Manufacturers are operating as safely as possible.”

A spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Labor, which oversees OSHA, said the agency “is diligently working every day to help employers understand and meet” their obligations to protect workers exposed to coronavirus at work. The spokesperson said OSHA has received a complaint regarding Voyant Beauty but could not provide further information until the investigation was complete. It’s unclear who filed the complaint or whether it is connected to Martinez’s death.

Even as the federal worker-safety agency has been inundated with complaints, it has rolled back safety standards and virtually eliminated non-health care workplaces from government protection.

Former co-workers said Martinez had worked at Voyant for years through a temp agency, most recently in quality control.

Ann Miller, a senior vice president for human resources at Voyant, said the company was “heartbroken for this loss.”

She said the company had taken a number of safety procedures before hearing from the state, including daily temperature checks, issuing personal protective equipment to workers and sterilizing work areas daily. In addition, Miller said, the plant is shut down and deep-cleaned on weekends and in the event of a positive or presumed positive COVID-19 test.

The attorney general’s office, Miller said, had “no further suggested actions.” A spokeswoman for the attorney general’s office said the company had “agreed to comply with the governor’s executive order” just two days after Martinez’s death, but she did not explain what specifically the company agreed to do.

The office has not received additional complaints about the factory since then, the spokeswoman said.

Workers said the company had indeed made some changes at the facility to improve workplace safety in the weeks and days leading up to Martinez’s death. But they weren’t always effective. One worker said she passed daily temperature checks but discovered a few days after Martinez’s death that she was positive for COVID-19; she was an asymptomatic carrier. That worker also described being unable to wear a face mask at the site because it fogged up her safety goggles.

Bell’s group has been calling on Pritzker to enact new protections for temporary manufacturing and warehouse workers, including mandating 6 feet of spacing between workers, banning the use of biometric time clocks and requiring paid sick time for temporary workers.

Pritzker’s office did not respond to requests for comment. However, a modified stay-at-home order that the governor announced last week will require manufacturers and other essential businesses to provide face coverings to all employees who are unable to maintain 6 feet of social distancing and to take additional precautions such as staggering shifts and operating only essential production lines. The new order goes into effect Friday and is extended through May.

Meanwhile, a group of Latino lawmakers has also been pressing the governor to set clear safety rules and penalties for manufacturers. Among the requests: mandates to ensure proper social distancing and routinely disinfect common spaces; a requirement to shut down for at least 24 hours for deep cleanings after a confirmed COVID-19 case among workers; and a guarantee of two weeks of paid time off for workers who test positive.

“We urge you to send a forceful and unequivocal message to all businesses that putting workers at risk, regardless of their race, ethnicity, language or citizenship status, will never be tolerated in our State,” members of the Illinois Legislative Latino Caucus wrote in a letter last month. The issue is particularly pressing among Latino constituents, the lawmakers wrote, because many of those who work in manufacturing are Latino immigrants.

When the governor’s office responded, it told the lawmakers “what we already know,” said State Rep. Karina Villa, a Democrat from West Chicago, a city with a large manufacturing base. The email from the Pritzker’s office included information on how workers with COVID-19-related complaints could go to the state OSHA or to the federal OSHA or attorney general’s office.

“There are no changes. There were no guidelines or enforcement,” said Villa, who added that she has received complaints from workers at about a dozen factories and food production facilities about COVID-19.


As some Illinois factories and warehouses stay open making supplies amid the coronavirus outbreak, workers say standing elbow to elbow in production lines and clocking in with fingerprint scanners could make them sick.

Villa, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, said the issue hits her on a personal level because so many people in her own life work in factories in the Chicago suburbs. She said one close relative who works at a meat processing facility in St. Charles recently tested positive for COVID-19. The Kane County Health Department temporarily shut down that plant Friday over concerns about COVID-19. (The state’s Public Health Department said it is working to formalize guidance for meat and food processing facilities, where it has identified clusters of COVID-19 cases.)

Villa and other advocates said they are particularly worried about temporary workers, who are disproportionately Latino; some 42% of the state’s more than 675,000 temporary workers identified as Latino, according to a state audit of temp agencies from July 2019.

Many are also undocumented, which makes them ineligible for unemployment benefits and federal stimulus benefits. That leaves many workers financially vulnerable, prompting them to return to workplaces where they feel unsafe, advocates said. During a Facebook live interview Monday with Univision Chicago, Pritzker said his administration is looking to create some type of cash assistance program for undocumented immigrants who don’t qualify for federal benefits.California Gov. Gavin Newsom announced this month a private-public partnership to put cash in undocumented residents’ pockets amidst the pandemic.

At Voyant, the news of Martinez’s death convinced some of her former co-workers to stay home or get tested for coronavirus themselves. The day after she died, former co-workers staged a car caravan protest in her memory in front of the factory. About 10 workers showed up, taking turns slowly driving past the entrance and honking. Some had signs on their car windows. “We want safety for the workers,” one sign read. “No more deaths from contagion.”

The death was sudden, said one relative who lives in the same house as Martinez’ family. She died at home in the early hours of April 13, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office. At least one other family member got sick, the relative said. They were still in shock and grieving her loss.

The relative recalled how Martinez worried about keeping her children safe from any possible infection she brought home from work. As soon as she entered the house, she stripped her work clothes off and showered. “She wouldn’t let her children get too close,” the relative said. “She was afraid to hug them.”

Duaa Eldeib and Jodi S. Cohen contributed reporting.

US Hospitals are stuck in an ‘international bidding war’ for gowns: Critical care nurse

Published on April 29, 2020 By Matthew Chapman


On Wednesday’s edition of MSNBC’s “The Beat,” critical care nurse Amy Pacholk said that the medical supply shortage is very much ongoing — and that states and hospitals are still being forced to fight with each other to buy equipment.

“So I specifically work in just a COVID unit,” said Pacholk. “We at my institution have isolated the COVID patients to just be solely in one place so that if we don’t act as a vector, the health care workers don’t act as a vector if we deal with a positive patient and bring to it a negative patient.”

“That being said, we’re wearing masks, gowns, gloves, helmets and such. In terms of our availability of equipment, our masks are more available now. Now we seem to be having a problem with gowns. There is like an international bidding war for all of the gowns in this country. And the states are bidding against one another. The hospitals are bidding against one another. So the nurses are not only having a problem with masks, they’re having a problem with gowns.”