S. African women risk assault to reach work as taxi violence surges

by Kim Harrisberg | @KimHarrisberg | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Friday, 23 July 2021 15:58 GMT


Activists say women are particularly vulnerable in a country where a sexual offence is committed every 10 minutes

* Violence between taxi firms has left thousands stranded

* Women are at risk walking long distances to and from work

* Activists have called for more police and community engagement


JOHANNESBURG, July 23 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - South African language tutor Debbie Odumuko has already survived a shootout in a grocery store since fighting between rival taxi drivers resurfaced in Cape Town in early July.

But walking alone at night alongside the highway to get home now that most taxis have stopped running has left her equally terrified of being assaulted.

Getting to and from work has become risky for Odumuko, 49, but the thought of staying home and not being able to feed her four children kept her up at night as she lay in bed listening to gunshots fired between taxi gangs.

"I feel overwhelmed and angry ... I fear for my safety, but I have to put bread on the table," she told the Thomson Reuters Foundation on the phone.

Odumuko is one of thousands whose lives have been impacted by a recent spate of violence in South Africa's Western Cape province, fuelled by repeated territorial disputes between different taxi associations.

In South Africa, informal minibus taxis complete about 15 million trips daily, according to government data, a service that commuters say is marred by harassment and high risk of accidents.

Research shows that in Sub-Saharan Africa "transport poverty" - when inaccessible transport negatively impacts a person's quality of life - disproportionately affects women and girls in terms of harassment and getting to school and work.

During this recent bout of taxi violence around the Western Cape, activists say women are particularly at risk in a country where police statistics show a sexual offence is committed every 10 minutes.

"I know of women walking up to 50 km through the night, or in the rain, to get to work. If they don't go, they bear the brunt of having to look in the eyes of hungry children," said Joanie Fredericks, a local women's rights activist.

At least 83 people have been killed since January in the intermittent clashes, according to the province's Department of Transport and Public Works.

The government has said it will close the contested taxi route for two months starting Monday and has upped security and the number of buses to try to control the violence.

"This is not only about a taxi route, this really speaks to the core of our community's struggle to feel safe," said Fredericks, who also runs a women-only taxi service from the gang-ridden Cape Flats of the Western Cape.

DIVIDED CITIES

Apartheid spatial planning that physically divided cities according to racial groups left many Black and mixed-race South Africans on the outskirts of town and far from economic opportunities.

"Because of this distance from townships to the city centre, some women are walking to their places of work and then try to find a place to sleep there - but what about their children? Who protects them?" asked Fredericks.

Odumuko said she usually wakes up at 4am to find transport to cover her 50-km commute and get to work by 8am, moving between taxi and bus ranks to find the quickest available ride.

"I wish my colleagues could see what I go through just to get to work on time," she said.

Community activism groups have called for increased police presence and emergency accommodation for those stranded by the violence, and asked the local government to engage with communities impacted by the transport breakdown.

"We can no longer be held hostage by a criminal few who ... threaten both the lives and livelihoods of our residents," said Daylin Mitchell, provincial minister of transport and public works, in a statement announcing the route closure on Friday.

For now, Odumuko says her options are limited.

The coronavirus pandemic has decimated South Africa's economy, with the first total lockdown in 2020 causing 3 million job losses within months, with women in the informal sector hit particularly hard.

"I feel traumatised from all the violence, but what can I do? We need to get our children to school, to feed them. We are trying to survive," Odumuko said. (Reporting by Kim Harrisberg @KimHarrisberg; Editing by Jumana Farouky. Please credit the Thomson Reuters Foundation, the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters, that covers the lives of people around the world who struggle to live freely or fairly. Visit http://news.trust.org)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Nurses’ pay in England to fall 7% in a decade even after government offer

Latest NHS salary plan fails to offset past drop, as teachers and police furious at wage freeze

NHS staff, trade union members and health campaigners protest about pay on July 20 in Whitehall. Photograph: Barcroft Media/Getty

Toby Helm
Sun 25 Jul 2021 

THE GUARDIAN 

Pay for nurses and other NHS staff in England will have fallen in real terms by more than 7% since 2010, even if they accept the latest offer from the government, according to new analysis that will fuel rising anger about public sector pay deals.

Figures produced by the TUC show that remuneration for nurses, community nurses, medical secretaries, speech therapists, physiotherapists, paramedics and radiographers will have dropped by between 7.3% and 7.6% in real terms in just over a decade, even after factoring in the 3% rise offered last week.

The Royal College of Nursing, which represents 450,000 nurses, is to consult its members next month for their views on the offer and, if they are overwhelmingly negative, may proceed to an “indicative ballot”, opening up the possibility of some form of industrial action. A senior RCN source said that while this was a remote possibility, it was “not completely off the table”.

The 3% offer for NHS workers was an improvement on an initial figure of just 1% submitted by ministers to the NHS pay review body. But it still caused dismay among many workers who believe their role in fighting the Covid-19 pandemic deserves more.

Last week, unions representing teachers also reacted with fury after it was announced that pay for most of their members would be frozen, while the Police Federation of England and Wales said it no longer had confidence in the home secretary, Priti Patel, after she announced their pay would also be frozen.

The issue of public-sector pay is now building into a political headache for the government, as ministers face up to the huge costs of the pandemic, and look for savings across departmental budgets.

The TUC general secretary, Frances O’Grady, told the Observer: “It’s easy to understand the anger from NHS staff when you see what’s been done to their pay. It’s not just about the 3% – it’s the way their wages have been held back year after year.

“All our key workers deserve a decent standard of living for their family. But too often their hard work does not pay. And after the hardest year of their working lives, they deserve better.

“The prime minster must follow through on his promise to ‘build back fairer’ with fair pay for all key workers. It’s not only about valuing them properly. The spending boost from pay rises will help our businesses and high streets recover faster. It’s the fuel in the tank that our economy needs.”

The Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) last week highlighted how the decision on teachers’ pay went back on previous pledges from ministers, and risked damaging recruitment into the profession. The IFS said: “At the last election, the Conservative party manifesto committed to increasing teacher starting salaries in England to £30,000 per year by September 2022.


Pay freeze for England’s teachers a ‘slap in the face’, say unions

“However, to ease pressure on school budgets and the public finances, the government has now announced a freeze on teacher pay levels in England for September 2021, and pushed back starting salaries of £30,000 to September 2023.

“The level of teacher pay is important. It plays a big part in determining the recruitment and retention pressures faced by schools. With the cost of employing teachers accounting for over half of school spending, what happens to salary levels also has a large bearing on the overall resource pressures faced by schools. And it is a key determinant of material living standards for over 500,000 teachers in England.”

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: “Following a year in which teachers and leaders have worked flat out on managing a battery of Covid control measures, as well as assessing students following the government’s decision to cancel public exams, the decision to implement a pay freeze is an absolute insult.”

HOW MUCH IS A WORKERS LIFE WORTH?!
Poultry plant fined $1M over 'entirely avoidable' deaths of six workers

BY CELINE CASTRONUOVO - 07/24/21

© Greg Nash

The Department of Labor this week issued nearly $1 million in fines over a January nitrogen leak at a poultry processing plant that killed six people and hospitalized at least a dozen others.

The agency in a Thursday document listed a total of 59 safety violations and $998,637 in proposed penalties for the Foundation Food Group and three other companies with roles at the Gainesville, Ga., plant.

The fines followed an investigation by the department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which found that six workers at the plant died of asphyxiation after entering a freezer room where an equipment malfunction caused liquid nitrogen to release into the air.

According to the OSHA, Foundation Food Group had not properly informed employees, either “by posting danger signs or by any other equally effective means, of the existence and location of, and the danger posed by the permit spaces.”

The department’s 26 violations against the poultry company also included allegedly failing to “develop, document and use lockout procedures,” and “not training employees on the methods and observations used to detect the presence or release of nitrogen.”

In total, the Labor Department has levied $595,474 in penalties against the Foundation Food Group.

The agency also issued $74,118 in fines against Messer LLC, which provided the industrial gas for the plant.

The OSHA argued this week that Messer had engaged in six violations, including exposing “workers to injuries and suffocation from the uncontrolled release of liquid nitrogen” and not making sure that lockout procedures were made known and shared between the host employer and workers.

Packers Sanitation Services, Inc. Ltd. was also fined $286,720 for 17 serious and two repeat violations for failing to train workers on the hazards of liquid nitrogen and “not ensuring emergency eye washes were available and unobstructed.”

FS Group Inc., the firm responsible for manufacturing and servicing equipment at the plant, faces $42,325 in fines for failing to train workers on the hazards posed by the machinery and emergency procedures on dealing with liquid nitrogen leaks.

Protestors continue to rail against France's COVID-19 measures
NFL to issue $14K fines if unvaccinated players violate COVID-19...

Labor Secretary Marty Walsh said in a statement announcing the penalties that the deaths and hospitalizations suffered as a result of the nitrogen leak “were entirely avoidable.”

“The Department of Labor is dedicated to upholding the law and using everything in our power to get justice for the workers’ families,” Walsh added. “The bottom line is no one should leave for work wondering if they’ll return home at the end of the day, and the Department of Labor is committed to holding bad actors accountable.”

The Hill has reached out to Foundation Food Group for comment.

Angered by Covid response, Brazilians protest against Bolsonaro

Issued on: 24/07/2021 -
Demonstrators take part in a protest against the government of Brazilian President Jair Jair Bolsonaro in downtown Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on July 24, 2021. Carl de Souza AFP

Rio de Janeiro (AFP)

Tens of thousands of Brazilians took to the streets Saturday to demand the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro, who is facing increasing pressure as the pandemic exacts a devastating toll.

It was the fourth weekend of protests called by leftist political parties, labor unions and social groups against Bolsonaro, who is being investigated for allegedly turning a blind eye to a scheme to embezzle government funds in the purchase of vaccines.

Protest marches were planned in 400 cities and towns.

In Rio de Janeiro, thousands of people in red clothes and wearing face masks marched with banners bearing slogans berating the embattled leader, including "No one can take any more" and "Get out corrupt criminal."

Organizers said they were part of a day intended to galvanize the country "in defense of democracy, the lives of Brazilians and getting Bolsonaro out."

In Rio and elsewhere, protesters complained about Brazil's late-starting vaccination program and high unemployment rate, and demanded more emergency aid for poor people grappling with the pandemic.

"It is very important that everyone who feels offended or oppressed by this government comes out to the streets, because we need to fight for the return to democracy," Laise de Oliveira, a 65-year-old social worker, told AFP.#photo1

Brazilian press carried images and reports of streets thronged with anti-Bolsonaro demonstrators in 20 of Brazil's 26 states through early afternoon.

- Record low approval -

Neither the organizers nor the authorities have released an overall estimate of the number of people attending the marches.

But large demonstrations were planned in Sao Paulo, Brazil's most populous city with 12.3 million residents, and the capital Brasilia.#photo2

Bolsonaro, criticized for remarks in favor of exploiting protected areas of the Amazon, his views on guns, and an ambitious privatization program, is enduring his worst stretch since coming to power in 2019.

His approval rating is at a record low 24 percent and polls suggest he could lose October's presidential election to his main rival, leftist former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, whose Workers Party was one of the forces behind Saturday's demonstrations.

Brazil has suffered nearly 550,000 deaths because of Covid, a toll surpassed only by that of the United States, which has almost 120 million more people.

Bolsonaro has been famously dismissive of the health crisis, the need to wear face masks, and lockdown measures to halt the spread of the virus.

But Bolsonaro still has enough support in congress to block these initiatives, including that of the speaker, who decides whether the complaints are allowed to proceed.

© 2021 AFP

Brazilian protesters call for impeachment of Bolsonaro for 2nd time in a month

Protests occur amid ongoing drop in popularity for Brazilian leader

Thomson Reuters · Posted: Jul 24, 2021 

A demonstrator holds a placard reading 'Impeachment' on an image depicting Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro during a protest in downtown Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images)


Protesters took to the streets in several Brazilian cities on Saturday to demand the impeachment of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, whose popularity has fallen in recent weeks amid corruption scandals against the backdrop of the pandemic.

News broke this week that Brazil's Defence Ministry told congressional leadership that next year's elections would not take place without amending the country's electronic voting system to include a paper trail of each vote.

Bolsonaro has suggested several times without evidence that the current system is prone to fraud, allegations that Brazil's government has denied.

A protester displays a puppet version of Bolsonaro during a demonstration in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday. (Ricardo Moraes/Reuters)

The president is facing re-election next year in a race in which he is likely to face his political nemesis, former leftist president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Polls currently show Bolsonaro losing against Lula.

Continued opposition from protesters

Saturday's protests — including this one in downtown Rio de Janeiro — were at least the second time this month that Brazilians, in multiple cities, had taken to the streets to oppose the president. (Carl de Souza/AFP/Getty Images)

Saturday's protests were at least the second time this month that Brazilians have taken to the streets in several cities to oppose Bolsonaro.

"I'm here because it is time to react to the genocidal government that we have that has taken over our country," said Marcos Kirst, a protester in Sao Paulo.

A man dressed up as Spider-Man displays a sign during a protest against Bolsonaro in Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Saturday. The sign reads 'Impeachment now! Bolsonaro in jail!' (Carla Carniel/Reuters)

More than 500,000 Brazilians have died of COVID-19 under the leadership of Bolsonaro, who has been widely criticized for dismissing the severity of the disease and opposing masks and physical-distancing measures.

Bolsonaro is now being investigated in the Senate, which is probing the possibility of corruption tied to the purchase of an Indian coronavirus vaccine.

Demonstrators take part in a protest against Bolsonaro's government in Sao Paulo on Saturday. (Miguel Schincariol/AFP/Getty Images)

On Sao Paulo's Paulista Avenue, the traditional location for political protests, more than 1,000 people were gathering as of 4 p.m. local time on Saturday.

A man wears an alligator hat and a mask that reads 'Bolsonaro out' during a protest against the Brazilian president in Sao Paulo on Saturday. (Carla Carniel/Reuters)

There were later some clashes with police in Sao Paulo, with video showing police using tear gas and advancing on protesters.

Bolsonaro was in Brasilia, the capital, on Saturday and went out for a motorcycle ride while greeting supporters.

Demonstrators — holding a banner with a message that reads in Portuguese '550 thousand deaths, Bolsonaro!' — demand the impeachment of the president at the Esplanade of Ministries in Brasilia, Brazil, on Saturday. (Eraldo Peres/The Associated Press)

G20 ministers stuck on global warming caps

LOWER IT TO 1.5 ,,,,,WHAT ....I CAN'T HEAR YOU 

By DW News 

Rome, July 24: The G20 ministers responsible for climate, energy and environment failed to reach a consensus on more ambitious climate goals after talks in Italy on Friday. 

Following the discussions in Naples, several countries rejected the idea of committing to keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius (2.7 degrees Fahrenheit), said Roberto Cingolani, the Italian Minister for Ecological Transition.

The countries instead only pledged to aim for the less ambitious target in the Paris Climate Agreement of keeping the increase in the Earth's temperature to well below 2 degrees, while continuing efforts to reduce it to 1.5 degrees, a joint declaration said. 

Global warming has already seen a 1.2-degree increase compared to pre-industrial times, with fatal climate consequences, such as heatwaves, droughts, and floods. Environmental disasters and global warming Cingolani told reporters that concern over last week's deadly floods in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands was at the forefront of discussions during the two days of negotiations in southern Italy. Germany and the European Union are both G20 members. 

G20 ministers' meet: What you need to know "All began by offering condolences," Cingolani said. Such natural disasters are "changing consciences." 

Climate scientists say the link between extreme weather and global warming is unmistakable, while calling for urgent action. Between them, the G20 countries account for some 80% of the world's gross domestic product and some 60% of the planet's population.

Read more at: https://www.oneindia.com/international/g20-ministers-stuck-on-global-warming-caps-3290016.html

INDIA

Manipur HC orders release of journalist charged under NSA for post against cow urine as Covid cure

The ruling came in the same week when the Supreme Court ordered the release of an activist, who was charged along with journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem

.
Scroll Staff
Jul 23, 2021 ·

Manipur journalist Kishorechandra Wangkhem | Facebook/Wangkhemcha Wangthoi


The Manipuri High Court on Friday ordered the release of journalist Kishorchandra Wangkhem, who has been charged under the National Security Act, reported Bar and Bench.

Wangkhem, along with activist Erendro Leichombam, were charged under the Act in May, for Facebook posts they put up after the death of Manipur Bharatiya Janata Party chief Saikhom Tikendra Singh due to Covid-related complications. They had criticised the saffron party for purportedly promoting cow urine as a cure for the infection.

The police had arrested Leichombam and Wangkhem on May 13. Later on May 17, an Imphal court granted them bail, but before they could be released, the government invoked the National Security Act.

“Cow dung [and] cow urine didn’t work,” Wangkhem had written in his Facebook post. “Groundless argument. Tomorrow, I will eat fish.”

On Monday, the Supreme Court had ordered the release of Leichombam, saying that his “continued detention of the petitioner would be a violation of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21”.

The order to release Wangkhem was passed by a bench of Chief Justice PV Sanjay Kumar and Justice KH Nobin Singh on a petition moved by the journalist’s wife Ranjita. The High Court ordered that the journalist should be released by 5 pm on Friday, reported Live Law.

Advocate Chongtham Victor, representing Wangkhem, said that the matter of compensation for his client’s unlawful detention will be decided on August 24.

In her petition in a form of a letter addressed to the judges of the High Court, Ranjita had stated Leichombam and Wangkhem were arrested on the same charges. While the Supreme Court ordered Leichombam’s release, Wangkhem is still in jail, she said.

The High Court also observed that there was no difference between the cases of Leichombam and Wangkhem as both of them had put up similar Facebook posts.

Borrowing observations from the Supreme Court’s verdict in Leichombam’s case, the bench said: “As they stand identically situated, we are of the opinion that the continued incarceration of the petitioner’s husband [Wangkhem] would be as much a violation of Article 21 of the Constitution [right to life or personal liberty] as it was in the case of Erendro Leichombam.”

In May, the Imphal court had criticised the police and said that they should not arrest someone under section 41 of the Criminal Procedure Code before they can “satisfy themselves” on the reasons behind the arrest. The section pertains to the arrests that the police may make without issuing a warrant.

The court had said the police should explain their reasons behind the arrest and warned that a failure to comply would lead to departmental action.

In 2018, the police had invoked the National Security Act against Wangkhem after he posted a Facebook video critical of Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

UK

Leeds NHS and hospital workers criticise Government's 'pathetic' three per cent pay rise

By Rebecca Marano
Friday, 23rd July 2021

The Government was already under attack for previously recommending a one per cent pay rise, despite the incredible pressure NHS staff have been under.

An expected Commons statement at lunchtime on Wednesday, July 21 failed to materialise, but a few hours later the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) issued a press release saying a three per cent rise will be paid, backdated to April.

NHS staff and supporters had held an earlier protest in Millennium Square, demonstrating against the one per cent rise and calling to an end to privatisation.

NHS staff and supporters protesting in Millennium Square earlier this month.

Union groups in Leeds said the three per cent rise is still not enough, calling it a "kick in the teeth" and said it will not reverse current pressures on NHS staff.

UNISON Branch Chair for Leeds Teaching Hospitals, John Ingleson, said: "The branch has been contacted by a variety of members from the full range of pay bands and job roles appalled by the three per cent announcement.

"They know that this pathetic offer will not reverse the staffing crisis we all suffer from.

"Skilled workers will go elsewhere, and the NHS as a whole will suffer.

"I have been honoured to witness my colleagues professionalism and bravery throughout the many months of this crisis.

"Unfortunately they are all now mentally exhausted."

Mr Ingleson added: "This pay deal was the Government's opportunity to relieve the fatigue by showing they care and to show they want to fix the nationwide short staffing.

"This is a kick in the guts to my friends and my colleagues.

"To those people who believed the Tory 2019 election promises, remember the slogan 'deeds not words'.

"They promise the world whilst in practice they continue to destroy public services with their wilful neglect of the workforce."

Lead Organiser for Nurses United and registered Leeds nurse, Anthony Johnson, said: "At a time when we can see this Government has managed to let Coronavirus get out of control again, they are deciding to open up our society to new and deadly strains.

"Our nurses deserve better than to be treated like this.

"A year of unsafe PPE, a shoddy test and trace system, plans to riddle our NHS with privatisation through their white paper and now they reward nurses with a pay offer that won’t stop them using foodbanks or seeing their colleagues continue to leave in their thousands?

"We need our frontline nurses and our NHS ready for the task ahead and that is why we all need to step up and demand better from this Government.”

The Royal College of Midwives’ executive director for external affairs and one of the NHS Unions chief negotiators, Jon Skewes, said: “At least the limbo our hardworking members were left in by our shambolic Government has ended.

“We are disappointed that maternity staff in England will not receive a headline increase of 4% like their colleagues in Scotland.

“Through our evidence to the Pay Review Body, we managed to secure more than the 1% proposed by the Government, but again this is not backdated far enough or on par with the pay award in Scotland.”

The HCSA, the hospital doctors’ union, said it will meet in emergency session to discuss its response to a government pay offer.

HCSA president Dr Claudia Paoloni said: “This offer represents an improvement on the low bar the Government itself set earlier in the year, but is an insult to junior doctors who have once again received a lesser rise than their senior colleagues.

“These are doctors who have stood side by side with NHS colleagues in mounting the Covid response, rising to every challenge placed before them.

“These Consultants of the future will rightly feel aggrieved that once again they have been singled out for worse treatment, ignoring their efforts during this pandemic.

“We fear that given rampant inflation this offer will also be insufficient to address the looming impact on career choices among all grades after the long battle against Covid, which has caused many hospital doctors to reconsider their future, either by cutting hours or leaving the profession altogether. One in 10 are considering leaving permanently.”

The DHSC said the “average nurse” will receive an additional £1,000 a year, while many porters and cleaners will get around £540.

The pay rise will be paid to the majority of NHS staff in England including nurses, paramedics, consultants, dentists and salaried GPs.

It does not cover doctors and dentists in training.

The Government confirmed on Thursday, July 22 that there will be no new money to fund the pay rise for NHS staff in England.

No 10 said the rise would come out of the existing health service’s budget.

A spokesman for the Prime Minister said: “The pay uplift will be funded from within the NHS budget but we are very clear that it will not impact funding already earmarked for the NHS front line.

“You will already know that we gave the NHS a historical settlement in 2018, which saw its budget rise by £33.9 billion by 2023/24 and we’ve provided £92 billion to support the NHS and social care throughout the pandemic.”

Trump supporters are a big reason why Canada and the UK are beating the US on vaccinations


Analysis by Harry Enten, CNN
Updated  Sat July 24, 2021

President Donald Trump holds a Make America Great Again rally as he campaigns at Orlando Sanford International Airport in Sanford, Florida, on October 12, 2020.

(CNN)Poll of the week: A new Angus Reid poll from Canada finds that 86% of Canadians 18 and older have gotten or want a Covid-19 vaccine as soon as possible. The same poll shows that just 8% of Canadian adults do not want a Covid-19 vaccination.

This matches what the real-world data is showing us: Canadians are far more driven to get vaccinated than Americans.

What's the point: Just two months ago, less than 5% of Canadians were fully vaccinated against Covid-19. At the same time, about 40% of Americans were. Today, a little less than 50% of Americans are fully vaccinated, while a little more than 50% of Canadians are.

Among adults, more than 80% of the Canadian population is at least partially vaccinated, while the US has still not reached 70%.


A big reason (though not the only one) why Canada has overtaken the US is pretty clear: Political polarization is playing a smaller role in who is and is not getting vaccinated there. We see a similar phenomenon in the United Kingdom, where more than 50% of the population is also fully vaccinated.

(Note that those ages 12 and above are eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine in Canada and the United States, while, for most, the vaccine-eligible age in the UK is 18.)

In the Angus Reid poll in Canada, 85% of adults who voted for the center-left Liberal Party in 2019 have been at least partially vaccinated. It's a similar 84% for the progressive New Democratic Party.

Those percentages look similar to what we're seeing in the US for progressives. In a late June ​​NPR/PBS NewsHour/Marist poll, 88% of those who voted for Joe Biden in the 2020 election said they had been vaccinated. A July CBS News/YouGov poll showed that 84% of Biden backers were at least partially vaccinated. A June Fox News poll put it at 81%.

But the difference between the two countries becomes clear when you examine conservatives. Among those adults who backed the Conservative Party in Canada's 2019 election, a lower 69% had received at least one dose.

Still, that's far greater than the 52% of Donald Trump supporters who have gotten a dose in an average of the Fox News, Marist and YouGov surveys.

It's worth noting that the US' vaccination patterns don't just differ from Canada's. They also differ significantly from those of another key ally: the United Kingdom.

When we examine the UK, we see that areas that were more likely to back the Conservative Party in the 2019 general election actually have a higher vaccination rate than areas where that support was weaker.

Specifically, let's examine the 533 constituencies in England (the most populated part of the United Kingdom) where we have vaccination data through July 18.

In the constituencies where the Conservatives did better than they did in the median constituency, about 90% of all adults on average have had at least one dose. In the constituencies where they did worse than the median, about 83% of all adults on average have had at least one dose.

(This gap holds even when you control for age, even as voting patterns are highly dependent on age in the UK.)

In the United States, the pattern, of course, is reversed and exacerbated. About 74% of the adult population has received at least one Covid-19 dose in the states Biden won and the District of Columbia, which Biden won too. It's only 59% in the states he lost.

It's not entirely clear why there is a partisan gap in the US and not in Canada or the UK.
It's possible that what we're seeing in the UK is an incumbent effect. That is, the leader in the UK is Conservative Party member Boris Johnson, and therefore Conservatives are more likely to line up behind the leader.

I would point out, though, that Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is a Liberal Party member, and the vaccination gap by party isn't as wide up there as it is in the States.

Further, the gap in vaccine acceptance in the US was evident even when Trump was president and promoting the idea of a vaccine, so this isn't just recent anti-vaccine rhetoric from some on the right. With the exception of a period around the 2020 election (when then-Democratic vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris and others raised questions about the vaccine approval process), Democrats always said they were more likely to get vaccinated than Republicans in Gallup polling.

To be clear, the partisan gap is not the only reason why the US is lagging. For example, the vaccination rate of those under age 30 is far higher in Canada and the UK than in the US. There are also fewer Black and Hispanic residents in Canada and the UK, who are less likely to get vaccinated in the US.

If the US were similar to these two other countries with regard to vaccination rates by age and race and ethnicity, the partisan gap in vaccines could be larger, because younger and minority groups are more likely to be Democrats.

Either way, the partisan gap is huge in the US compared with two of its closest allies with similar access to vaccines. If it didn't exist, we'd be in far better shape when fighting the pandemic.

A heat dome from central North America extends over north Yukon. (Screengrab/Courtesy Cameron Beccario)

YUKON

‘The world needs to take serious and immediate action’: Old Crow temperatures sound alarm on climate change

High temperatures, low water levels contine to imperile ecosytem and way of life for Vuntut Gwitchen

• LAWRIE CRAWFORD, LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE REPORTER     
• Jul. 24, 2021

 
 
 

On July 22, Old Crow reached a historic high of 29.7 degrees Celsius, according to Environment Canada. The heat warning issued that day was the second since 2018.

Old Crow joins a growing group of exceptional heat readings and warnings from around the globe. On July 22, the Washington Post reported that “no fewer than five powerful heat domes are swelling over the land masses of the Northern Hemisphere.”

All-time record highs have been set in northern Ireland, northern Japan and Turkey while swarms of wildfires have engulfed British Columbia, California and Siberia.

But heat is not the only story.

The record high temperatures in Old Crow came after three weeks of extraordinarily low water levels in the Porcupine River. Benoit Turcotte, senior researcher in hydrology and climate change at Yukon University, explained that this year marks the lowest level ever recorded in a 46-year tracking period for the Old Crow River, which flows into the Porcupine River from Old Crow flats.

Crow Flats are a special management area in the traditional territory of the Vuntut Gwitchen, an area long recognized for its unique network of lakes and wetlands. Elders said the area had always acted as a ‘food bank’ with a rich diversity of inter-connected mammals, birds and plants.

Norma Kassi grew up in Old Crow. When she was very young, her grandfather warned of massive changes that would come to the area. He told her that she might not see the same lakes once she had children.

Twenty years ago, many birds left the flats. Zelma Lake vanished as melting permafrost literally collapsed the lake bottom and the water drained away. Other lakes disappeared. Animals moved to other areas and massive tracks of mud slumped on creeks and lake shores. Willows crept everywhere.

Crow Flats’ massive network of lakes feed the Old Crow and Porcupine rivers. Turcotte said today’s historically low water levels are cumulative, and the result of several years of decrease in the Porcupine River basin. This year is not a one-off.

For decades, Old Crow residents called for the world to notice as caribou habitat deteriorated, permafrost melted, lakes disappeared, and river levels dropped, affecting their food harvesting habits and traditional practices.

Kassi, now a highly recognized climate change educator and advocate, is amazed at the rapidity of the changes she has witnessed.

“Events have been so dramatic — the loss of culture and way of life,” she said.

The connection of climate change markers at play in the northern Yukon is remarkable, and disconcerting. Scientists are paying attention. The official from Environment Canada and Turcotte both expressed sadness at the cumulative indicators, sensing an inevitable expectation of other ramifications.

Low water levels and high temperatures spiral to increase water temperatures which accelerates permafrost melt which destabilizes land and water bodies, further impacting fish spawning, bird nesting and muskrat and caribou habitat which further disrupts traditional harvesting and cultural practices, inevitably impacting health and social well-being and an Indigenous way of life.

Kassi said “they should have listened earlier,” as the climate is now substantially changed. Now the emphasis is on protecting the caribou and remaining boreal forests.

“It is not too late but the world needs to take serious, and immediate action,” she said.

Environment Canada sees a slight cooling trend for Old Crow in the next week. But according to a North American ensemble of data, there is a 50 to 70 per cent probability that temperatures will return to high levels again at the beginning of August.

Environment Canada reminded that averages don’t really represent “normal” temperatures. We are living in a period of extremes and outliers.

Contact Lawrie Crawford at lawrie.crawford@yukon-news.com