CALIFORNIA TENANTS UNION
Seeking an eviction moratorium in coronavirus pandemic, protesters target Garcetti’s house

By DAKOTA SMITH STAFF WRITER LA TIMES APRIL 1, 2020

Housing activists held a drive-by protest at Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti’s residence Wednesday morning, honking their horns and shouting from their windows to urge him to pass a blanket moratorium on residential evictions during the coronavirus pandemic.

A parade of about 20 vehicles circled Getty House in Windsor Square for more than a half hour, snaking around the block until Los Angeles Police Department officers arrived and parked two large vehicles in a nearby intersection.

LAPD spokesman Josh Rubenstein said traffic could still flow in the area. “According to a supervisor on the scene, the patrol vehicles partially blocked the intersection to control the flow of traffic, ensuring safe travels on the street,” Rubenstein said. “Cars were not blocked.”

After police parked in the intersection, a crowd of more than 40 housing activists then took to the sidewalks in front of Getty House. “It’s not a real moratorium,” protesters yelled. “No wages, no rent,” others shouted, while some held signs that read, “Freeze all rents.”

Albert Corado, 31, who came from Atwater Village to join the protest, said he was frustrated by the city’s new eviction policy, arguing that what the mayor and L.A. City Council have done doesn’t go far enough.

“What the city has done is really ineffectual,” Corado said.

It’s unclear if Garcetti was home during the 7 a.m. protest. His spokesman, Alex Comisar, said that the mayor and L.A. City Council have “taken quick, aggressive action” to freeze rents and prevent evictions during the crisis.

“The mayor stands with all Angelenos and he will continue taking every possible step to support them through this emergency,” Comisar said.

The City Council last week approved a temporary ban on evictions for renters who are unable to pay rent because of the coronavirus. The council also waived late fees and gave renters up to a year to pay back rent after the city’s emergency order for the pandemic expires.

Council members, however, rejected a blanket ban on all evictions. Instead, to qualify, renters who are unable to pay rent must demonstrate how they have been harmed by the coronavirus, which critics say is too onerous a task given that many may be unable to get tested for the coronavirus or see a doctor.

Renters may also have a hard time proving that their work hours were cut, for example, because of the economic upheaval caused by the pandemic.

Garcetti went further this week, announcing that landlords would not be allowed to increase the rent for tenants who live in apartments that fall under the city’s rent stabilization program. The announcement covers about 624,000 apartments and it’s unclear how many of those units would have been subject to annual rent increases during the pandemic.

Organizers said that Wednesday’s protest was expected to attract members of L.A. Tenants Union, Chinatown Community for Equitable Development, NOlympics LA and other groups. The protesters said they want a moratorium on all evictions during the crisis, complete rent forgiveness and/or rent suspension, and the immediate use of hotel and motel rooms to provide permanent housing to unhoused residents.

Protesters held a similar rally outside Garcetti’s residence Sunday.

Separately, tenant activist groups held “rent strike” protests in several cities Wednesday, vowing to skip payments because of the economic downturn from the coronavirus pandemic.

Times staff writer Liam Dillon contributed to this report.

CHUTZPAH
Uber Asks US Government to Give Its Workers Health Insurance

In a desperate bid, Uber wants a federal fix to the problem of its drivers wanting livable wages and healthcare coverage.

By Edward Ongweso Jr Mar 23 2020

SOPA IMAGES / CONTRIBUTOR

In a letter to the President, Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi asked Donald Trump to do something Khosrowshahi has refused to do for years: provide "more social protections" like health insurance to gig workers:

"The current binary system of employment classification means that either a worker is an employee who is provided significant social benefits or an independent worker who is provided relatively few.

For independent workers like drivers and delivery people, and for work platforms like Uber, this presents a dilemma: reclassifying these workers as employees could result in the provision of more social protections, but the reality of employment means it would eliminate a key value proposition of this type of work. Instead of true flexibility—where workers need not report at a certain time or place, can start or stop working at the tap of a button, and can work on multiple platforms simultaneously—driving or delivering would come to resemble the kind of shift-based work that many people cannot fit into their lives."

The problem is, however, working for Uber is neither flexible nor independent. Uber functions exactly like an employer but doesn’t give its drivers any of the benefits many employers do. In New York City, Uber abandoned flexibility and imposed a shift-based quota system that restricted drivers' access to the app. As it grew increasingly more strict, some drivers were pushed to sleep in their cars to meet its demands. On the question of independence, drivers are algorithmically managed in ways that often go beyond traditional employment. Uber drivers are flexible and independent in the sense that, more so than most workers in our economy, they are expected to make do with fewer wages, less social benefits, and less control over their own labor and livelihood.

This push for a “third category,” then, makes sense as part of Uber’s fight for the right to misclassify workers, minimize labor costs, and someday achieve profitability. In California, where Assembly Bill 5 promises to outright reclassify gig workers as employees, Uber launched a $110 million ballot initiative (with help from Lyft, DoorDash, Postmates, and Instacart) that seeks to enshrine this third category. Here is Uber’s in its own IPO filing stating, in no uncertain terms, that reclassification would pose an existential threat:

"If, as a result of legislation or judicial decisions, we are required to classify Drivers as employees (or as workers or quasi-employees where those statuses exist), we would incur significant additional expenses for compensating Drivers, potentially including expenses associated with the application of wage and hour laws (including minimum wage, overtime, and meal and rest period requirements), employee benefits, social security contributions, taxes, and penalties. Further, any such reclassification would require us to fundamentally change our business model, and consequently have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition."

When you take all of this into account, it’s easy to see what Khosrowshahi is doing here—it’s what Uber has been doing this past decade: begging for more subsidies to continue this unsustainable business model. The U.S. should be moving toward universal free healthcare for all, but that’s not currently the world we live in. And so all Khosrowshahi is acknowledging in his letter is that the business model his company pioneered has left millions of people around the country vulnerable and his company has done little to fix it.
Uber’s core business is ride-hailing, which relies on subsidies from drivers classified as “independent contractors” who rent or own the vehicles Uber needs for revenue, who assume every expense related to these vehicles, and who drive the vehicles for low wages without pesky benefits like health insurance. Uber’s core financing has come from private investors—it’s received more than $20 billion in investment that it has used to artificially suppress fares to attract and retain customers. Most importantly, these low fares undercut competitors. It’s not just ride-hail: Uber has expanded the model to freight operations and food delivery, on-demand labor, and scooters.

A third category wouldn’t guarantee a minimum wage, sick leave, paid vacation time, Social Security and Medicare, the right to unionize, protection from sexual harassment or gender discrimination, or a host of other civil rights for workers. It would, however, offload basic protections it should already be giving to the government.

San Francisco Says Coronavirus Has Made Gig Economy’s Labor Abuses Untenable

"Denying workers their rights during a public health crisis is immoral, irresponsible, and we cannot and will not stand for it.”

By Edward Ongweso Jr Mar 25 2020, BLOOMBERG / CONTRIBUTOR

On Tuesday, San Francisco lawmakers introduced a resolution condemning “app-based employers” such as Uber, Lyft, DoorDash, and Postmates for illegally misclassifying their employees as contractors, calling for emergency injunctive relief in addition to enforcement of Assembly Bill 5.

In a press conference with San Francisco Supervisors Gordon Mar, Matt Haney, and Rafael Mandelman, alongside gig workers and representatives from labor coalitions like Jobs with Justice San Francisco, We Drive Progress and Gig Workers Rising, speakers laid out the rationale behind the resolution.

“By not complying with AB5 and misclassifying their employees as contractors, gig companies like Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash have been putting drivers and passengers at risk during the coronavirus era and long before,” said Edan Alva, a Lyft driver for five years and an activist within Gig Workers Rising. “These large corporations are preying on the most vulnerable population while utilizing them as a workforce by paying them less than minimum wage, exposing them to significantly enhanced risks, and yet not providing them with basic worker protections required by law.”

Passed in September, Assembly Bill 5 is a California law that imposes a test to determine whether workers have enough autonomy to be declared independent contractors, or are actually employees being deprived of rights and benefits. The law also gives city attorneys the power to take companies violating the law to court and force reclassification of their workers, as has already been done with Instacart in San Diego. In a series of desperate attempts to avoid the same scrutiny and outcome, Uber has changed its app in California to give the appearance of more driver autonomy, launched a $110 million ballot initiative to kill AB5, and written a letter to Trump begging for a third category with the “flexibility” of contractors and only some of the “social benefits” of employees.

“This resolution is calling for a few things, things that should be very basic. One is we are simply asking that California enforces the law—that we actually start to classify gig workers correctly,” Supervisor Harney added. “Second, workers in these companies should be given the same rights and privileges as any other worker ... We are demanding that state officials protect gig workers during this pandemic by fully enforcing AB5 and ensuring workers have access to benefits like paid sick leave, disability, family paid leave, and unemployment insurance.”

“Lastly, we need to make sure there are minimal standards—basic foundational standards—for health and safety guidelines for these workers,” added Supervisor Harney. “If they are coming in and interacting with customers on a regular basis, dropping things off and picking things up, they need to be given access to cleaning supplies. They need to be supported if they do get sick, they need to have workers compensation benefits if they’re exposed in some way to the virus.”

The collective refusal of these gig platform companies to comply with AB5 and stop classifying their employees as contractors has created a public health crisis. Gig workers are pushed to constantly risk exposure precisely because they can’t afford to stay home, but they’re also a group of workers unable to afford getting sick either in terms of treatment or being suspended from their platforms for weeks.

“Paid sick leave, unemployment insurance, and family medical leave aren’t just nice to have, they’re the difference between workers being able to feed their families or not—and during this pandemic, they’re essential to public health,” said Supervisor Mar, who wrote the resolution.

“Denying workers their rights during a public health crisis is immoral, irresponsible, and we cannot and will not stand for it.”

Elizabeth Warren Calls on Uber, Instacart to Reclassify Workers as Employees

“You have a responsibility to protect their health and the public’s health.”

By Edward Ongweso Jr Apr 1 2020


In a letter to the CEOs of Uber, Instacart, DoorDash, and Grubhub, Senator Elizabeth Warren called on the gig companies to do something they've fought for years: providing gig workers with "basic rights and protections" that might protect them during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“Because these workers perform essential delivery work and are critical to serving customers who cannot leave home during the pandemic, you have a responsibility to protect their health and the public’s health. To do so, I urge you to reclassify your delivery workers as employees, rather than independent contractors, and ensure they are provided a full suite of employee protections and benefits.”

For years now, it has grown increasingly difficult to ignore the precariousness of gig workers. With the worsening pandemic, the truth is all but unavoidable now: “essential” goods and services are made cheap, ubiquitous, and convenient by the exploitation of a vulnerable group of workers (along with a healthy dose of investor subsidies). These gig companies have deepened our public health crisis, not because they employ a significant number of the population (they don’t) but because their unprofitable business models which demand minimal labor costs (paid sick leave, minimum wages, health and safety protections, etc.) and maximum production (e.g. more deliveries made or more ride-hail trips completed) have been adopted at an alarming rate thanks to coronavirus.

“Your company’s misclassification of your workers as independent contractors rather than employees creates inherent risk for workers, who are denied access to unemployment insurance and workers compensation, a minimum wage and overtime, health care benefits, the right to be represented by a union, and the legal protections of the Occupational Safety and Health Act,” Warren wrote. “Lawsuits and state legislation, including California’s Assembly Bill 5 and the Massachusetts Independent Contractor Law, have sought to protect workers from being exploited by employer misclassification. The impact your misclassification has on workers, and the precarious circumstances it puts them in, is amplified by this pandemic.”

Whether it be intentional misclassification as contractors or replacing traditional bosses with algorithmic overseers, gig workers are left unable to make ends meet, let alone afford to take time off during a pandemic.

On Monday, Instacart shoppers launched a nationwide strike demanding hazard pay and health protection, while Amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island, N.Y. walked out over the company’s poor response to coronavirus and General Electric workers held protests demanding the company produce ventilators instead of laying off workers and closing factories. On Tuesday, Amazon's Whole Foods employees held a nationwide strike protesting the company's lack of coronavirus protections by calling in sick, just weeks after Whole Foods suggested employees settle for sharing paid time off instead of sick paid leave.

None of this is lost on gig companies who have, to varying degrees, tried to anticipate and undermine the upswell of labor militancy that threatens a business model that demands essential workers be denied essential protections. As Warren points out in her letter, Uber and DoorDash have both announced new paid sick leaves and both have failed to adequately roll out these policies for drivers. Last week, Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi wrote a desperate letter to President Trump that begged for a bailout to shift the burden of worker healthcare from gig companies to federal and state governments.

But while these companies debate the merits of putting workers before profits, workers are dying. An Uber driver died from coronavirus in the U.S. just last week, and a 25-year-old driver in Brazil died of an illness suspected to be coronavirus.

Warren's letter addresses one front of the information asymmetry that these companies use to escape regulatory scrutiny: wage data. "By classifying your workers as independent contractors, rather than employees, you are not mandated to report this data to the state," Warren writes, "but failing to do so creates a 'monthslong bureaucratic process' for workers to prove their employment status and secure unemployment benefits."

Complying with unemployment insurance regulation is a slippery slope that goes well beyond making sure gig workers are able to put food on the table: it opens the company to tens of millions in each of its major states, reclassification of its workforce as employees in entire states, and large bills for unpaid unemployment and disability taxes. In New Jersey, Uber was accused of misclassifying its workers as contractors to duck out of unemployment and disability taxes, and the state left the company with a $650 million tax bill. The ride-hail giant’s attempts to drag its feet in states like New York, where Uber and Lyft drivers are already legally entitled to tens of millions of dollars in unemployment insurance, make sense when thought of as a hedge against a wave of states issuing tax bills similar to New Jersey’s.

This, then, is why Khosrowshahi celebrated the Senate’s passage of the coronavirus stimulus package: it provides federal unemployment funds to misclassified contractors who aren’t eligible for their state’s unemployment coverage. Instead of states paying for unemployment coverage—but only after reclassifying the contractors as employees, then defending that classification in court, then suing the employers for unpaid unemployment taxes—states are incentivized to simply let the federal government pick up the bill and let gig companies off the hook for the billions they likely owe in unpaid taxes.

It is unlikely the CEOs targeted by Warren’s letter will listen. After all, at no point in their tenures have they ever made a decision prioritizing workers over yet-to-materialize profits. You are reading this precisely because that is not the case. But Warren’s endorsement of gig workers’ demands and struggles should spell out the writing on the wall: gig workers won’t stop until their basic needs are met. Gig companies are running out of excuses and gig workers are running out of patience




April 1, 2020 

Dara Khosrowshahi

 Chief Executive Officer Uber 

1455 Market St. San Francisco,

 CA 94103 

Dear Mr. Khosrowshahi:

 I am writing to request that, during the novel coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, you provide your front line delivery workers with the basic rights and protections they would be guaranteed if you classified them as employees rather than independent contractors, including paid sick leave, minimum wages, and essential health and safety protections. Because these workers perform essential delivery work and are critical to serving customers who cannot leave home during the pandemic, you have a responsibility to protect their health and the public’s health. 

To do so, I urge you to reclassify your delivery workers as employees, rather than independent contractors, and ensure they are provided a full suite of employee protections and benefits. On Monday, Instacart workers staged an emergency walk-off1 to protest that the company had “not provided essential protections to Shoppers on the front lines that could prevent them from becoming carriers, falling ill themselves, or worse.”

 Worker demands include free, company-provided safety precautions, an expanded paid leave policy, and additional hazard pay—organizers declared that “workers should not be risking their lives for pocket change.” DoorDash and Uber have announced new paid sick leave policies, but workers report that requests to access this leave are being denied.

 Delivery workers are experiencing serious health and economic vulnerabilities as a result of their jobs, and your company is failing to provide appropriate and necessary protections. 

REFERENCES 

Washington Post, “Workers protest at Instacart, Amazon and Whole Foods for health protections and hazard pay,” Nitasha Tiku and Jay Greene, March 30, 2020, https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/03/30/workerstrike-instacart-amazon-whole-foods/. 

Medium, “Instacart Emergency Walk Off,” Gig Workers Collective, March 27, 2020, https://medium.com/@GigWorkersCollective/instacart-emergency-walk-off-ebdf11b6995a 

Medium, “Instacart’s ‘Response’ is a Sick Joke — The Strike is Still On,” Gig Workers Collective, March 29, 2020, 

https://medium.com/@GigWorkersCollective/instacarts-response-is-a-sick-joke-the-strike-is-still-on2aa4f5e4e726 

Los Angeles Times, “Delivery workers are keeping California fed. They say no one’s keeping them safe,” Johana Bhuiyan, March 28, 2020, https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-03-28/coronavirus-deliveryworkers-sick-leave-protection/; 

Reuters, “Delivery drivers face pandemic without sick pay, insurance, sanitizer,” Chris Kirkham and Jeffrey Dastin, March 25, 2020, https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-deliverydrivers-i/delivery-drivers-face-pandemic-without-sick-pay-insurance-sanitizer-idUSKBN21C1CJ.

READ THE REST OF WARRENS LETTER HERE 

‘Protect the poor first:’ AMLO rejects tax breaks, deferrals for business

Governor of Jalisco fails to convince president to support business

 

Jalisco Governor Alfaro urged the president to reconsider support for the private sector.

Published on Thursday, April 2, 2020

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All beaches declared closed during emergency period

Coronavirus crisis is temporary one that the people will overcome: AMLO

Total cases at 1,378 after Wednesday's increase, the biggest yet in a single day

\ 

López Obrador: 'People are behaving as they should.'

Published on Thursday, April 2, 2020

• Full coronavirus coverage here

A day after Mexico recorded its largest single day increase in the number of confirmed cases of Covid-19, President López Obrador described the coronavirus crisis as a “fleeting situation” that the country will overcome soon.

“I want to provide confidence and certainty to the people of Mexico that this is a fleeting situation … a temporary public health and economic crisis. A temporary crisis – that means that we’ll overcome it soon,” López Obrador told reporters at his regular news conference on Thursday morning.

Declaring that the situation is not a disaster, the president asserted that the strength and culture of the Mexican people will allow them to “confront this adversity.”

“The people of Mexico are extraordinary. I want to thank the people a lot … because they’re complying with the [social distancing] measures that were established to avoid more infections. The people are behaving 100% [as they should], they’re showing that the people of Mexico are sensible, not irresponsible,” he said.

López Obrador’s remarks followed the Health Ministry’s announcement on Wednesday night that 163 new Covid-19 cases had been detected, taking the country’s total to 1,378. Director of Epidemiology José Luis Alomia also told a press conference that the coronavirus-related death toll had risen by eight to 37.

He said that there are 3,827 suspected cases of Covid-19 and that 7,073 people had tested negative for the disease. The total number of people that have been tested increased by 1,270 to 12,278.

Mexico City has the highest number of cases in the country, with 296, followed by México state with 157. There are 99 confirmed cases in Jalisco, 97 in Puebla, 78 in Nuevo León and 57 in Coahuila. With just three confirmed coronavirus cases, the small Pacific coast state of Colima is the least affected in the country.

Mexico City has also recorded the highest number of coronavirus-related deaths, with eight, while Sinaloa has seen four and three Covid-19 patients have died in each of Jalisco and Hidalgo.

Nineteen of Mexico’s 32 federal entities have now recorded at least one coronavirus-related death. Hypertension, diabetes, obesity and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease have been the four most common existing diseases suffered by those who have died.

Of the 1,378 people confirmed to have Covid-19, 58% are men and 42% are women. Of the 37 deaths, 32 have been of men and just five of women.

As the number of coronavirus cases rises, the pressure on Mexico’s healthcare system will only increase but López Obrador stressed Thursday that the government is taking the necessary steps to prepare for an influx of Covid-19 patients.

“We are dedicated to that full time, it’s the priority of the government … We’re preparing so that we won’t lack beds or ventilators and we can attend to the serious cases,” he said.

López Obrador on Wednesday reiterated that the government’s coronavirus response strategy – criticized by some experts for failing to carry out widespread Covid-19 testing – is developed and managed by medical and scientific experts.

He called on state governors and all other authorities to “align” their response to Covid-19 with the federal strategy.

“My recommendation continues to be the same: we all have to align, respect the recommendations of the specialists, the scientists. It’s not time for bright ideas, this is a very serious matter,” López Obrador said.

He appealed to his political opponents earlier this week for a month-long “truce” as the country faces a dual health and economic crisis caused by the growing outbreak of Covid-19 and the emergency measures put in place to contain it.

“The conservatives have wanted to encourage division, polarize [people] … I call for unity, I even call for unity from my adversaries, from the conservatives. The homeland comes first, they should dial [their attacks on the government] down a notch.”

Source: Milenio (sp), El Universal (sp) 

There is no excuse not to test, says infectious disease expert.

Experts say Mexico hasn’t done enough virus testing; case numbers may be higher

One suggests politics might have been a factor

 

Published on Wednesday, April 1, 2020
• Full coronavirus coverage here

The federal government continues to face criticism for its response to the coronavirus pandemic even though it declared a health emergency on Monday that stipulated stricter measures to contain the spread of the disease.

Some experts believe that Mexico is acting too late and not carrying out enough Covid-19 tests to prevent a widespread outbreak such as that seen across the northern border in the United States.

Health authorities announced on Tuesday night that there are 1,215 confirmed cases of Covid-19 in Mexico and that a total of 11,008 tests have been completed. Many experts believe that the real number of cases is much higher – hidden by the lack of testing that has taken place.

The number of tests carried out to date is low compared to many other countries and even dwarfed by New York state, where more than 205,000 tests had been performed as of Tuesday.

Janine Ramsey, an infectious disease expert with Mexico’s National Institute of Public Health, told the Associated Press that widespread Covid-19 testing should have occurred in February and March. She suggested that politics may have been a factor in the lack of testing to date.

“Politics is very, very much involved in the decision-making going on right now. Mexico, politically, does not value scientific evidence. Why? Because it takes decision-making away from the politicians,” Ramsey said.

“For most of us, especially those of us who work with infectious pathogens, there is absolutely no excuse not to test,” she added, explaining that widespread testing is the only way to determine how fast a disease is spreading.

Dr. Joseph Eisenberg, chair of the Epidemiology Department at the University of Michigan’s School of Public Health, also said that Mexico should have started testing more widely earlier.

“Testing is really our eyes, otherwise we’re kind of blind,” he told AP.

“The only way you can really understand where the disease is and where you really need to focus your energies with respect to control is to be able to know where the infections are. And the only way to know that is through testing.”

For its part, the government has defended its response to the virus, stating that on-the-ground health surveillance provides much of the information it needs to determine how the coronavirus epidemic is evolving. Deputy Health Minister Hugo López-Gatell said on Tuesday that he expects the epidemic curve to begin flattening soon as a result of the government’s social distancing recommendations.

Authorities have ramped up their “stay at home” message in recent days, with President López Obrador urging Mexicans to avoid going out as much as possible in a video message posted to social media on Friday.

The next day, López-Gatell delivered his most emphatic exhortation for people to stay at home and the government on Monday declared a health emergency that stipulated the suspension of non-essential activities until April 30. It also prohibited events seeking to gather more than 50 people, among other measures.

But the measures announced on Monday are “too late,” according to Dr. Miguel Betancourt, president of the Mexican Society of Public Health, who said that they should have been announced two weeks earlier when the epidemic curve began to steepen.

“We still have time to avoid an outbreak that grows out of control but we all have to do our part,” Betancourt said.

However, without federal authorities threatening to impose penalties on people who flout the directive to stay at home, and with millions of Mexicans not in a position to follow it because they are unable to support themselves if they don’t continue to work, it remains to be seen how effective the emergency declaration measures will be.

Susana Ruiz, a vegetable vendor in a market in the north of Mexico City, told AP that she couldn’t stop working because she has no other way to earn a living and the government hasn’t provided any other options.

Esperanza Rivas, a 50-year-old Mexico City resident, downplayed the threat of Covid-19.

“If this virus were so dangerous, I think they would have already closed the metro,” she said referring to the capital’s subway system.

Source: AP (en)

Hand washing a challenge for 10 million households who haven’t enough water

Many have no water at all in the home and must bring it in by hand


Published on Thursday, April 2, 2020
• Full coronavirus coverage here

Health authorities say that washing one’s hands is one of the most effective ways to avoid contracting and spreading Covid-19, but the measure isn’t as simple as turning on the faucet for the one-third of Mexican households that lack daily access to water.

In Mexico, 10.5 million households do not have daily access to potable water for cleaning and drinking, and human rights experts say that this shortfall poses one of the biggest challenges to combatting the spread of the novel coronavirus.

The data published by the federal statistics agency Inegi comes as a warning after the United Nations (UN) said last week that the fight against the disease has little chance of success if people aren’t guaranteed access to clean water to wash their hands.

The data reveal that 25% of households receive water only “every now and then,” while over 7% have no access at all to water in the home and must carry or otherwise transport it from external sources.

“We were able to observe that 68% of households — 22,428,142 — receive water [consistently], while 25% — 8,411,920 — obtain it every three days, one or two times a week or every now and then,” reported the agency. 

“… 7% — 2,085,208 — do not have [access to water in the home] and get it by carrying it from another home, a public tap, wells, rivers, ditches, lakes, lagoons or from tankers,” it said.

The UN’s announcement of the importance of handwashing to containing the spread of Covid-19 was accompanied by a plea to world governments to guarantee sufficient access to clean water to their most vulnerable populations.

“The fight against the pandemic has few possibilities for success if personal hygiene, the principal measure for preventing contagion, is not within reach of those who do not have access to potable water services,” said the organization.

The UN’s Human Rights Council said that limited access will make it more likely that the virus will spread among vulnerable populations with limited resources.

“Governments should apply measures to break this cycle,” said human rights specialists on the council.

The social development agency Coneval said that in Mexico, rural and indigenous communities will be the most affected by the situation.

“Indigenous communities have the least coverage within the potable water infrastructure,” said Coneval, citing different but similar data to Inegi about water access.

Amnesty International Mexico’s executive director, Tania Reneaum Panszi, told the newspaper El Universal that the pandemic is going to affect those with limited resources much differently than those of other social classes.

“Access to [water] will be one of the biggest challenges [during the pandemic]. … There are people in this country who will not be able to wash their hands. The inequality is going to be made completely visible,” she said.

She said that inequality will be seen in people whose economic situations oblige them to go to work to survive and people without access to social security and urged both the Mexican government and the private sector to take measures to protect vulnerable populations.

“It is recommended that people stay home, but this is a privilege of class. It can be done with stable working conditions, with social security and when the employer is willing,” she said.

Source: El Universal (sp)

In parts of Latin America, water shortages undermine battle with coronavirus

By Robenson Sanon and Sarah Marsh,Reuters•April 3, 2020

Outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Port-au-Prince
By Robenson Sanon and Sarah Marsh

PORT-AU-PRINCE/HAVANA (Reuters) - Every day, Fontus Pierre Raymond wakes up at the crack of dawn to get in line to fill buckets of water at the communal tap in his densely-packed Port-au-Prince shantytown so that his mother and seven younger siblings can wash before work and school.

Often, though, it runs dry and the 24-year-old has to trudge further to a cistern with dirtier water. So he wonders how he is supposed to follow the recommended hygiene measures to stave off the deadly new coronavirus, like frequently washing hands and social distancing.

Millions across Latin America face a similar dilemma. While underinvestment in infrastructure has long been a problem in certain parts of the region, the spread of the highly contagious disease makes poor access to water a matter of life or death.

The situation in Haiti, the poorest country in the Americas, is the most dire by far. Most homes do not receive piped water and rely instead on communal taps, water trucks or often contaminated springs.

Less than a quarter of households have basic handwashing facilities with water and soap, according to data compiled by the United Nations.

"Since they announced the pandemic (in Haiti two weeks ago), the tap has had water twice," said Mimose Pierre Raymond, 44, Fontus' mother. "But we can spend weeks without water."

Haiti has only confirmed 18 cases to date, but experts fear the COVID-19 respiratory disease caused by the virus would be more deadly there than other countries if it took hold given the widespread malnutrition and its overburdened healthcare system.

CRUMBLING INFRASTRUCTURE

Water supply coverage is, on average, better in Latin America than in Africa and Asia, according to United Nations national data, but many countries are still facing difficulties. While Haiti's water system has always been underdeveloped, that of the once-prosperous nearby Venezuela has crumbled in tandem with the economy, following years of underinvestment and widespread allegations that officials stole public funds.

Theoretically, most homes in Venezuela receive piped water. In practice, the pipes often run dry.

"We can spend months without (running) water," said Maria Dolores, a pensioner wearing a face mask and plastic gloves as she lined up to fill buckets with water from a street hydrant in a working-class neighborhood of Caracas.

In middle-class neighborhoods, many homes have tanks that store water when it sporadically comes in through the pipes. Even then, it often is not enough.

"I have a tank at home that holds 500 to 600 liters and already that's not enough when there's no running water for three weeks," said Ivan Mersly, filling up containers with water at a local cistern and carrying it home on a skateboard.

Meanwhile in Communist-run Cuba, authorities say below-average rains this year are exacerbating existing water supply problems such as leaks that cause it to lose as much as 50 percent of the water pumped from its reservoirs.

Around half a million residents are facing challenges in water supply, with Havana particularly affected, said Antonio Rodríguez, the head of the Cuban National Institute of Hydraulic Resources, last month in a televised roundtable on coronavirus prevention preparedness.

Some countries are innovating stop-gap measures to alleviate their water woes in view of the pandemic.

Cash-strapped Haitian authorities have installed some handwashing points in public squares, markets and state institutions, although many neighborhoods like Pierre Raymond's have to rely on private initiatives.

"The government is responsible but has not done one here so I did one," said community leader Ralph Apollon who has installed a tank with chlorinated water on the side of his house so his neighbors can wash their hands.

Other countries like Cuba, which has confirmed 269 cases of the new virus so far, say they are speeding up planned infrastructure projects like the installation of desalination plants. Yet locals fear that will take time.

"I'm really worried," said Jose Raul Fernandez, 46, an electrician who lives in Center Havana. "Authorities are asking us to follow hygiene measures due to the coronavirus, but without sufficient water, it's just impossible."

(Reporting by Robenson Sanon in Port-au-Prince, Sarah Marsh and Nelson Acosta in Havana, Efrain Otero and Johnny Carvajal in Caracas; Editing by Daniel Flynn, Aurora Ellis and Grant McCool)

Too much hugging, says rights group.

Human rights group slams AMLO for downplaying coronavirus danger

López Obrador's behavior sets a 'dangerous example that threatens Mexicans’ health'
 

Published on Friday, March 27, 2020
• Full coronavirus coverage here

The international non-governmental organization Human Rights Watch (HRW) has harshly criticized President López Obrador for putting the people of Mexico in “grave danger” with his “reckless disregard” for providing accurate information on the Covid-19 pandemic and failing to lead by example in the practice of social distancing.

The human rights group said in a statement on Thursday that López Obrador is refusing to follow public health advice and failing to provide accurate information about the severity of the disease, which had infected 585 people in Mexico and killed 11 as of Thursday.

HRW noted that AMLO, as the president is widely known, has “directly contradicted” the recommendations of health authorities by encouraging people to go out while officials are asking Mexicans to stay home as much as possible.

“If you can do it and you have the financial means, keep taking your family out to eat, to the restaurants, to the fondas [cheap diners] because that strengthens the family economy and the working class economy,” López Obrador said in a video posted to social media last Sunday.

HRW also criticized the president for continuing to hold rallies and attend events at which he hugs, kisses and shakes hands with supporters despite his own government’s social distancing recommendations.

While López Obrador is now heeding the advice to keep his distance from others, just a week ago he presided over a National Guard graduation ceremony in Mexico City during which he shook hands with more than 100 new guardsmen and guardswomen.

HRW also noted that when the first coronavirus case was detected in Mexico at the end of February, AMLO “blatantly misinformed the Mexican public, saying: ‘according to the information available, it is not terrible or fatal. It is not even as bad as the flu.’”

In addition, the human rights group was critical of the president’s declaration earlier this month that people should continue to hug each other because “nothing will happen.”

José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director at HRW, said that López Obrador’s behavior amid the Covid-19 crisis is “a profoundly dangerous example that threatens Mexicans’ health.”

He added that the president has “shown outrageous unwillingness to provide accurate and evidence-based information about the risks of a virus that has already killed thousands of people worldwide.”

López Obrador “needs to take this issue seriously for the sake of the health and lives of the Mexican people,” Vivanco said.

HRW noted that Mexico has some of the highest rates of obesity and diabetes in the world, meaning that Covid-19 is an even greater threat to many Mexicans.

In that context, Vivanco said that “leaders should faithfully meet their obligation to ensure people have access to accurate, evidence-based information essential to protecting their health.”

“Failure to do so is not just a violation of the right to health, but will also lead to many preventable deaths.”

Mexico News Daily Poll
How would you rate the government's response to the coronavirus?

Disastrous. 57.68% (774 votes)

Not good. 27.72% (372 votes)

Not bad. 7.75% (104 votes)

Good. 6.85% (92 votes)

Total Votes: 1,342

Hospital personnel protest in México state.
Hospital staff protest lack of supplies, equipment to combat virus
'We can’t go to war without rifles,' says México state pediatrician
 

Published on Tuesday, March 31, 2020
• Full coronavirus coverage here

Doctors, nurses and other hospital staff in México state protested on Monday to demand they be given the supplies they need to treat safely and effectively those infected with Covid-19, whose numbers are growing in at least a dozen municipalities in the state.

Beginning around 8:00 a.m., they gathered outside state hospitals in Toluca, Atizapán de Zaragoza, Naucalpan, Nicolás Romero, Nezahualcóyotl, Ecatepec, Tecámac, Texcoco and Ixtapaluca.

It was day two of the protest for staff of the Adolfo López Mateos state hospital in Toluca, who demanded sufficient and quality personal protection equipment after 14 nurses and one resident doctor at the facility were put into isolation and hospitalized for Covid-19.


Nurse Liliana Romero said that some supplies were sent to the hospital for the crisis, but not enough. “There aren’t any goggles or face masks. We got some body suits, but they aren’t fully sealed.”

There was a similar demonstration outside the Salvador González Herrejón state hospital, in Atizapán de Zaragoza.

“We can’t go to war without rifles,” said pediatrician Josefina Onofre Díaz. “We’re the most exposed [to the virus], those who fall first.”

Dr. Daniel Arellano of the hospital’s intensive care unit said there are not enough ventilators and other equipment to deal with the crisis.

A shipment of new beds and containers that Arellano said “we hope are full of equipment, supplies and high-grade medications” was sent to the hospital toward the end of the protest on Monday.

Elsewhere in the state, doctors, nurses and other staff from the José María Rodríguez state hospital in Ecatepec blocked a street in that city to protest a similar lack of supplies.

Source: El Universal (sp)