buzzfeednews--2020-05-30--If You’re Going Out To Protest During The Pandemic, Be Very, Very Careful

Thousands of people filled the streets of Minneapolis this week to protest the death of George Floyd , an unarmed black man who died after a police officer choked him with his knee .
As those protests carry over into their fourth night , public health experts warned that mass gatherings — no matter how urgent — were ripe ground for the spread of the coronavirus , and participants should use extra safety measures .
“ Protests against racist violence including the murder of Breonna Taylor , Tony McDade , and George Floyd involve being in large crowds of people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health at the University of California , Riverside told BuzzFeed News .
“ During this pandemic , if you are not able to use proper prevention measures including physical distancing and wearing masks , you put yourself at higher risk for COVID-19.
” Wearing a mask and keeping at least 6 feet away from other protesters is key , Brown said .
Dr. John Swartzberg , whose work at UC Berkeley focuses on infectious diseases , told BuzzFeed News he recommended wearing glasses , goggles , or another form of eye protection @ @ @ @ @ @ @ disease entering through the eye , which some research suggests could be possible .
“ We do n't know how important a face shield is or goggles are , ” Swartzberg said , “ but we think it ’ s sufficiently important that we have healthcare workers wear a face shield.
” Another issue is that yelling thrusts more droplets of the disease into the air , increasing the chance of infection .
Swartzberg pointed to an infamous soccer match in Italy that became the epicenter of a COVID-19 outbreak when fans in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and embraced each other when they won .
“ Screaming is going to expel lots more particles with a lot more force , ” he said .
Then there ’ s tear gas , a weapon used by police forces for crowd control worldwide .
According to Sven Eric Jordt , associate professor in anesthesiology at Duke University , tear gas can damage the respiratory system , which the coronavirus also attacks .
“ This is really a chemical weapon , right ?
And it 's designed to induce pain , ” he @ @ @ @ @ @ @ thing to do if you ’ ve been exposed to tear gas , Jordt said , is to move away from the source as quickly as possible .
At first , someone affected by it will feel pain in their throat and face .
Some people ’ s eyes shut involuntarily as a reaction to it .
There will be a lot of mucus production in the lungs , so there would be a lot of coughing .
It may eventually lead to feelings of anxiety and asphyxiation , and gasping for breath @ @ @ @ @ @ @ has , let 's say , a heart condition or asthma , they can experience much more severe responses like asthma attacks or a risk of hospitalization , ” Jordt said .
“ There have been cardiovascular issues described that probably related to a heart attack .
Those are very rare but have been described in the literature.
” One viral tweet with over a quarter of a million retweets advises people to counteract tear gas with baking soda diluted in water .
Jordt said that method could work but has potentially dangerous @ @ @ @ @ @ @ areas , and any possible wounds .
A better method would be to use water and , if possible , to change clothes and have a shower .
“ If you remove yourself from the source and can rinse and change clothing , the symptoms really subside after some of an hour or several hours , ” he said .
“ However , if you have high exposure and risk with burns on the eyes and skin , this can take days or weeks to heal .
And many people become very sensitive @ @ @ @ @ @ @ unknown how damage from tear gas could affect someone who has COVID-19 , but Jordt pointed to studies from the US Army that showed that recruits who had been exposed to tear gas were more prone to respiratory infections , like colds and the flu .
“ We see this militarization and more and more use of tear gas much earlier than before , ” he said .
“ I 'm very concerned this is a continuing escalation and that not only in Hong Kong or other countries , but now in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advocating for really reassessing tear gas after seeing what toxicological effects it can have.
” Brown says that protesters must be informed of the public health effects of both the pandemic and the violence against vulnerable groups in the US face .
“ Be aware of the disproportional death rates for African Americans , Native Americans , and Latinx people from both COVID-19 and police violence , ” Brown said .

Thousands of people filled the streets of Minneapolis this week to protest the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man who died after a police officer choked him with his knee. As those protests carry over into their fourth night, public health experts warned that mass gatherings — no matter how urgent — were ripe ground for the spread of the coronavirus, and participants should use extra safety measures.
“Protests against racist violence including the murder of Breonna Taylor, Tony McDade, and George Floyd involve being in large crowds of people,” Brandon Brown, who teaches public health at the University of California, Riverside told BuzzFeed News. “During this pandemic, if you are not able to use proper prevention measures including physical distancing and wearing masks, you put yourself at higher risk for COVID-19.”
Wearing a mask and keeping at least 6 feet away from other protesters is key, Brown said.
Dr. John Swartzberg, whose work at UC Berkeley focuses on infectious diseases, told BuzzFeed News he recommended wearing glasses, goggles, or another form of eye protection to try to prevent droplets of the disease entering through the eye, which some research suggests could be possible.
“We don't know how important a face shield is or goggles are,” Swartzberg said, “but we think it’s sufficiently important that we have healthcare workers wear a face shield.”
Another issue is that yelling thrusts more droplets of the disease into the air, increasing the chance of infection. Swartzberg pointed to an infamous soccer match in Italy that became the epicenter of a COVID-19 outbreak when fans in close proximity cheered on their favorite team and embraced each other when they won. “Screaming is going to expel lots more particles with a lot more force,” he said.
Then there’s tear gas, a weapon used by police forces for crowd control worldwide. According to Sven Eric Jordt, associate professor in anesthesiology at Duke University, tear gas can damage the respiratory system, which the coronavirus also attacks.
“This is really a chemical weapon, right? And it's designed to induce pain,” he told BuzzFeed News.
The most important thing to do if you’ve been exposed to tear gas, Jordt said, is to move away from the source as quickly as possible. At first, someone affected by it will feel pain in their throat and face. Some people’s eyes shut involuntarily as a reaction to it. There will be a lot of mucus production in the lungs, so there would be a lot of coughing. It may eventually lead to feelings of anxiety and asphyxiation, and gasping for breath is common.
“If a person has, let's say, a heart condition or asthma, they can experience much more severe responses like asthma attacks or a risk of hospitalization,” Jordt said. “There have been cardiovascular issues described that probably related to a heart attack. Those are very rare but have been described in the literature.”
One viral tweet with over a quarter of a million retweets advises people to counteract tear gas with baking soda diluted in water. Jordt said that method could work but has potentially dangerous effects, including irritating skin, sensitive areas, and any possible wounds. A better method would be to use water and, if possible, to change clothes and have a shower.
“If you remove yourself from the source and can rinse and change clothing, the symptoms really subside after some of an hour or several hours,” he said. “However, if you have high exposure and risk with burns on the eyes and skin, this can take days or weeks to heal. And many people become very sensitive over time.”
It’s still unknown how damage from tear gas could affect someone who has COVID-19, but Jordt pointed to studies from the US Army that showed that recruits who had been exposed to tear gas were more prone to respiratory infections, like colds and the flu.
“We see this militarization and more and more use of tear gas much earlier than before,” he said. “I'm very concerned this is a continuing escalation and that not only in Hong Kong or other countries, but now in the US, too. So I'm advocating for really reassessing tear gas after seeing what toxicological effects it can have.”
Brown says that protesters must be informed of the public health effects of both the pandemic and the violence against vulnerable groups in the US face.
“Be aware of the disproportional death rates for African Americans, Native Americans, and Latinx people from both COVID-19 and police violence,” Brown said.


buzzfeednews--2020-03-27--The US Already Has An Opioid Epidemic. The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Left People In Recovery Terrifie

The US Already Has An Opioid Epidemic. The Coronavirus Pandemic Has Left People In Recovery Terrified About Access To Treatment.

The US was already grappling with an epidemic of opioid overdoses .
People in recovery say the coronavirus outbreak has made getting treatment a nightmare .
Deaths from drug overdoses are likely to increase during the coronavirus outbreak because of disruption to recovery routines and access to treatment , according to counselors and people whose rehabilitation depends on daily care .
Lockdowns and social distancing have forced doctors , social services , and support groups to shut down , reduce hours , or move online — leaving people who use drugs and those in recovery to face greater risks with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ also presented new problems for people being treated for opioid use disorder — the medical term for opioid addiction — at methadone clinics .
In order to collect their daily doses , patients typically have to go in person , which has made social distancing impossible for some .
Service providers in New York , which is now the epicenter of the US coronavirus outbreak , say they don ’ t have the resources to handle delivery for all of the patients who are likely to become ill and require quarantine .
Patients @ @ @ @ @ @ @ their treatment became unavailable .
“ This is stuff that in recovery folks that are on methadone talk about — ‘ Oh my gosh , what if there was an apocalypse ha ha ha ha and we couldn ’ t get our doses ?
’ ” said Leslie Beckham , who has been in treatment programs on and off for six years , and now attends a clinic in New London , Connecticut .
“ It ’ s kind of a running joke a little bit , but now it ’ s serious.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ movement restricted , recovery advocates are worried that opioid use will become more dangerous .
If supplies diminish , opioid dealers will likely be tempted to cut drugs with more dangerous substances , like fentanyl , even more than they do already .
In an ideal world , this would lead to more people seeking treatment — but for many , the cost of the medication is prohibitive .
“ The people who were getting help aren ’ t really getting any help right now at all .
Put that on top of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ve got yourself one hell of a day , ” said Danny Pont , who is part of an opioid treatment program in Rhode Island .
“ I suspect there will be a lot of relapses — and with a lot of relapses , there ’ s going to be an uptick in overdoses , ” Pont added .
Nearly half a million Americans have died from overdosing on drugs in the last decade , and preliminary CDC data suggests another 69,000 people died in 2019 .
The opioid epidemic was declared @ @ @ @ @ @ @ advocates from across the country told BuzzFeed News they ’ ve never received the resources needed to fully address the crisis .
Gary Mendell , founder of advocacy group Shatterproof , estimated the cost of adequate funding to address the crisis at around $ 50 billion a year .
The federal government only spent around $ 7.4 billion in 2018 .
If it was already difficult to deal with the opioid crisis on its own , facing it amid the coronavirus outbreak will be extremely challenging .
“ I don ’ t think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” said Devin Reaves , who runs the Pennsylvania Harm Reduction Coalition .
“ I can ’ t remember a time in my life where there were actually two national declared public health emergencies.
” Methadone clinics and other medication-assisted treatments — like buprenorphine — for opioid use disorder have proven effective .
But the medications are also subject to strict regulations over how and when patients can receive them , due to real risks of overdose , resale on the black market , and long-term stigma against the drugs , which some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ another .
To combat these concerns , methadone patients are typically required to come in person each day to a clinic , where they may face long lines and drug-testing before getting their personalized dose , which must be taken in the presence of clinic staff .
The coronavirus outbreak has created a new risk from the in-person nature of the clinic , and both patients and doctors who spoke to BuzzFeed News expressed concern about the need for social distancing .
In response to the outbreak , the Substance Abuse and Mental @ @ @ @ @ @ @ March 16 , relaxing restrictions on medication-assisted treatment .
The new guidelines allow doctors to prescribe buprenorphine via telemedicine , advise methadone clinics to give stable patients take-home doses in order to reduce crowding , and recommend delivery to patients in quarantine .
The changes have been a source of optimism for some advocates , who told BuzzFeed News that such measures are long overdue and hope they will become the new normal when the coronavirus pandemic ends .
Dr. Sarah Johnson , the medical director at Landmark Recovery , a network of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Kentucky , said she was blown away by the recommendations and saw it as evidence of government officials ’ recognition of the essential role of medication in fighting the overdose crisis .
She said the changes were dramatic .
“ It ’ s like the Wild West , ” she said .
“ In the matter of a one-week period , this went from one of the highest-regulated areas of medical practice to an area where there were lots of exceptions to rules that have been in place since the ’ 70s.
” @ @ @ @ @ @ @ adopted and in some cases impossible to carry out , advocates say .
In New York City , where there are around 28,000 methadone patients , more than half could become sick and need to be quarantined over the coming months , according to Allegra Schorr , president of the Coalition of Medication-Assisted Treatment Providers and Advocates ( COMPA ) in New York .
The new guidelines say that clinics should provide home delivery for anyone who doesn ’ t have a third party able to retrieve the medication .
Given the restrictions @ @ @ @ @ @ @ clinics responsible for thousands of home deliveries , which she says is far beyond the capacity of clinic staff .
“ That may be upon us very quickly , ” Schorr warned , saying COMPA was seeking help from state and federal agencies to meet the needs of New York .
“ It ’ s the size and the scope that becomes so worrisome , ” she said .
Opioids like heroin and fentanyl — and most of the medications used to treat addiction to those drugs — create a physical dependency in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the need for a new dose or else risk going into withdrawal .
If clinics are not able to find a way to deliver the medication , patients will either be forced to continue coming in person and risk spreading the coronavirus further or be left to face the consequences , which can include severe flulike symptoms , vomiting , diarrhea , and shaking , mixed with anxiety and depression .
“ It was like hell , ” said Lesley Hann , who attends the same methadone clinic as Beckham in New London @ @ @ @ @ @ @ If getting medication becomes too difficult , some people may relapse and seek out drugs on the street .
Anyone looking for heroin is most likely to encounter fentanyl , a synthetic opioid , which is the leading cause of the overdose crisis .
Hann said she had already seen long lines and crowding at her clinic , and that it had gotten so bad one day that some people decided it wasn ’ t worth the trouble .
“ I watched a guy and his girlfriend leave instead of waiting .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ said , ‘ I ’ ll just get it on the street .
I ’ m not doing this.
’ ” Hann attends the clinic with her boyfriend , Tim Paprocki , and said they had each been given one day of take-home doses .
Hann said she expected most people would simply have to keep coming to the clinic , even if they contracted COVID-19 , the disease caused by the coronavirus , which would mean continued exposure for the rest of the community .
“ You just have to go , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were sick , it would not be an option to go without it.
” The situation for people in recovery is exacerbated by closures of numerous support groups and the stress of impending financial pressures .
Pont , who lives in Connecticut near the Rhode Island border , said he had been temporarily laid off from his job at a junkyard .
“ The pressure sucks right now .
I ’ m just getting on my feet ; I ’ m taking care of everything I need to take care of .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” said Pont .
“ And I ’ m like , fuck , how am I gon na pay for all of this .
How am I gon na support myself ?
” Pont said a local soup kitchen had closed , along with many of the Narcotics Anonymous groups in his area .
There have also been reports of closures or reduced hours for syringe exchange programs in New Jersey , a recovery center in Texas , and outpatient services in Kentucky , among others .
Many of those groups have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many of their clients don ’ t have access to the internet or cell service , and such disruptions will put the most vulnerable groups at even higher risk .
Lisa Medina , a counselor in Austin who treats people with substance use issues , warned that the loss of community would likely compound trauma for many people .
“ Change , even chosen change , is terribly hard , ” she said .
“ So many of those folks , they already have untreated trauma .
So we ’ re going to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ for many , many people.
” That instability is most dangerous for people who lack access to stable housing and may be especially hard hit by reduced services and social isolation .
“ It ’ s a huge sense of loss , ” said Shantae Owens , who is a community leader with advocacy group VOCAL-NY , and works with people who are homeless at the Alliance , a harm reduction center on the Lower East Side in Manhattan .
The Alliance has continued to operate a syringe exchange program on reduced hours @ @ @ @ @ @ @ community space .
“ When you take that from a person , it ’ s like , ‘ Oh wow , now what do I do ?
I don ’ t really want to use , but that ’ s so depressing , ’ ” said Owens , who explained that the closures and sense of isolation could trigger other traumatic memories .
He added that he feared the crisis would lead to relapses for people seeking an escape .
Many of the social service providers and harm reduction groups that BuzzFeed News @ @ @ @ @ @ @ keep services available .
But some argued that the hurdles created by the coronavirus outbreak revealed what they saw as the best way to tackle the overdose crisis : decriminalization .
“ If it was legal to have syringes everywhere , I could go make up 100 lunch bags and give them to people who need them , ” said Caitlin O ’ Neill with the New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition .

“It was like hell,” said Lesley Hann, who attends the same methadone clinic as Beckham in New London, describing her experience of withdrawal.
If getting medication becomes too difficult, some people may relapse and seek out drugs on the street. Anyone looking for heroin is most likely to encounter fentanyl, a synthetic opioid, which is the leading cause of the overdose crisis.
Hann said she had already seen long lines and crowding at her clinic, and that it had gotten so bad one day that some people decided it wasn’t worth the trouble. “I watched a guy and his girlfriend leave instead of waiting. They said, ‘Fuck it.’ He said, ‘I’ll just get it on the street. I’m not doing this.’”
Hann attends the clinic with her boyfriend, Tim Paprocki, and said they had each been given one day of take-home doses. Hann said she expected most people would simply have to keep coming to the clinic, even if they contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus, which would mean continued exposure for the rest of the community. “You just have to go,” she said. “If you were sick, it would not be an option to go without it.”
The situation for people in recovery is exacerbated by closures of numerous support groups and the stress of impending financial pressures. Pont, who lives in Connecticut near the Rhode Island border, said he had been temporarily laid off from his job at a junkyard.
“The pressure sucks right now. I’m just getting on my feet; I’m taking care of everything I need to take care of. And now I’m out of work,” said Pont. “And I’m like, fuck, how am I gonna pay for all of this. How am I gonna support myself?”
Pont said a local soup kitchen had closed, along with many of the Narcotics Anonymous groups in his area. There have also been reports of closures or reduced hours for syringe exchange programs in New Jersey, a recovery center in Texas, and outpatient services in Kentucky, among others.
Many of those groups have gone online — but service providers say many of their clients don’t have access to the internet or cell service, and such disruptions will put the most vulnerable groups at even higher risk.
Lisa Medina, a counselor in Austin who treats people with substance use issues, warned that the loss of community would likely compound trauma for many people. “Change, even chosen change, is terribly hard,” she said. “So many of those folks, they already have untreated trauma. So we’re going to see a secondary wave of trauma happening for many, many people.”
That instability is most dangerous for people who lack access to stable housing and may be especially hard hit by reduced services and social isolation.
“It’s a huge sense of loss,” said Shantae Owens, who is a community leader with advocacy group VOCAL-NY, and works with people who are homeless at the Alliance, a harm reduction center on the Lower East Side in Manhattan. The Alliance has continued to operate a syringe exchange program on reduced hours but was forced to close down its community space.
“When you take that from a person, it’s like, ‘Oh wow, now what do I do? I don’t really want to use, but that’s so depressing,’” said Owens, who explained that the closures and sense of isolation could trigger other traumatic memories. He added that he feared the crisis would lead to relapses for people seeking an escape.
Many of the social service providers and harm reduction groups that BuzzFeed News spoke to said they were scrambling to keep services available. But some argued that the hurdles created by the coronavirus outbreak revealed what they saw as the best way to tackle the overdose crisis: decriminalization. “If it was legal to have syringes everywhere, I could go make up 100 lunch bags and give them to people who need them,” said Caitlin O’Neill with the New Jersey Harm Reduction Coalition.


buzzfeednews--2020-03-27--Opinion | The Coronavirus And HIV: Different Pandemics With The Same Lessons

While the national response to the coronavirus in the United States has been far from ideal — particularly the lack of testing and President Donald Trump ’ s ignorant statements denying the pandemic — we ’ ve seen aggressive steps in a number of states to enforce social distancing , and actions to quickly invest huge resources in creating treatments and a vaccine .
Unlike the slow response to HIV , it didn ’ t take years and years for our federal government to take the pandemic seriously As HIV appeared in the early 1980s , the federal government was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to impact gay men and intravenous drug users , the federal response was borderline non-existent .
President Ronald Reagan didn ’ t even say the words “ HIV ” or “ AIDS ” until the late 1980s , after the virus had spread out of control .
Had the federal government decisively intervened with widespread public health strategies and improved care , lives would have been saved .
We would have had a fighting chance to stop HIV from becoming a worldwide pandemic that , to date , has infected 75 million people @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them : The government ’ s early response to a pandemic — or its lack of response — helps determine the pandemic ’ s trajectory .
Yes and no .
HIV and the novel coronavirus are both highly destructive , with massive and tragic human consequences .
But they ’ re obviously also quite different in the way they spread , the options for treatment and recovery , and the way they kill .
But despite their differences , each virus reminds us of some strikingly similar truths .
We ’ ve been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ killed millions and made so many sick , right ?
As a gay man who started having sex as a 17-year-old in 1987 — when huge numbers were dying of AIDS and there was no effective treatment — and who began my HIV advocacy in 1990 as an AIDS hotline volunteer in North Carolina , the spread of the coronavirus brought back dark memories .
For many of us who ’ ve been on the front lines of the HIV pandemic for decades , the emergence and explosion of the novel coronavirus has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of way .
We ’ ve also learned that governments are much more likely to respond aggressively to a pandemic that infects “ mainstream ” society and not just marginalized groups .
So , why the fast — albeit not fast enough — government response to the coronavirus instead of the slow and destructive response to HIV ?
That ’ s a simple one : COVID-19 threatens everyone , including rich people , white people , powerful people , and straight people .
HIV overwhelmingly has impacted gay and bisexual men , trans @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people who inject drugs , and people from impoverished countries .
Indeed , it wasn ’ t until Ryan White , a child who became HIV-positive after a blood transfusion , heroically publicized his infection , that Congress stepped up with serious funding for the pandemic .
When pandemics overwhelmingly impact marginalized communities , they get ignored .
And that can mean 32 million people dying .
When problems impact the rich and the powerful , we spring into action , even if it means shutting down much of the economy and spending @ @ @ @ @ @ @ funds .
The same wasn ’ t true for people living with HIV .
So many died quiet deaths , with little or no government or medical support .
Yet , despite all of this , there are also wonderful things to learn from the way our communities have responded to pandemics , whether HIV or the coronavirus .
In each case , we ’ ve seen the absolute best that people have to offer .
People become more pro-science .
This was true when the HIV pandemic was at its peak .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ In an era when vaccine-denialism is on the rise , when public health infrastructure has been gutted , and when our federal government has essentially abandoned serious efforts to plan for pandemics , we ’ re at serious risk .
The coronavirus with all the pain it is causing , is helping build support for improved public health infrastructure .
We ’ re already seeing a broad community response .
People are checking in on their elderly neighbors .
People are collecting masks and other protective equipment , given the shortage .
Businesses @ @ @ @ @ @ @ We ’ re seeing major organizing to help our most vulnerable community members .
And , of course , the heroes in our health care system — nurses , physicians , other health care workers , nursing home workers — are putting themselves at significant risk , often without proper protective gear , out of a sense of duty .
Similarly , our grocery and pharmacy workers , as well as delivery drivers , are putting themselves at risk to ensure that people have access to food and medicine .
The HIV pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ As the federal government ignored the pandemic through much of the 1980s , some cities sprung into action .
San Francisco devoted untold resources to fight the virus .
Our city built a massive public health infrastructure to prevent infections and improve care .
San Francisco has the best Department of Public Health in the nation — perhaps the world — and part of the reason is our incredible response to the HIV pandemic .
“ My hyper-vigilance is built in , particularly having been trained during the HIV crisis , ” Dr. @ @ @ @ @ @ @ current director of public health , told the San Francisco Chronicle .
“ The early action is required , and many places retroactively are asking why they didn ’ t take aggressive action earlier.
” Similarly , San Francisco built a highly effective network of community-based organizations to combat HIV .
These nonprofits formed a powerful safety net to take care of our neighbors .
For decades , these nonprofits have played an essential role in San Francisco ’ s successful effort to collapse new infections ( which it has done , by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ connect people living with HIV to care ( our city has one of the most virally suppressed HIV-positive populations in the world ) , and to enact cutting edge , progressive , forward-looking public health strategies that are models worldwide .
Pandemics can bring out the best and the worst in humanity .
They show the fault lines and inequities , while also showcasing community resilience .
Let ’ s get through this pandemic together and then build a better future .

We’ve also learned that governments are much more likely to respond aggressively to a pandemic that infects “mainstream” society and not just marginalized groups.
So, why the fast — albeit not fast enough — government response to the coronavirus instead of the slow and destructive response to HIV? That’s a simple one: COVID-19 threatens everyone, including rich people, white people, powerful people, and straight people. HIV overwhelmingly has impacted gay and bisexual men, trans people, low-income people of color, people who inject drugs, and people from impoverished countries.
Indeed, it wasn’t until Ryan White, a child who became HIV-positive after a blood transfusion, heroically publicized his infection, that Congress stepped up with serious funding for the pandemic.
When pandemics overwhelmingly impact marginalized communities, they get ignored. And that can mean 32 million people dying. When problems impact the rich and the powerful, we spring into action, even if it means shutting down much of the economy and spending more than a trillion dollars in federal funds.
The same wasn’t true for people living with HIV. So many died quiet deaths, with little or no government or medical support.
Yet, despite all of this, there are also wonderful things to learn from the way our communities have responded to pandemics, whether HIV or the coronavirus. In each case, we’ve seen the absolute best that people have to offer.
People become more pro-science. This was true when the HIV pandemic was at its peak. And it should be true today. In an era when vaccine-denialism is on the rise, when public health infrastructure has been gutted, and when our federal government has essentially abandoned serious efforts to plan for pandemics, we’re at serious risk. The coronavirus with all the pain it is causing, is helping build support for improved public health infrastructure.
We’re already seeing a broad community response. People are checking in on their elderly neighbors. People are collecting masks and other protective equipment, given the shortage. Businesses are voluntarily manufacturing masks and ventilators. We’re seeing major organizing to help our most vulnerable community members. And, of course, the heroes in our health care system — nurses, physicians, other health care workers, nursing home workers — are putting themselves at significant risk, often without proper protective gear, out of a sense of duty. Similarly, our grocery and pharmacy workers, as well as delivery drivers, are putting themselves at risk to ensure that people have access to food and medicine.
The HIV pandemic saw a similarly inspiring community response. As the federal government ignored the pandemic through much of the 1980s, some cities sprung into action. San Francisco devoted untold resources to fight the virus. Our city built a massive public health infrastructure to prevent infections and improve care. San Francisco has the best Department of Public Health in the nation — perhaps the world — and part of the reason is our incredible response to the HIV pandemic.
“My hyper-vigilance is built in, particularly having been trained during the HIV crisis,” Dr. Grant Colfax, San Francisco’s current director of public health, told the San Francisco Chronicle. “The early action is required, and many places retroactively are asking why they didn’t take aggressive action earlier.”
Similarly, San Francisco built a highly effective network of community-based organizations to combat HIV. These nonprofits formed a powerful safety net to take care of our neighbors. For decades, these nonprofits have played an essential role in San Francisco’s successful effort to collapse new infections (which it has done, by more than 95%), to connect people living with HIV to care (our city has one of the most virally suppressed HIV-positive populations in the world), and to enact cutting edge, progressive, forward-looking public health strategies that are models worldwide.
Pandemics can bring out the best and the worst in humanity. They show the fault lines and inequities, while also showcasing community resilience.
Let’s get through this pandemic together and then build a better future.


buzzfeednews--2020-03-27--CVS Stores Are Staying Open During The Coronavirus Pandemic, But Employees Said They Feel Unsafe

“ We had a single bottle of Lysol spray , which I finished using three days ago , since we 're constantly cleaning the counters . ''
WASHINGTON — With several states under shelter-in-place orders , thousands of nonessential businesses closed , and millions of people self-quarantining due to the coronavirus outbreak , workers at grocery stores and pharmacies are on the front lines , staffing some of the few essential businesses remaining open as the pandemic spreads .
For many people across the country , CVS is one of the last open places to pick up food , cleaning @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employees who are risking their health to keep the pharmacies open .
But some CVS employees say the company isn ’ t doing enough to protect them from getting sick while working through the outbreak .
Workers from stores in several different states — including New York , which has the highest number of cases in the nation — said they are working without masks and gloves and running low on vital cleaning supplies .
( Employees at Amazon and Costco have voiced similar concerns to BuzzFeed News . )
Many of the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ asked to be kept anonymous , saying they were worried the company would retaliate against people who spoke publicly about their concerns .
“ There 's one little box of gloves .
I don ’ t know if they ’ re still there , ” one 21-year-old Virginia CVS employee said in a recent phone call .
“ But other than that , it 's like , literally nothing .
There 's some spray bottles [ with powered cleaning mix ] … but that 's about it.
” The worker said he had @ @ @ @ @ @ @ going to provide any additional cleaning and health supplies and couldn ’ t get a clear answer .
The air conditioning in the store has also been broken for several months , he said , and hasn ’ t been fixed despite the pandemic .
“ Who knows who 's gon na have the coronavirus , ” he said .
“ From higher-ups , it 's kind of like business as usual .
It ’ s scary , I 'm always going in the bathroom and washing my hands.
” The Virginia employee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ go into work because he ’ s increasingly worried about getting sick , but he needs to get paid , so he continues to go in .
“ I 'm not really , like , confident in like my higher-ups to kind of protect me , ” he said .
Another employee , a 33-year-old working in a New York store , told BuzzFeed News in a Twitter DM that they did not have gloves or masks until this week , when there were already thousands of cases in the area .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , ” they wrote .
“ I know we had a single bottle of Lysol spray , which I finished using three days ago , since we 're constantly cleaning the counters .
We ca n't clean after every person though , there is simply no way to do so.
” Last week , the New York employee said , a customer came in and said they had tested positive for COVID-19 , the disease caused by the coronavirus , but that they had no one to come pick up their medication for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this , I was , thankfully , across the pharmacy .
But I did make sure to tell the person checking her out , where I was sure the customer would n't hear or know what I was doing , ” they said .
“ I had the other tech move to another register once he was done with her — so I could clean up .
I cleaned the whole counter down with Lysol and the area [ where the customer had ] been standing waiting , as well as where she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ night , the employee said , a manager called corporate about the incident and was on hold for two hours .
Later , the manager told the employee who spoke to BuzzFeed News that the store would stay open and they would continue to clean the same way they had been .
The employee said they are concerned about what might happen , especially because they live with their parents , who are both over 60 .
“ The company as a whole seems to not honestly care about people ’ s health @ @ @ @ @ @ @ but rather profits , ” the New York employee wrote .
“ In a crisis like this they should n't be caring about that as much .
They would rather keep us open , not limit people , or anything which may put even a dent into the profits.
” It ’ s not just employee health on the line , the person noted , writing , “ I worry if they wind up sitting and waiting for medication who they may come into contact with .
Someone elderly ?
A cancer patient @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
” “ The biggest challenge we ’ re having is access to personal protective equipment , like masks and gloves , ” Merlo said in a recent interview with Barron ’ s .
“ We ’ ve been pursuing all avenues to secure those products .
We ’ re prioritizing highly impacted areas to get those products to our pharmacists , technicians , and front-line employees .
But there ’ s more work to be done on that.
” In an email to BuzzFeed News , Mike DeAngelis , CVS ’ s @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that all store employees are receiving masks this week and that they have instituted hourly protocols for cleaning hard surfaces and “ more frequent cleaning of commonly handled items.
” “ Pharmacies are a critical resource for communities across the country , and we ’ ll continue to be here for customers and patients in these trying times , ” DeAngelis wrote .
“ We 're working around the clock to increase availability of supplies and update protocols to ensure our stores are safe for employees and customers alike.
” In a follow-up @ @ @ @ @ @ @ are providing our stores with the necessary cleaning supplies and re-supplying as needed.
” CVS has eliminated delivery fees for medication , and employees said they hope people will take advantage of the service instead of coming into the stores .
Others said they wanted to institute curbside pickup so employees with protective gear could deliver prescriptions and other products from the store to people in their cars .
Other CVS employees said they felt management and the company is at least trying to keep employees safe .
Jason Reinhardt , a CVS @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employees at his store have gloves and hand sanitizer .
“ I would like for them to provide [ us ] with masks during this time , but I understand the difficulties in obtaining them in a crisis , ” Reinhardt said in an email .
But another California employee said there ’ s no requirement that employees wear gloves or masks , adding that he thinks it is up to the pharmacists in any given store to decide whether employees have to wear them .
( CVS did not respond to a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the case . )
Linda Fajardo , a 20-year-old CVS employee in Pembroke Pines , Florida , said her manager recently instituted a system where employees write down everything they touch to help the staff clean effectively .
Employees at her store don ’ t have masks yet either , but so far Fajardo said they have enough cleaning supplies to sanitize as needed .
She said she has also started a system for herself where she doesn ’ t touch any products when she rings people up and has customers bag their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ kind of comfortable about it .
We were keeping up very well with the sanitation of everything , ” she said .
“ People actually follow the rule — it 's a 6-foot rule — that everyone actually stays their distance … A lot of the customers come in with their gloves and their masks and they ’ re actually sanitizing as they pick up the products as well.
” Another employee said they would like the company to allow them to hang signs saying what products they ’ re out of ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and gloves ) and when the next shipment will come , to keep people looking for them out of the store until the products are stocked .
“ You would think that these signs would be helpful in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and promote social distancing .
It gives some of us a mixed message , ” the employee wrote in a DM .
“ The message I am getting is that they want us to practice self distancing , protect ourselves and the public from getting sick , and limit the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at the same time they want profits , aka people coming into the store and buying something.
” The same employee said they have no masks provided to them at their store , and if they want to wear them , they have to bring their own .
Many employees said they ’ ve been using the CVS subreddit to vent their frustrations .
The page is riddled with horror stories from CVS employees around the country .
“ Before my shift at 3pm today we found out one of our Pharmacists has @ @ @ @ @ @ @ our upper management has said ‘ It 's alright .
She has n't been at the store for over 5 days , ’ ” one user wrote this week .
“ My [ store manager ] was in close contact with them for over 45 mins the day before she came down with all the symptoms ... which in turn we 've been in close contact with our SM .
So my store will continue operating even though a fair number of us have all been exposed .
No cleaning or closing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to concerns about safety and cleanliness , many employees said they ’ re confused about when and if they will get bonuses promised by CVS .
In the Barron ’ s interview , Merlo said , “ Our colleagues feel tremendous purpose in wanting to help their communities .
We ’ re providing cash bonuses to pharmacists , store associates , managers , and hourly store employees.
” “ First time I ’ m hearing of this as it hasn ’ t been discussed at my store , ” the Virginia employee said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ employee said they ’ d heard talk about bonuses as well , but added , “ I ’ m not too sure about that , if it ’ s just a rumor or actually true.
” The 33-year-old New York employee said they hadn ’ t heard any details either .
“ I know I 've seen a petition going about , for CVS workers to sign , asking for hazard pay , ” they wrote .
“ The bonuses they are saying we 'll get wo n't be till May .
But @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people at risk of getting sick ?
What if they get sick and rack up bills ?
” In an email , DeAngelis , the CVS spokesperson , wrote , “ The bonuses were just announced this week and further details will be communicated directly to employees.
” But the New York employee thinks that , at this point , it might all be too little , too late .
“ We 've seen on the news what was happening in other countries , ” they said in a message .
“ Why @ @ @ @ @ @ @ on things ?
We knew it would hit us and we could predict it would hit bigger cities hard .
Why not act fast ?
… I think we could have really taken a spotlight role , but we failed to . ''

It’s not just employee health on the line, the person noted, writing, “I worry if they wind up sitting and waiting for medication who they may come into contact with. Someone elderly? A cancer patient? A mom with a young child?”
Even CVS CEO Larry Merlo acknowledged it’s a problem.
“The biggest challenge we’re having is access to personal protective equipment, like masks and gloves,” Merlo said in a recent interview with Barron’s. “We’ve been pursuing all avenues to secure those products. We’re prioritizing highly impacted areas to get those products to our pharmacists, technicians, and front-line employees. But there’s more work to be done on that.”
In an email to BuzzFeed News, Mike DeAngelis, CVS’s senior director for corporate communications, said that all store employees are receiving masks this week and that they have instituted hourly protocols for cleaning hard surfaces and “more frequent cleaning of commonly handled items.”
“Pharmacies are a critical resource for communities across the country, and we’ll continue to be here for customers and patients in these trying times,” DeAngelis wrote. “We're working around the clock to increase availability of supplies and update protocols to ensure our stores are safe for employees and customers alike.”
In a follow-up email, DeAngelis added, “We are providing our stores with the necessary cleaning supplies and re-supplying as needed.”
CVS has eliminated delivery fees for medication, and employees said they hope people will take advantage of the service instead of coming into the stores. Others said they wanted to institute curbside pickup so employees with protective gear could deliver prescriptions and other products from the store to people in their cars.
Other CVS employees said they felt management and the company is at least trying to keep employees safe. Jason Reinhardt, a CVS employee in Murrieta, California, said employees at his store have gloves and hand sanitizer.
“I would like for them to provide [us] with masks during this time, but I understand the difficulties in obtaining them in a crisis,” Reinhardt said in an email.
But another California employee said there’s no requirement that employees wear gloves or masks, adding that he thinks it is up to the pharmacists in any given store to decide whether employees have to wear them. (CVS did not respond to a BuzzFeed News question about whether this is the case.)
Linda Fajardo, a 20-year-old CVS employee in Pembroke Pines, Florida, said her manager recently instituted a system where employees write down everything they touch to help the staff clean effectively. Employees at her store don’t have masks yet either, but so far Fajardo said they have enough cleaning supplies to sanitize as needed. She said she has also started a system for herself where she doesn’t touch any products when she rings people up and has customers bag their own purchases.
“I feel actually kind of comfortable about it. We were keeping up very well with the sanitation of everything,” she said. “People actually follow the rule — it's a 6-foot rule — that everyone actually stays their distance … A lot of the customers come in with their gloves and their masks and they’re actually sanitizing as they pick up the products as well.”
Another employee said they would like the company to allow them to hang signs saying what products they’re out of (like hand sanitizer, cleaning wipes, and gloves) and when the next shipment will come, to keep people looking for them out of the store until the products are stocked.
“You would think that these signs would be helpful in reducing the spread of COVID-19 and promote social distancing. It gives some of us a mixed message,” the employee wrote in a DM. “The message I am getting is that they want us to practice self distancing, protect ourselves and the public from getting sick, and limit the amount of people at the stores but at the same time they want profits, aka people coming into the store and buying something.”
The same employee said they have no masks provided to them at their store, and if they want to wear them, they have to bring their own.
Many employees said they’ve been using the CVS subreddit to vent their frustrations. The page is riddled with horror stories from CVS employees around the country.
“Before my shift at 3pm today we found out one of our Pharmacists has tested positive. Steps were taken and our upper management has said ‘It's alright. She hasn't been at the store for over 5 days,’” one user wrote this week. “My [store manager] was in close contact with them for over 45 mins the day before she came down with all the symptoms...which in turn we've been in close contact with our SM. So my store will continue operating even though a fair number of us have all been exposed. No cleaning or closing, just keep tagging seasonal.”
In addition to concerns about safety and cleanliness, many employees said they’re confused about when and if they will get bonuses promised by CVS.
In the Barron’s interview, Merlo said, “Our colleagues feel tremendous purpose in wanting to help their communities. We’re providing cash bonuses to pharmacists, store associates, managers, and hourly store employees.”
“First time I’m hearing of this as it hasn’t been discussed at my store,” the Virginia employee said in a text message. A California employee said they’d heard talk about bonuses as well, but added, “I’m not too sure about that, if it’s just a rumor or actually true.”
The 33-year-old New York employee said they hadn’t heard any details either.
“I know I've seen a petition going about, for CVS workers to sign, asking for hazard pay,” they wrote. “The bonuses they are saying we'll get won't be till May. But what about right now? What about people at risk of getting sick? What if they get sick and rack up bills?”
In an email, DeAngelis, the CVS spokesperson, wrote, “The bonuses were just announced this week and further details will be communicated directly to employees.” But the New York employee thinks that, at this point, it might all be too little, too late.
“We've seen on the news what was happening in other countries,” they said in a message. “Why did CVS wait and drag their feet on things? We knew it would hit us and we could predict it would hit bigger cities hard. Why not act fast? … I think we could have really taken a spotlight role, but we failed to."


buzzfeednews--2020-04-29--We Need An “Army” Of Contact Tracers To Safely Reopen The Country. We Might Get Apps Instead.

Without enough human contact tracers to identify infected people , the US is barreling toward a digital solution , and possible disaster .
On the phone inside her San Francisco apartment , Lucía Abascal gently informed two brothers she had never met that they had been exposed to the coronavirus .
Privacy rules , however , meant she could not tell them who had possibly infected them .
She also told the siblings they ’ d have to stay inside for the next 14 days and monitor themselves for signs of a disease that has killed 59,000 Americans and counting @ @ @ @ @ @ @ talked to them about their fears .
It was a typical conversation for Abascal , a PhD student at the University of California , San Francisco .
These days , she works in `` contact tracing '' — a public health strategy to contain the spread of disease by tracing backward from an infected person to others who may have been exposed so they too can be tested and quarantined .
As old as the smallpox epidemic and as detail-oriented as a piece of 18th-century embroidery , contact tracing is considered an essential @ @ @ @ @ @ @ getting most people back to work , while isolating those most at risk of spreading the disease .
At its best , contact tracing does more than just identify who has been unknowingly exposed ; it can help pinpoint hot spots before they have the chance to spread widely .
But amid all the sobering statistics of the coronavirus pandemic in the US , here is one more : There are nowhere near enough Lucía Abascals .
Experts estimate the country needs as many as 300,000 contact tracers to chart and break the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there are fewer than 8,000 .
An attempt to automate the process by layering in the use of smartphone technology , meanwhile , has been complicated in the US by privacy concerns and the lack of a centralized approach .
China , Singapore , and South Korea have been lauded for their use of phones , in conjunction with old-fashioned shoe leather , to track infected people ’ s movements and trace clusters of the disease .
Germany and Australia are launching their own programs .
Yet many are skeptical about how the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ even whether the country would accept it .
Germany is led by Angela Merkel , who was a scientist before she was a politician and whose advice is respected across the political spectrum .
South Korea has a highly functioning central government , an advanced tech infrastructure , and a population willing to comply because it is scarred by memories of the SARS epidemic in the early 2000s .
In China , the state already controls the data on people ’ s phones .
In the US , on the other hand , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ distrustful of both science and technological surveillance .
The few attempts in digital contact tracing already launched have been scattered across states , and lack compatibility ; if you live in one state , you might not know if you were exposed to an infected person from another state — or even from another person in the same state but who was using a different app .
In the coming days , Apple and Google are expected to roll out a highly anticipated new system intended to solve that problem .
Yet , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , it will only notify people they have been exposed but will not pass on important epidemiological information , such as who the infected person is and where they are , to public health departments .
It does some of the work of contact tracing , but not all .
This has led to concerns that the US — which has already fumbled testing people and supplying health care workers with personal protective equipment — could wind up with yet another debacle .
In a best-case scenario , digital contact tracing would be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ public health departments , and it could stop the spread of the coronavirus in its tracks and save lives .
But in a worst-case scenario , the US could become a wild west of incompatible contact tracing apps that vary from state to state and city to city , managed by companies with no public health experience that rake in cash via government contracts while providing the people who use them with a false sense of security .
“ My problem with contact tracing apps is that they have absolutely no value , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University , told BuzzFeed News .
“ I ’ m not even talking about the privacy concerns , I mean the efficacy .
Does anybody think this will do something useful ?
… This is just something governments want to do for the hell of it .
To me , it ’ s just techies doing techie things because they don ’ t know what else to do.
” The concept of contact tracing was born in the late 18th @ @ @ @ @ @ @ England began interviewing and isolating local families to understand how smallpox was spreading .
Since then , it ’ s been deployed to try to contain all kinds of contagions , from sexually transmitted diseases to the 2003 SARS outbreak to the swine flu pandemic of 2009 .
In a number of countries , including South Korea and Singapore , old-fashioned contact tracing layered with high-tech use of apps , health monitoring , and location tracking has been credited with helping to stem the spread of the coronavirus .
Contact tracing is “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ interventions , ” said Carl Bergstrom , an epidemiologist at the University of Washington .
`` This is a very old tool in public health .
Doing it digitally obviously isn ’ t , '' Bergstrom said .
When the first cases of the coronavirus landed in South Korea , public health leaders worried the country could be hit hard by the virus .
Instead , it emerged as an unlikely success story .
In large part that was because South Korea , in marked contrast to the US , deployed testing on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ South Korea , who coupled testing with an aggressive approach to contact tracing , are credited with quickly identifying clusters where the virus might be spreading and getting people quarantined and treated .
The effort , dubbed the COVID-19 Smart Management System , is an attempt to reduce labor-intensive measures , such as interviewing patients to document their movements and whom they ’ ve encountered .
The system culls data from 28 institutions , including law enforcement agencies , cell service providers , credit card companies , and more .
It also publicizes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ using data from credit card transactions , GPS , and closed-circuit television footage .
South Korea , where 95 % of the population uses a smartphone , passed laws allowing the government to trace people ’ s movements in 2011 , and revised it in 2015 in the wake of the outbreak of MERS .
Visitors to South Korea , meanwhile , are required to download a government-made app that tracks their movements and asks for information on symptoms the user is experiencing .
In addition , private companies have also developed apps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ near someone who has been infected , including , for instance , a super-popular app called the Corona 100m app , which notifies the user if they come within 100 meters of the most recently recorded location of someone who has tested positive .
The effort has raised concerns from privacy advocacy groups — especially a plan to ask infected people to wear wristbands that would track their movements .
Health officials have said citizens could be fined as much as 10 million won ( $ 8,200 ) or face a year in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , which has been widely praised for its quick efforts to contain the coronavirus , authorities distributed an app called TraceTogether .
The app detects others nearby and keeps a record of these meetings on the individual ’ s device .
Those records can then be handed over to contact tracing authorities if needed .
The country ’ s prime minister , Lee Hsien Loong , acknowledged that “ there will be some privacy concerns.
” But these , he said , had to be weighed against the benefits to combating the pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ considered to have helped to slow the spread of COVID-19 .
But both were enhancements — not replacements — for traditional contact tracing .
And both were done in countries where almost everyone who needed a test could get one .
Singapore and South Korea might be technologically advanced , but a lot of this work isn ’ t automated and relies on old-school methods , including extensive in-person interviews .
When a patient at a hospital in Singapore is diagnosed with COVID-19 , an official will ask them about all of their @ @ @ @ @ @ @ create a kind of historical map .
It is hard to fathom the US following such a top-down model .
And yet , digital contact tracing has already begun here — an effort that has so far been decentralized and often uncoordinated from state to state and county to county .
“ If you wanted to describe the federal response to date , there ’ s been a lot of finger-pointing and people not wanting to have the hot potato in their lap , ” a Senate aide briefed by Google on its @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Given that environment , where no one wants to take responsibility for the thing , is an agency gon na stand up and say , ‘ We ’ re gon na develop the app that every American is gon na use to get this [ contact tracing ] information ’ ?
” Last week , Utah launched a contact tracing app called Healthy Together , which aims to track the pandemic by getting people to report their symptoms and location data .
The app was developed by a New York–based company , Twenty @ @ @ @ @ @ @ called Twenty - Hang Out With Friends , which let people view a map of nearby people to chat with .
Repurposed as a COVID-19 tracing app , the idea is that each user can , instead of using the app to hang out with friends , use it as a symptom checker , and public health authorities can see how many people with symptoms of the virus are in a particular area .
The app requests “ a combination of GPS , WiFi , Cellular , Bluetooth , and IP address to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ order to “ detect if you 've spent time near known COVID-19 cases , ” according to its privacy policy .
It also requests access to Bluetooth — to `` increase accuracy when you 're in proximity to potential exposure events '' — as well as your phone contacts .
Healthy Together says it protects privacy by storing data about your location and symptoms for only 30 days .
Meanwhile , Utah is woefully behind when it comes to the kind of boots-on-the-ground public health workers needed to really track the virus — @ @ @ @ @ @ @ NPR survey of state public health departments , Utah currently has 40 human contact tracers , but would need almost 1,000 in order to meet the state ’ s estimated need to respond appropriately to COVID-19 .
North Dakota , similarly , unveiled an app called Care19 last week .
The app says it uses “ state-of-the-art GPS location data to help you trace the places you have visited.
” If a person eventually tests positive for COVID-19 , the app says , you can choose to share location history with the North @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says it calculates a COVID-19 exposure `` personal risk score , '' according to its privacy policy , which is shared with state government officials .
The app opens to a “ Home Detection ” page , where people are asked to enable location sharing so the app can determine if they 're home .
The company that developed the app , ProudCrowd , had previously used its technology to display a heat map of where North Dakota State Bison football fans congregate on game days .
Like the app in Utah , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ includes the Dakotas .
The apps often stop at the border , even though the disease does not .
Still , experts have lauded North Dakota for marrying the app with a huge number of contact tracers ; according to NPR , the state has 250 on staff , which actually exceeds the number of human contact tracers that are estimated to be needed for the state ’ s small population .
In the absence of any kind of national effort , Google and Apple have attempted to create a framework for app @ @ @ @ @ @ @ compatibility that has been lacking .
Earlier this month , the companies announced that — in an unprecedented move — they were working together to create software updates for iOS and Android devices that make contact tracing more interoperable , accurate , and privacy-focused .
Most developers and privacy advocates have proposed using Bluetooth beacons — or radio signals that most smartphones use to send small files between each other at a short range — so that devices can log whom their owners have been near .
This is , essentially , what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Yet while Apple and Google are leading the development of the underlying technology necessary to make digital contact tracing tools — which they now refer to as “ exposure notification ” to distinguish from traditional methods — they have declined to develop actual contact tracing apps , fearful of losing public trust by overstepping privacy , according to sources at Apple .
Instead , they ’ ve announced that they are delegating the development of the actual contact tracing apps to public health authorities and have been approaching local health departments about @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Their solution , which sources at the companies and health agencies tell BuzzFeed News is still rapidly evolving , will be a two-phase system with phase one rolling out as soon as this week .
Initially , the system will require people to download apps from public health departments to do this exchange of information .
Later , this exposure notification system will be built directly into phones ’ operating systems .
But it will work similarly in both cases , automatically notifying people that they have been around another individual who @ @ @ @ @ @ @ COVID-19 .
It ’ s an ingenious system with three key features : decentralization , automated notifications and interoperability , a computing term which basically means different systems can exchange information .
Because Apple and Google have provided a way for people ’ s phones to communicate with each other , it means that someone from one place can be notified if they ’ ve come into contact with an infected person from another — regardless of which apps they have on their phone .
Think of it as being able to get @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , even if you only use Instagram .
Decentralization means there is no computer sitting somewhere that has a list of everyone who has tested positive and everyone they have been in contact with in recent weeks .
Instead , data is anonymized and stored on people ’ s phones .
This is important to privacy advocates wary of tracking by state actors or even , say , internet marketers or insurance companies .
Finally , this anonymized exchange allows for automated notifications .
Instead of a call from a contact tracer , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
There is also a lot that is still just up in the air .
When asked if people would only be able to submit verified COVID-19 test results , or if they have the option to self-report symptoms , company representatives for Google and Apple said that features like that would be determined by the public health authorities who actually release apps .
But we don ’ t know which authorities will actually be in charge of these apps , whom they will contract with to build them , or if basic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ county to county or state to state .
Company representatives said in press calls that they would only release the apps ’ programming interfaces to verified public health authorities , but could not say whether these public health authorities would be at the federal , regional , state , or local levels .
A Senate aide briefed by Google told BuzzFeed News there ’ s a reason the companies won ’ t say which authorities will be developing the tools : They don ’ t know .
“ They don ’ t know @ @ @ @ @ @ @ city- and county-level health apps , state apps , a federal app , or a US Red Cross app , ” the Senate aide said .
“ They just don ’ t know yet.
” While tech companies , government officials , and civil liberties watchdogs debate the best way to protect privacy while fighting the pandemic , San Francisco , one of the first cities in the US to experience the coronavirus outbreak and a global hub for tech startups , is pursuing contact tracing the old-fashioned way .
“ We don @ @ @ @ @ @ @ don ’ t have a vaccine , ” said Mike Reid , an assistant professor of medicine at UC San Francisco , who has been overseeing the rapid hiring and training of the city ’ s contact tracing workforce since early April .
“ So the best thing we can do is : Every time we find a new case , we ask that individual to isolate and reach out to all their contacts and tell them you need to quarantine , not because you have an infection right now but because we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ San Francisco ’ s contact tracers now include more than 240 students , doctors , nurses , public health workers , and city employees who have been temporarily reassigned , including librarians , attorneys , and property assessors .
Their task is to run down the coworkers , roommates , friends , and relatives of patients who test positive , ask them about their symptoms and living conditions , and enroll them in daily text alerts from public health authorities .
It ’ s a system that may be replicated across California .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ wants to dispatch 10,000 contact tracers across the state , in some cases redeploying existing state workers who have time on their hands because so much of the state is shut down .
As the California effort ramps up , Abascal , the San Francisco tracer who had to break it to the two brothers that they had been exposed to the potentially deadly disease , continues making her painstaking phone calls .
Abascal has a script to follow , but the conversations constantly throw curveballs .
She ’ s had to be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t speak English and for a family of 10 crammed into a one-bedroom apartment .
Others have asked her questions she can ’ t answer , from how to sign up for health insurance to how to navigate unemployment .
She was used to stark inequalities in her native Mexico and knew they existed in the US as well — but it has been jarring to come face to face with them here in one of the richest cities in the world .
A key part of the job , Abascal quickly learned @ @ @ @ @ @ @ strangers , keeping them on the phone , and reassuring them that she was not a scammer who ’ s out for their banking information or Social Security numbers .
At the same time , the type of information she needs can feel quite personal to the people who answer her calls .
“ Imagine if I called you .
I know where you live ; I know your phone number , but I can ’ t tell you who gave it to me , ” she said .
“ People are wary @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that ’ s an issue.
” Many calls require complex decision-making : Maybe someone ’ s living situation is unsafe , and the city needs to move them to a hotel to protect them and others — or maybe they need to get tested but have a disability that prevents them from leaving the house .
Each situation is a little different .
As she watches tech giants promote the use of smartphones for contact tracing , Abascal is skeptical that they could be a cure-all .
Perhaps , she acknowledges , a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people if they had been in a public setting , such as a bus or a Starbucks , with a stranger who later tested positive .
But , Abascal said , human contact tracers do something that can not be totally replaced by an algorithm .
“ We ’ re dealing with people that are scared , people that just lost their job .
Many of them have family members in the hospital , ” she said .
“ There ’ s a big part of the interview that ’ s conversation : @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ?
’ I don ’ t know how you would be able to do that computer-automated.
” Many interviewees start out skeptical but by the end of the call , thank the staffer for checking in , she says .
“ The idea of having an app being able to do all the work we are doing is hard , ” she said .
“ We ’ re not therapists , but still , if somebody is really worried , you ’ re able to tell them , ‘ Don ’ t worry @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ ” ●

The concept of contact tracing was born in the late 18th century, when a physician in northwest England began interviewing and isolating local families to understand how smallpox was spreading. Since then, it’s been deployed to try to contain all kinds of contagions, from sexually transmitted diseases to the 2003 SARS outbreak to the swine flu pandemic of 2009.
In a number of countries, including South Korea and Singapore, old-fashioned contact tracing layered with high-tech use of apps, health monitoring, and location tracking has been credited with helping to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
Contact tracing is “one of the few successful traditional nonpharmaceutical interventions,” said Carl Bergstrom, an epidemiologist at the University of Washington. "This is a very old tool in public health. Doing it digitally obviously isn’t," Bergstrom said.
When the first cases of the coronavirus landed in South Korea, public health leaders worried the country could be hit hard by the virus. Instead, it emerged as an unlikely success story. In large part that was because South Korea, in marked contrast to the US, deployed testing on a massive scale. But officials in South Korea, who coupled testing with an aggressive approach to contact tracing, are credited with quickly identifying clusters where the virus might be spreading and getting people quarantined and treated.
The effort, dubbed the COVID-19 Smart Management System, is an attempt to reduce labor-intensive measures, such as interviewing patients to document their movements and whom they’ve encountered. The system culls data from 28 institutions, including law enforcement agencies, cell service providers, credit card companies, and more.
It also publicizes anonymized versions of patients’ travel histories using data from credit card transactions, GPS, and closed-circuit television footage. South Korea, where 95% of the population uses a smartphone, passed laws allowing the government to trace people’s movements in 2011, and revised it in 2015 in the wake of the outbreak of MERS.
Visitors to South Korea, meanwhile, are required to download a government-made app that tracks their movements and asks for information on symptoms the user is experiencing. In addition, private companies have also developed apps to alert people when they may be near someone who has been infected, including, for instance, a super-popular app called the Corona 100m app, which notifies the user if they come within 100 meters of the most recently recorded location of someone who has tested positive.
The effort has raised concerns from privacy advocacy groups — especially a plan to ask infected people to wear wristbands that would track their movements. Health officials have said citizens could be fined as much as 10 million won ($8,200) or face a year in jail for violating quarantine.
In Singapore, which has been widely praised for its quick efforts to contain the coronavirus, authorities distributed an app called TraceTogether. The app detects others nearby and keeps a record of these meetings on the individual’s device. Those records can then be handed over to contact tracing authorities if needed.
The country’s prime minister, Lee Hsien Loong, acknowledged that “there will be some privacy concerns.” But these, he said, had to be weighed against the benefits to combating the pandemic.
Both of these efforts were widely considered to have helped to slow the spread of COVID-19. But both were enhancements — not replacements — for traditional contact tracing. And both were done in countries where almost everyone who needed a test could get one. Singapore and South Korea might be technologically advanced, but a lot of this work isn’t automated and relies on old-school methods, including extensive in-person interviews. When a patient at a hospital in Singapore is diagnosed with COVID-19, an official will ask them about all of their movements for the previous two weeks to create a kind of historical map.


buzzfeednews--2020-04-29--ICE Moved Dozens Of Detainees Across The Country During The Coronavirus Pandemic. Now Many Have COVI

ICE Moved Dozens Of Detainees Across The Country During The Coronavirus Pandemic. Now Many Have COVID-19.

Twenty-one detainees have tested positive for the coronavirus since being moved from jails in the Northeast US to Texas .
On April 11 , Behzad Jalili and 71 other immigrant detainees were removed from two jails in New York and Pennsylvania , ushered onto a government plane , and flown to a third jail in Texas .
The idea , it appears , was to protect these immigrants , and other detainees , from the spread of the coronavirus by reducing jail populations in the Northeast to create more “ distancing.
” But in the time since their journey , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were moved have tested positive for COVID-19 , BuzzFeed News has learned — and Jalili fears the flight , and a subsequent bus ride , put him and the others at risk .
“ When I see people here , I see fear in their eyes , ” he said of immigrants who were moved to the Prairieland Detention Center in Alvarado , Texas .
“ We don ’ t know why we were sent here .
We are not camels or sheep .
We are human .
We don ’ t want @ @ @ @ @ @ @ want to be forgotten.
” Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials took the detainees ’ temperatures before transferring them from two detention centers that were grappling with coronavirus outbreaks : The Buffalo Federal Detention Facility in Batavia , New York , had seven known cases on April 11 , and the Pike County Correctional Facility in Lords Valley , Pennsylvania , had five .
Since then , the numbers have jumped to 49 and 16 , respectively .
At the time , their destination , the Prairieland lockup , had yet to see many @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and half weeks that has changed : 21 of the detainees who were brought from the northeastern states have tested positive for COVID-19 at Prairieland , making up more than half of the 41 cases at the detention center , according to agency data .
Forty detainees from the group were tested , and six others who were flown in are awaiting results .
They had not been tested for the disease before leaving the detention centers because none of the detainees presented any symptoms , the agency confirmed .
( The coronavirus @ @ @ @ @ @ @ sick but have not yet started showing symptoms .
It can also be spread by people who are infected but never develop symptoms . )
At Prairieland , according to ICE , the detainees were split into two separate parts of the jail with restricted movement .
Jalili , a 48-year-old Iranian , was placed in a dorm with half of the group — some from the Batavia facility and some from Pike County .
The space was filled with bunk beds , set close together .
TVs line the walls , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ pandemic news .
Jalili , who was detained by ICE officials in 2018 after allegations of immigration fraud — charges he denies — said he had seen some of the men he traveled with from the Northeast pulled out of the dorm after exhibiting symptoms of the disease .
Inevitably , he said , word will spread that they ’ ve tested positive .
The tension is especially high when someone coughs or sneezes — like a zombie movie , he said , in which everyone is worried that they ’ ll be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ who is Christian , spends most of his time reading and clutching his Bible .
“ I don ’ t wish for anybody to be here , ” he said .
“ We don ’ t know what ’ s going to happen even an hour from now.
” In interviews with BuzzFeed News , multiple immigrant detainees who were transferred along with Jalili to the Texas facility detailed their fears that the trip could have increased their exposure to the disease .
They wore masks on the flight , but some heard @ @ @ @ @ @ @ people vomiting on the bus ride to Alvarado .
The mid-pandemic shuttling of dozens of immigrant detainees from two jails struggling with the coronavirus , on planes and buses , has prompted immigrant advocates , attorneys , and medical experts to raise questions about the necessity of the transfer .
Former ICE officials echoed those concerns .
“ ICE has long suffered from a lack of coordination and communication on the detention front , ” said one former senior ICE official who requested anonymity in order to speak freely .
“ I think @ @ @ @ @ @ @ regular interstate and facility transfers like this shows how little critical thinking is happening about both detainee , officer , and facility staff safety.
” Government officials maintain that the move was made to create the conditions necessary for social distancing within detention centers housing more than 30,000 immigrants across the country .
Thus far , more than 400 ICE detainees across the country have tested positive for the disease .
In March , ICE officials began assessing their inmate population to locate “ vulnerable ” detainees , including those who are over @ @ @ @ @ @ @ they have released nearly 700 detainees , and detention numbers are the lowest they have been in several years .
“ The health , welfare and safety of ICE detainees is one of the agency ’ s highest priorities .
ICE tests individuals in its custody for COVID-19 in compliance with CDC guidance and updates procedures as new guidance becomes available , ” an ICE spokesperson said in an email to BuzzFeed News .
“ During COVID-19 , the agency has taken steps to protect detainees in its custody and promote social distancing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the transfer of detainees from facilities with larger detention populations to facilities with fewer detainees .
Prior to transport , the agency conducts temperature checks and medically screens detainees for COVID-19 symptoms.
” Paul Spiegel , director of the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health , said he agreed with the agency ’ s intent to “ decongest ” detention centers .
But ICE officials , he said , should rely on releases of immigrant detainees to reduce jail populations .
If detainees are being moved , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ added .
“ They should avoid this in the future — clearly .
They shouldn ’ t be putting people on planes and buses where we know there can ’ t be a 6-foot rule , ” he said .
“ The longer the trip , the more chance of getting infected .
We may not be able to definitively say people were infected because of this but there is a decent likelihood that was the case.
” The transfer of the 72 detainees came after a pair of federal court rulings in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ York , ICE officials were told by a federal judge to create social distancing measures for “ vulnerable ” individuals in custody , while in Pennsylvania a court forced ICE to release a group of detainees .
In early April , the facility in Batavia was at roughly half its capacity to house detainees , according to court records .
Immigrant advocates in New York have documented how the detention center in Batavia received a transfer of detainees from Bergen County Jail , which had one of the first cases of an ICE @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ICE detainee who spoke with BuzzFeed News said he was moved from Bergen County in mid-March to Batavia and was part of the group that was sent to Texas .
“ I don ’ t want to die in here , ” he said .
“ I want to see my mother and sisters again.
” Last week , he came down with a cough and was fearful he had contracted the disease .
“ To transfer people out of Batavia , where detained people have the highest rate of COVID in the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ all 320 , is unconscionable , said Jennifer Connor , executive director of Justice for Migrant Families in western New York , which works with immigrant detainees .
“ The only real answer to the public health disaster that is unfolding in detention is to conscientiously release people to their intended destinations where they can quarantine , heal , and recover in community-supported settings.
” In Pennsylvania , immigrant advocates began to learn of the transfer on April 10 through emails on a listserv from immigration attorneys detailing a potential move .
“ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this , ” said Christopher Casazza , an immigration attorney in Philadelphia .
“ It ’ s absolutely insane.
” One of the detainees who was moved from Pennsylvania to Texas was a 36-year-old Indian detainee who had been preparing to plead his case in front of an immigration judge to obtain lawful status through his US citizen wife .
The hearing , scheduled on April 8 in Pennsylvania , was postponed .
Instead , he was moved to Prairieland on the April 11 flight , according to his attorney Dan Gividen .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ , after he began experiencing symptoms such as body aches and a fever , he tested positive for COVID-19 , according to his attorneys .
Most of the detainees who were transferred and tested positive — 18 out of 21 — were from Pike , according to agency figures .
Alvis Doras , a 36-year-old Dutch man , had initially thought he was being deported when officers told him he was going to be moved from Batavia , where he had been detained for several weeks .
Doras had been brought to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had lived his entire life in the US .
He had agreed to be deported because he did not want to spend an extended amount of time in jail .
Instead , Doras was put on a plane to Texas : “ I didn ’ t like it when they were moving us .
Why why why ?
I didn ’ t want to come .
It was very high risk , ” he said .
He told the officials that he didn ’ t want to go .
Until they were going @ @ @ @ @ @ @ he wanted to stay in Batavia .
Doras , who said he was picked up on drug-related crimes and driving with a suspended license , said his dorm is mostly filled with detainees from Pike and has dwindled from originally more than 30 detainees to around 10 .
He ’ s become perceptive of who has what symptom : the man who ’ s always sleeping , the other who ’ s always coughing , and others who are sneezing .
Some are taken away , while others remain .
“ I feel @ @ @ @ @ @ @ What if something happens to me ?
They mixed me with people who had corona and are now out .
I try to stay in my bed and cover up.
” Doras is hoping he is deported soon .
“ I just want to get out of this jail , ” he said .
“ They got me holed up and I don ’ t know when I am leaving .
”

At Prairieland, according to ICE, the detainees were split into two separate parts of the jail with restricted movement. Jalili, a 48-year-old Iranian, was placed in a dorm with half of the group — some from the Batavia facility and some from Pike County. The space was filled with bunk beds, set close together. TVs line the walls, and detainees are keeping up with the latest pandemic news.
Jalili, who was detained by ICE officials in 2018 after allegations of immigration fraud — charges he denies — said he had seen some of the men he traveled with from the Northeast pulled out of the dorm after exhibiting symptoms of the disease. Inevitably, he said, word will spread that they’ve tested positive. The tension is especially high when someone coughs or sneezes — like a zombie movie, he said, in which everyone is worried that they’ll be exposed and “turned.”
Jalili, who is Christian, spends most of his time reading and clutching his Bible.
“I don’t wish for anybody to be here,” he said. “We don’t know what’s going to happen even an hour from now.”
In interviews with BuzzFeed News, multiple immigrant detainees who were transferred along with Jalili to the Texas facility detailed their fears that the trip could have increased their exposure to the disease. They wore masks on the flight, but some heard coughing on the plane while others heard people vomiting on the bus ride to Alvarado.
The mid-pandemic shuttling of dozens of immigrant detainees from two jails struggling with the coronavirus, on planes and buses, has prompted immigrant advocates, attorneys, and medical experts to raise questions about the necessity of the transfer. Former ICE officials echoed those concerns.
“ICE has long suffered from a lack of coordination and communication on the detention front,” said one former senior ICE official who requested anonymity in order to speak freely. “I think the fact that ICE continues on with regular interstate and facility transfers like this shows how little critical thinking is happening about both detainee, officer, and facility staff safety.”
Government officials maintain that the move was made to create the conditions necessary for social distancing within detention centers housing more than 30,000 immigrants across the country. Thus far, more than 400 ICE detainees across the country have tested positive for the disease.
In March, ICE officials began assessing their inmate population to locate “vulnerable” detainees, including those who are over 60 or pregnant. So far, they have released nearly 700 detainees, and detention numbers are the lowest they have been in several years.
“The health, welfare and safety of ICE detainees is one of the agency’s highest priorities. ICE tests individuals in its custody for COVID-19 in compliance with CDC guidance and updates procedures as new guidance becomes available,” an ICE spokesperson said in an email to BuzzFeed News.
“During COVID-19, the agency has taken steps to protect detainees in its custody and promote social distancing whenever possible. This has resulted in the transfer of detainees from facilities with larger detention populations to facilities with fewer detainees. Prior to transport, the agency conducts temperature checks and medically screens detainees for COVID-19 symptoms.”
Paul Spiegel, director of the Center for Humanitarian Health at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said he agreed with the agency’s intent to “decongest” detention centers. But ICE officials, he said, should rely on releases of immigrant detainees to reduce jail populations. If detainees are being moved, they should be tested beforehand, he added.
“They should avoid this in the future — clearly. They shouldn’t be putting people on planes and buses where we know there can’t be a 6-foot rule,” he said. “The longer the trip, the more chance of getting infected. We may not be able to definitively say people were infected because of this but there is a decent likelihood that was the case.”


buzzfeednews--2020-04-29--Workers Have Made More Than 7,300 Health Complaints About The Coronavirus

The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus .
To help keep this news free , become a member and sign up for our newsletter , Outbreak Today .
Health care , the US Postal Service , and supermarkets are the top industries for worker complaints of employers failing to protect them on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic .
Between Jan. 1 and April 22 , workers filed 7,328 complaints about working conditions with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration ( OSHA ) , according to updated data the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ swath of health care professions account for the largest percentage of that total , with hospital workers accounting for 11 % with 830 complaints .
Workers in nursing care facilities have filed 233 complaints , or 3 % of all the complaints filed .
In total , workers in health care–related professions made up more than one-quarter of the total complaints .
Though they represent only 2.5 % of the total , at 182 complaints , supermarket workers filed the second-largest number of coronavirus-related allegations , voicing concerns about poor social distancing and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ personal protective equipment .
The concerns range from the unsettling to the grave .
One complaint filed by a supermarket employee on April 13 in Tewksbury , Massachusetts , says that the complainant 's employer , Market Basket , was “ requiring employees to come into work with symptoms that match COVID-19 symptoms.
” Do you have questions you want answered ?
You can always get in touch .
And if you 're someone who is seeing the impact of this firsthand , we ’ d also love to hear from you ( @ @ @ @ @ @ @ one of our tip line channels ) .
After supermarket employees , postal workers filed the second-most number of complaints ( 1.6 % ) , sending in their concerns at a disproportionately higher rate than workers as a whole .
There are currently 44 open OSHA complaints from postal workers and 71 closed complaints .
Many of those complaints say that postal workers were being forced to work in close quarters , or that surfaces weren ’ t being regularly disinfected .
One complaint filed in Durham , North Carolina , on April @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in a postal facility “ work closely together daily.
” Postal workers have been vocal about the risks they face , and some lawmakers have argued that they should receive higher hazard pay and better protections .
According to another complaint filed in Camden , New Jersey , on April 8 , `` Workers were exposed to workers that were positive for COVID-19 and the facility had not [ been ] decontaminated . ''
Two other postal workers , one in Providence , Rhode Island , and one in Buena Park , California @ @ @ @ @ @ @ week .
Other industries in the top 10 of total complaints include construction , courier services , warehouses , limited-service restaurants , and new car dealerships .
How many of those complaints are investigated could depend on OSHA ’ s staffing capacity .
Violators are fined in accordance with the severity of the safety issue , but fewer investigators are working for the federal agency than at any time since 1975 , according to a report published Tuesday by the National Employment Law Project .
Debbie Berkowitz , the author of the report @ @ @ @ @ @ @ s resources leaves workers in danger .
“ [ D ] uring the COVID-19 pandemic , OSHA has completely abdicated its responsibility to ensure that employers keep workers safe on the job , ” Berkowitz writes .
“ More than 16,000 workers have already fallen ill and hundreds have died from COVID-19 , including workers in hospitals , first response , nursing homes , meat and poultry plants , warehouses , grocery stores , and mass transit.
” A spokesperson for OSHA didn ’ t immediately respond to a request for comment .

Health care, the US Postal Service, and supermarkets are the top industries for worker complaints of employers failing to protect them on the front lines of the coronavirus pandemic.
Between Jan. 1 and April 22, workers filed 7,328 complaints about working conditions with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), according to updated data the agency released on Monday. A broad swath of health care professions account for the largest percentage of that total, with hospital workers accounting for 11% with 830 complaints.
Workers in nursing care facilities have filed 233 complaints, or 3% of all the complaints filed. In total, workers in health care–related professions made up more than one-quarter of the total complaints.
Though they represent only 2.5% of the total, at 182 complaints, supermarket workers filed the second-largest number of coronavirus-related allegations, voicing concerns about poor social distancing and disinfecting protocols and employers failing to provide personal protective equipment.
The concerns range from the unsettling to the grave.
One complaint filed by a supermarket employee on April 13 in Tewksbury, Massachusetts, says that the complainant's employer, Market Basket, was “requiring employees to come into work with symptoms that match COVID-19 symptoms.”
Do you have questions you want answered? You can always get in touch. And if you're someone who is seeing the impact of this firsthand, we’d also love to hear from you (you can reach out to us via one of our tip line channels).
After supermarket employees, postal workers filed the second-most number of complaints (1.6%), sending in their concerns at a disproportionately higher rate than workers as a whole. There are currently 44 open OSHA complaints from postal workers and 71 closed complaints.
Many of those complaints say that postal workers were being forced to work in close quarters, or that surfaces weren’t being regularly disinfected. One complaint filed in Durham, North Carolina, on April 15 says that up to 50 workers in a postal facility “work closely together daily.”
Postal workers have been vocal about the risks they face, and some lawmakers have argued that they should receive higher hazard pay and better protections.
According to another complaint filed in Camden, New Jersey, on April 8, "Workers were exposed to workers that were positive for COVID-19 and the facility had not [been] decontaminated." Two other postal workers, one in Providence, Rhode Island, and one in Buena Park, California, made similar complaints within the same week.
Other industries in the top 10 of total complaints include construction, courier services, warehouses, limited-service restaurants, and new car dealerships.
How many of those complaints are investigated could depend on OSHA’s staffing capacity. Violators are fined in accordance with the severity of the safety issue, but fewer investigators are working for the federal agency than at any time since 1975, according to a report published Tuesday by the National Employment Law Project.
Debbie Berkowitz, the author of the report, said the reduction in OSHA’s resources leaves workers in danger. “[D]uring the COVID-19 pandemic, OSHA has completely abdicated its responsibility to ensure that employers keep workers safe on the job,” Berkowitz writes. “More than 16,000 workers have already fallen ill and hundreds have died from COVID-19, including workers in hospitals, first response, nursing homes, meat and poultry plants, warehouses, grocery stores, and mass transit.”
A spokesperson for OSHA didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.