truthout--2020-05-16--US University Leading COVID Response Leaves Black Workers Behind

On May Day , food service workers led a socially distanced protest at the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore , Maryland , taking part in the international day of action to defend workers and highlight the disparate impact COVID-19 is having across the country .
Donning masks , the workers read the names of their 188 colleagues who have been laid off amid the pandemic , 98 percent of whom are Black , according to UNITE HERE Local 7 .
The demonstration comes as Johns Hopkins , a world-renowned medical and research institution , has mobilized its resources @ @ @ @ @ @ @ had an estimated $ 4.35 billion endowment in 2019 .
Johns Hopkins University and Hospital have been helping lead the international response to COVID-19 , from mapping its spread and tracking testing data , to developing a vaccine .
But its lowest-paid Black employees say they feel like they have been left behind .
The dozen or so demonstrating workers demanded the university honor a promise to give laid-off workers four weeks ’ pay .
They cite negotiations with officials that resulted in a deal , from which the university abruptly withdrew .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ five — U.S. workers have filed for unemployment during the pandemic .
State unemployment websites have crashed under the volume of claims .
Many are ineligible or have not received their $ 1,200 CARES Act stimulus checks or unemployment benefits .
Black and Latinx workers are more likely to work jobs impacted by lockdown orders , and 98 percent of UNITE HERE ’ s over 300,000 members , who work in food service and hospitality , have lost their jobs .
“ Honor your commitment , you got the money , ” said @ @ @ @ @ @ @ HERE Local 7 , which represents Johns Hopkins workers , who are subcontracted through Bon Appétit , a food service management company .
“ I ’ m disappointed in Hopkins , ” said Ganesha Rouse , who has served food at the school for eight years .
“ We are always being mistreated by this university.
” “ [ The pandemic ] hit all of us hard , and it ’ s hit the Black community even harder , ” said Palmer .
“ For a lot of us , this is an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ravaged Black communities , and not just in terms of the disproportionate rate of illness and death .
The virus ’ s health impact is amplified by a century of discriminatory housing policies like segregation and red-lining , which denied wealth building opportunities to Black families and contributed to the nation ’ s racial wealth gap .
“ Compared to non-Black communities , wealth is not a protective factor for many ailments which exacerbate COVID-19 , ” said Lawrence Grandpre , director of research for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle , a Baltimore-based @ @ @ @ @ @ @ spectrum , Black people are subject to disproportionate risk for obesity , high blood pressure , and heart disease , all preexisting conditions which create higher risk of morbidity for COVID-19.
” One in three Black households in Baltimore have zero net worth , and two in three face liquid asset poverty , or lack the savings to cover basic expenses for three months if they lose their jobs , a 2017 study by the think tank Racial Justice Now found .
In Baltimore , African American median income ( $ 33,801 ) @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ( $ 62,751 ) counterparts , and 59 percent of Black renters are rent burdened , meaning they pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing , according to the study .
“ A lot of us [ workers ] , we ’ re from Baltimore , and we don ’ t have a lot of resources , ” said cafeteria worker Latifah Pearson .
Pearson says she ’ s still working , but her hours have been cut , and she expects to lose her job in the coming weeks @ @ @ @ @ @ @ reopen its campus in the fall , but it has slashed spending across the board , and students say low-wage workers bear the brunt of the cutbacks and are campaigning to have them rehired .
“ Ron Daniels , the president of Johns Hopkins University , took a 20 percent pay cut to move him from an income of $ 2.7 million to $ 2.16 million , ” said Barae Hirsch , a senior studying sociology and international studies at the university .
“ Meanwhile , low-wage service workers are being laid off.
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ history of organizing in solidarity with campus workers .
“ It ’ s important for educators to stand with janitorial and food workers because the university could not operate without either of our labor .
And janitorial and food workers should be paid to reflect that fundamental service ” said Steph Saxton , a Johns Hopkins graduate student who attended the rally .
“ It ’ s particularly unconscionable for Hopkins to leave their workers out to dry as it ’ s presenting itself to be a leader of the struggle against the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a graduate student and organizer who has been working to support campus workers for the past five years .
There are growing calls for universities , especially those with large endowments , to avoid projected mass layoffs .
Over 100 universities in the U.S. had endowments over $ 1 billion in 2019 .
“ Layoffs should be the absolute last option for universities and colleges , particularly those with significant endowments , ” said Paul Weinstein Jr. , director of the MA in Public Management program at Johns Hopkins University and a senior @ @ @ @ @ @ @ “ Schools should look at other approaches first , including delaying capital expenditures , cutting salaries for the highest-paid employees , suspending retirement benefits for one year and tapping into endowment funds when they legally can.
” Universities often face restrictions in how they are able to spend their endowments .
But Weinstein says Congress could provide legal protections from donor lawsuits .
Beyond not laying off its predominantly Black workers , Grandpre suggests institutions that want to help address COVID-19 health disparities in Black communities might start by examining their own role @ @ @ @ @ @ @ early 1950s , Johns Hopkins harvested the genetic material of Henrietta Lacks , an African American woman , without her consent .
These cells became invaluable to medical research ( such as the development of the polio vaccine ) , because they continued to multiply instead of dying off .
Lacks ’ s contribution to science was only recognized after the publication of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Sloot .
Hopkins has also come under fire for knowingly exposing children to lead poisoning .
It ’ s also been accused @ @ @ @ @ @ @ residents to expand its medical campus , which earned it the nickname of “ The Plantation ” by its Black neighbors , according to the 2018 book , Ghost of Johns Hopkins , by Antero Pietila .
“ Encouraging early interventions and screening in the Black community won ’ t be effective until the fundamental power imbalances between the Black community and the medical establishment are addressed , ” says Grandpre .
“ The reality is COVID-19 is simply speeding up and revealing the slow-motion epidemic produced by racism/white supremacy.
” Standing in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the U.S. ’ s wealthiest universities , workers are worried about their future .
Jenica Hudson , a cook who has worked at Hopkins for the past six years and was laid off in mid-March , says she was already living paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic .
“ I do have savings , but it ’ s been depleted , ” Hudson said .
She relied on family for help to pay rent on May 1 .
“ I fortunately have a loving mother , ” she added .
Hudson has been @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fears the available opportunities , like a job at an Amazon warehouse , could put her and her family at risk .
In a statement , Johns Hopkins said it “ remains steadfast in our commitment to our workforce .
We regret that the slow-down in university operations and the university ’ s losses due to COVID-19 are necessitating some furloughs and lay-offs.
” Johns Hopkins argues it is unable to pay laid off workers because it could jeopardize their eligibility for CARES Act stimulus payments .
“ We have not reversed course @ @ @ @ @ @ @ beneficial options for these valued team members through their employer , ” Johns Hopkins said in a statement .
But UNITE HERE Local 7 President Roxie Herbekian disputes this .
“ We offered to them several different ways that the workers could be paid that would not have interfered with any of their other benefits .
And then they just stopped communicating with us completely , ” she said .
UNITE HERE Local 7 did acknowledge a $ 15,000 donation from the Baltimore-based Research Associates Foundation , which provides small grants to support @ @ @ @ @ @ @ which is continuing to cover worker ’ s health insurance , has yet not decided how to distribute those funds .
Workers say they have yet to receive any of the promised support from Johns Hopkins .
“ For [ Hopkins ] to deny what they promised is a stab in the back , ” Hudson said .

Part of the Series Despair and Disparity: The Uneven Burdens of COVID-19
On May Day, food service workers led a socially distanced protest at the campus of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, taking part in the international day of action to defend workers and highlight the disparate impact COVID-19 is having across the country. Donning masks, the workers read the names of their 188 colleagues who have been laid off amid the pandemic, 98 percent of whom are Black, according to UNITE HERE Local 7.
The demonstration comes as Johns Hopkins, a world-renowned medical and research institution, has mobilized its resources to combat the pandemic. The university had an estimated $4.35 billion endowment in 2019. Johns Hopkins University and Hospital have been helping lead the international response to COVID-19, from mapping its spread and tracking testing data, to developing a vaccine. But its lowest-paid Black employees say they feel like they have been left behind.
The dozen or so demonstrating workers demanded the university honor a promise to give laid-off workers four weeks’ pay. They cite negotiations with officials that resulted in a deal, from which the university abruptly withdrew.
Over 33 million — or one in five — U.S. workers have filed for unemployment during the pandemic. State unemployment websites have crashed under the volume of claims. Many are ineligible or have not received their $1,200 CARES Act stimulus checks or unemployment benefits. Black and Latinx workers are more likely to work jobs impacted by lockdown orders, and 98 percent of UNITE HERE’s over 300,000 members, who work in food service and hospitality, have lost their jobs.
“Honor your commitment, you got the money,” said Alberta Palmer, an organizer with UNITE HERE Local 7, which represents Johns Hopkins workers, who are subcontracted through Bon Appétit, a food service management company.
“I’m disappointed in Hopkins,” said Ganesha Rouse, who has served food at the school for eight years. “We are always being mistreated by this university.”
“[The pandemic] hit all of us hard, and it’s hit the Black community even harder,” said Palmer. “For a lot of us, this is an economic pandemic as well.”
Jaisal Noor
COVID-19 has ravaged Black communities, and not just in terms of the disproportionate rate of illness and death. The virus’s health impact is amplified by a century of discriminatory housing policies like segregation and red-lining, which denied wealth building opportunities to Black families and contributed to the nation’s racial wealth gap.
“It’s particularly unconscionable for Hopkins to leave their workers out to dry as it’s presenting itself to be a leader of the struggle against the pandemic.”
“Compared to non-Black communities, wealth is not a protective factor for many ailments which exacerbate COVID-19,” said Lawrence Grandpre, director of research for Leaders of a Beautiful Struggle, a Baltimore-based think tank. “Across the socio-economic spectrum, Black people are subject to disproportionate risk for obesity, high blood pressure, and heart disease, all preexisting conditions which create higher risk of morbidity for COVID-19.”
One in three Black households in Baltimore have zero net worth, and two in three face liquid asset poverty, or lack the savings to cover basic expenses for three months if they lose their jobs, a 2017 study by the think tank Racial Justice Now found. In Baltimore, African American median income ($33,801) was 50 percent lower than their white ($62,751) counterparts, and 59 percent of Black renters are rent burdened, meaning they pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing, according to the study.
“A lot of us [workers], we’re from Baltimore, and we don’t have a lot of resources,” said cafeteria worker Latifah Pearson.
Pearson says she’s still working, but her hours have been cut, and she expects to lose her job in the coming weeks.
Johns Hopkins says its planning to reopen its campus in the fall, but it has slashed spending across the board, and students say low-wage workers bear the brunt of the cutbacks and are campaigning to have them rehired.
“Ron Daniels, the president of Johns Hopkins University, took a 20 percent pay cut to move him from an income of $2.7 million to $2.16 million,” said Barae Hirsch, a senior studying sociology and international studies at the university. “Meanwhile, low-wage service workers are being laid off.”
Johns Hopkins students have a long history of organizing in solidarity with campus workers.
“It’s important for educators to stand with janitorial and food workers because the university could not operate without either of our labor. And janitorial and food workers should be paid to reflect that fundamental service” said Steph Saxton, a Johns Hopkins graduate student who attended the rally.
“It’s particularly unconscionable for Hopkins to leave their workers out to dry as it’s presenting itself to be a leader of the struggle against the pandemic,” said Corey Payne, a graduate student and organizer who has been working to support campus workers for the past five years.
There are growing calls for universities, especially those with large endowments, to avoid projected mass layoffs. Over 100 universities in the U.S. had endowments over $1 billion in 2019.
“Layoffs should be the absolute last option for universities and colleges, particularly those with significant endowments,” said Paul Weinstein Jr., director of the MA in Public Management program at Johns Hopkins University and a senior fellow at the Progressive Policy Institute. “Schools should look at other approaches first, including delaying capital expenditures, cutting salaries for the highest-paid employees, suspending retirement benefits for one year and tapping into endowment funds when they legally can.”
Universities often face restrictions in how they are able to spend their endowments. But Weinstein says Congress could provide legal protections from donor lawsuits.
Beyond not laying off its predominantly Black workers, Grandpre suggests institutions that want to help address COVID-19 health disparities in Black communities might start by examining their own role in fomenting such disparities.
In the early 1950s, Johns Hopkins harvested the genetic material of Henrietta Lacks, an African American woman, without her consent. These cells became invaluable to medical research (such as the development of the polio vaccine), because they continued to multiply instead of dying off. Lacks’s contribution to science was only recognized after the publication of The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Sloot.
Hopkins has also come under fire for knowingly exposing children to lead poisoning. It’s also been accused of gentrifying east Baltimore and displacing Black residents to expand its medical campus, which earned it the nickname of “The Plantation” by its Black neighbors, according to the 2018 book, Ghost of Johns Hopkins, by Antero Pietila.
“Encouraging early interventions and screening in the Black community won’t be effective until the fundamental power imbalances between the Black community and the medical establishment are addressed,” says Grandpre. “The reality is COVID-19 is simply speeding up and revealing the slow-motion epidemic produced by racism/white supremacy.”
Standing in front of the sprawling campus of one the U.S.’s wealthiest universities, workers are worried about their future.
Jenica Hudson, a cook who has worked at Hopkins for the past six years and was laid off in mid-March, says she was already living paycheck to paycheck before the pandemic.
“I do have savings, but it’s been depleted,” Hudson said.
She relied on family for help to pay rent on May 1. “I fortunately have a loving mother,” she added.
Hudson has been searching for new employment, but she fears the available opportunities, like a job at an Amazon warehouse, could put her and her family at risk.
Institutions that want to help address COVID-19 health disparities in Black communities might start by examining their own role in fomenting such disparities.
In a statement, Johns Hopkins said it “remains steadfast in our commitment to our workforce. We regret that the slow-down in university operations and the university’s losses due to COVID-19 are necessitating some furloughs and lay-offs.”
Johns Hopkins argues it is unable to pay laid off workers because it could jeopardize their eligibility for CARES Act stimulus payments.
“We have not reversed course but instead have been exploring the most beneficial options for these valued team members through their employer,” Johns Hopkins said in a statement.
But UNITE HERE Local 7 President Roxie Herbekian disputes this.
“We offered to them several different ways that the workers could be paid that would not have interfered with any of their other benefits. And then they just stopped communicating with us completely,” she said.
UNITE HERE Local 7 did acknowledge a $15,000 donation from the Baltimore-based Research Associates Foundation, which provides small grants to support local progressive organizing. The union, which is continuing to cover worker’s health insurance, has yet not decided how to distribute those funds.
Workers say they have yet to receive any of the promised support from Johns Hopkins.
“For [Hopkins] to deny what they promised is a stab in the back,” Hudson said.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-05-18--The Stay-at-Home Orders Trump Mocked Likely Saved Nearly a Quarter Million Lives

Social distancing and stay-at-home measures instituted across the country may have saved hundreds of thousands of lives , according to the findings of one study .
Researchers at the Urban Health Collaborative at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University sought to find out how many lives were affected in a positive way due to social distancing rules that were implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the nation ’ s 30 highest populated cities .
According to their findings , stay-at-home orders ( versus taking a course of having done nothing at all ) likely prevented @ @ @ @ @ @ @ populations of those jurisdictions .
In addition to the total number of deaths that were likely prevented , stay-at-home orders also likely resulted in 2.1 million fewer coronavirus-related hospital visits as well .
Jennifer Kolker , associate dean for public health practice at the Dornsife School , said her team ’ s goal in conducting the research was in part to demonstrate to Americans that their actions over the past several weeks resulted in significant outcomes .
“ What we really wanted to do was to say this matters .
Doing nothing is @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ” Kolker explained .
“ We really wanted to give city leaders the opportunity to say to their residents and their jurisdictions , ‘ Hey folks , look what you did , you saved lives , you kept people out of the hospital . '
” As of Monday afternoon , more than 91,000 deaths from coronavirus have been recorded in the United States .
According to estimates from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation ( IHME ) at the University of Washington , a model often cited by the White House @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to 147,040 Americans have died or will die , cumulatively , from the disease by August .
That number could have been lower , according to a pair of epidemiologist researchers , had President Donald Trump acted just one week earlier in urging the nation to implement strict social distancing standards .
According to that research , as much as 60 percent of the deaths that have occurred from COVID-19 could have been averted .
Accordingly , due to the findings of that model , documentary filmmaker and activist Eugene Jarecki created the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ many deaths are perhaps directly attributable to Trump ’ s initial inaction .
As of 3:30 pm Eastern Time , the Trump Death Clock said more than 54,000 Americans died because Trump waited too long to act .
Those epidemiologists — Britta Jewell , a research fellow in the department of infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College , London , and Nicholas Jewell , professor of Biostatistics and Statistics at UC Berkeley — stated in their research that March 9 was the date by which Trump should have acted to prevent those deaths @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Trump was still lambasting those who had been critical of his response to coronavirus in the U.S. up to that point .
“ The Fake News Media and their partner , the Democrat Party , is doing everything within its semi-considerable power ( it used to be greater ! )
to inflame the CoronaVirus situation , far beyond what the facts would warrant , ” Trump tweeted on that date .

Social distancing and stay-at-home measures instituted across the country may have saved hundreds of thousands of lives, according to the findings of one study.
Researchers at the Urban Health Collaborative at the Dornsife School of Public Health at Drexel University sought to find out how many lives were affected in a positive way due to social distancing rules that were implemented to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in the nation’s 30 highest populated cities. According to their findings, stay-at-home orders (versus taking a course of having done nothing at all) likely prevented an additional 232,878 deaths within the combined populations of those jurisdictions.
In addition to the total number of deaths that were likely prevented, stay-at-home orders also likely resulted in 2.1 million fewer coronavirus-related hospital visits as well.
Jennifer Kolker, associate dean for public health practice at the Dornsife School, said her team’s goal in conducting the research was in part to demonstrate to Americans that their actions over the past several weeks resulted in significant outcomes.
“What we really wanted to do was to say this matters. Doing nothing is, in fact, doing something,” Kolker explained. “We really wanted to give city leaders the opportunity to say to their residents and their jurisdictions, ‘Hey folks, look what you did, you saved lives, you kept people out of the hospital.'”
As of Monday afternoon, more than 91,000 deaths from coronavirus have been recorded in the United States. According to estimates from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) at the University of Washington, a model often cited by the White House, it’s believed that close to 147,040 Americans have died or will die, cumulatively, from the disease by August.
That number could have been lower, according to a pair of epidemiologist researchers, had President Donald Trump acted just one week earlier in urging the nation to implement strict social distancing standards. According to that research, as much as 60 percent of the deaths that have occurred from COVID-19 could have been averted.
Accordingly, due to the findings of that model, documentary filmmaker and activist Eugene Jarecki created the Trump Death Clock, which documents how many deaths are perhaps directly attributable to Trump’s initial inaction. As of 3:30 pm Eastern Time, the Trump Death Clock said more than 54,000 Americans died because Trump waited too long to act.
Those epidemiologists — Britta Jewell, a research fellow in the department of infectious disease epidemiology at Imperial College, London, and Nicholas Jewell, professor of Biostatistics and Statistics at UC Berkeley — stated in their research that March 9 was the date by which Trump should have acted to prevent those deaths.
Instead, on that date, Trump was still lambasting those who had been critical of his response to coronavirus in the U.S. up to that point. “The Fake News Media and their partner, the Democrat Party, is doing everything within its semi-considerable power (it used to be greater!) to inflame the CoronaVirus situation, far beyond what the facts would warrant,” Trump tweeted on that date.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-05-18--71 New COVID Cases Detected in Wisconsin Following GOP-Enforced In-Person Voting

At least 71 individuals in the state of Wisconsin who voted in person or performed tasks as poll workers during the April 7 statewide election contracted coronavirus just a few weeks later , according to the state ’ s Department of Health Services .
Gov .
Tony Evers had attempted to delay the spring election , first by asking the Republican-controlled state legislature to postpone the vote .
When GOP lawmakers refused to cooperate , Evers took executive action on his own , but the state Supreme Court ruled his executive order as inappropriate on April 6 .
Later in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Court also ruled against an absentee ballot extension Evers had also imposed , which would give voters the chance to vote without having to go to the polls .
Both rulings meant that a number of state residents would have to vote in person during the spring election .
It ’ s unclear whether those 71 people who tested positive for the disease had contracted it at polling places that day or not — it ’ s possible , for example , that a number of them had been exposed to coronavirus in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , however , sheds some light on the subject , and suggests that having the polls open on that day likely led to a spread of the disease .
Economists conducting research at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Ball State University say they ’ ve gathered data demonstrating counties across the state saw a higher rate of coronavirus cases if they also had higher in-person voting rates during the spring election .
While the researchers admitted their data was not complete , the correlation between voting in person and higher COVID-19 rates seemed @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we see a large increase in COVID-19 cases in the weeks following the election in counties that had more in-person votes per voting location .
Furthermore , we find a consistent negative relationship between absentee voting and the rate of positive COVID-19 tests , ” the study ’ s authors wrote .
In other words , in counties with high absentee ballot rates ( and low in-person voting numbers ) , incidents of coronavirus didn ’ t appear to rise as steadily as they did in counties with higher in-person voting numbers .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ every increase of 100 individuals within a county who cast in-person ballots on April 7 , there was generally a consistent 3.4 percent uptick in coronavirus cases observed two to three weeks later .
Conversely , greater use of absentee ballots saw less instances of coronavirus cases , though the observed decreases were less than 1 percent , on average , for every 10,000 absentee votes cast .
Last week , the state Supreme Court ruled against Evers yet again , finding his stay-at-home executive orders to be unconstitutional .
Their ruling effectively @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the exception of a few pockets of local governments that instituted their own stay-at-home orders immediately after the decision was made .
In response , many citizens across the state flocked to reopened bars and restaurants , often without wearing masks or observing other social distancing measures .

Dozens of individuals who voted in-person or worked at polls during the spring elections have contracted the disease.
At least 71 individuals in the state of Wisconsin who voted in person or performed tasks as poll workers during the April 7 statewide election contracted coronavirus just a few weeks later, according to the state’s Department of Health Services.
Gov. Tony Evers had attempted to delay the spring election, first by asking the Republican-controlled state legislature to postpone the vote. When GOP lawmakers refused to cooperate, Evers took executive action on his own, but the state Supreme Court ruled his executive order as inappropriate on April 6. Later in the same day, the U.S. Supreme Court also ruled against an absentee ballot extension Evers had also imposed, which would give voters the chance to vote without having to go to the polls.
Both rulings meant that a number of state residents would have to vote in person during the spring election.
It’s unclear whether those 71 people who tested positive for the disease had contracted it at polling places that day or not — it’s possible, for example, that a number of them had been exposed to coronavirus in some other way. A new study, however, sheds some light on the subject, and suggests that having the polls open on that day likely led to a spread of the disease.
Economists conducting research at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and Ball State University say they’ve gathered data demonstrating counties across the state saw a higher rate of coronavirus cases if they also had higher in-person voting rates during the spring election.
While the researchers admitted their data was not complete, the correlation between voting in person and higher COVID-19 rates seemed apparent.
“Across all models, we see a large increase in COVID-19 cases in the weeks following the election in counties that had more in-person votes per voting location. Furthermore, we find a consistent negative relationship between absentee voting and the rate of positive COVID-19 tests,” the study’s authors wrote.
In other words, in counties with high absentee ballot rates (and low in-person voting numbers), incidents of coronavirus didn’t appear to rise as steadily as they did in counties with higher in-person voting numbers.
The study also found that, for every increase of 100 individuals within a county who cast in-person ballots on April 7, there was generally a consistent 3.4 percent uptick in coronavirus cases observed two to three weeks later. Conversely, greater use of absentee ballots saw less instances of coronavirus cases, though the observed decreases were less than 1 percent, on average, for every 10,000 absentee votes cast.
Last week, the state Supreme Court ruled against Evers yet again, finding his stay-at-home executive orders to be unconstitutional.
Their ruling effectively “reopened” the state, with the exception of a few pockets of local governments that instituted their own stay-at-home orders immediately after the decision was made. In response, many citizens across the state flocked to reopened bars and restaurants, often without wearing masks or observing other social distancing measures.
Tired of reading the same old news from the same old sources? So are we! That’s why we’re on a mission to shake things up and bring you the stories and perspectives that often go untold in mainstream media. But being a radically, unapologetically independent news site isn’t easy (or cheap), and we rely on reader support to keep the lights on.
If you like what you’re reading, please consider making a tax-deductible donation today. We’re not asking for a handout, we’re asking for an investment: Invest in a nonprofit news site that’s not afraid to ruffle a few feathers, not afraid to stand up for what’s right, and not afraid to tell it like it is.
Copyright © Truthout. May not be reprinted without permission.


truthout--2020-05-18--How Will COVID-19 Change the World?

How Will COVID-19 Change the World?

AMY GOODMAN : This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
Forty-eight states are at least partially reopening this week , even as more than a dozen states are seeing an uptick in cases , and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns the U.S. death toll will pass 100,000 by the beginning of June .
Last week , ousted U.S. vaccine chief Rick Bright testified that if the U.S. fails to improve its response to the virus , COVID-19 could resurge after summer and lead to the “ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ hot spots Italy and United Kingdom are both also slowly reopening businesses .
This comes as the World Health Organization will meet virtually today with all 194 member states , and the global coronavirus death count passes 315,000 with more than 4.7 million confirmed infections .
This is Dr. Mike Ryan , head of the World Health Organization ’ s Emergencies Programme , speaking at a recent briefing .
AMY GOODMAN : Well , as global leaders prepare to discuss what to expect in the months and years to come , we ’ @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the history of pandemics and how they end , with the renowned historian Frank Snowden .
He ’ s a professor emeritus of the history of medicine at Yale University and author of the new book , Epidemics and Society : From the Black Death to the Present .
Professor Snowden is joining us from Rome , Italy , where he traveled for research before the coronavirus outbreak and has remained under quarantine since .
He has recently recovered from COVID-19 himself .
He also lived through a cholera outbreak in Rome while @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ago .
In his book , Professor Snowden writes , quote , “ Epidemic diseases are not random events that afflict societies capriciously and without warning .
On the contrary , every society produces its own specific vulnerabilities .
To study them is to understand that society ’ s structure , its standard of living , and its political priorities.
” Professor Frank Snowden , it ’ s wonderful to have you with us , albeit from Rome , where you ’ re under lockdown .
What an amazing history yourself , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ In Italy , you survived the cholera outbreak half a century ago , and now , though getting COVID-19 , you have survived this coronavirus pandemic .
Can you talk about those two experiences ?
FRANK SNOWDEN : Oh , certainly .
Thank you .
I ’ m delighted to be with you .
And the cholera outbreak was in 1973 .
It ’ s one of the reasons that I was — I took up an interest in the field , because the sorts of events that I was witnessing as a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ included such things as — Naples was the epicenter .
Rome was nonetheless affected , but Naples was the center .
And cars with Naples license plates were being stoned in the center of Rome .
And there are open-air markets in Rome , and the vendors there were having their stalls overturned , and they were being attacked by crowds as being guilty of spreading the disease .
At the same time , Italy , at this time , let ’ s remember , was the seventh industrial power in the world @ @ @ @ @ @ @ minister of health of this power went on television .
And what he did was to say that the microbe that causes the cholera is exquisitely sensitive to acid , so all you need to do is to take a lemon and squeeze just a bit of it on your raw muscles , and then you ’ ll be perfectly safe .
And , of course , if you believe that , you ’ re likely to believe just about anything .
And so , it was this sort of event that caught @ @ @ @ @ @ @ when I was studying something else entirely , there was a cholera outbreak in Italy , and I began thinking , in my studies , that actually this showed more conclusively what values were in Italy , in Italian society , what living standards were , and so on , than any other kind of work that I might do .
And so I moved into studying the history of epidemic diseases , and I ’ ve been doing that alongside an interest in modern Italian history , those two things ever since @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cholera story .
With the coronavirus story is that I finished a book , my book that you mentioned , kindly , in October .
It was published then .
And I had been quite concerned about the possibility of a major pandemic disease — not just myself , but many people were — and I wrote that in the book .
And so , I was stunned , though .
I didn ’ t know when it was likely to happen ; I thought one day in the future .
And so @ @ @ @ @ @ @ epidemic started .
And then , by the time I came to Italy in January , it really began to ramp up .
And very soon , I was living in the epicenter of the coronavirus at that time .
So , that was a very important experience for me .
I was not able to do the research I came to do , and I ’ ve devoted myself ever since to doing that .
And I guess you might say that I had a little bit too much enthusiasm for my @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fortunately , a mild case , and I ’ m here to tell the tale , and so I was lucky in that regard .
But I certainly have had a close look at this event , this series of events , in Italy , and I ’ ve been reading intensively about it and talking to people about it around the world .
AMY GOODMAN : And our condolences on the death of your sister just a few weeks ago .
FRANK SNOWDEN : Oh , aren ’ t you kind ?
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ of coronavirus , but , yes , and I wasn ’ t able to go back .
And that ’ s , you know , another part of the times we ’ re living in .
Thank you .
AMY GOODMAN : I mean , your family history is so fascinating , your father the first African American envoy to Italy in the 1950s .
He goes on to write Blacks in Antiquity and Before Color Prejudice .
And your connection , all of these years , to studying Italy , until now @ @ @ @ @ @ @ months .
Can you talk about the comparison of the lockdown there and what you ’ re viewing , your country here , the United States ?
You joked about — not really joked , but talked about lemon as a cure .
Do you see comparisons to the president of the United States , President Trump , telling people to inject themselves with disinfectants ?
FRANK SNOWDEN : I ’ m glad you asked that question .
And I would say that what I ’ ve observed here , I ’ ve @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in the States , about Italy ’ s terrible response to the coronavirus .
And I find that surprising , because it seems to me quite the opposite .
First thing has to do with compliance .
And there , I think a lot has to do with the messaging .
That is to say that in this country , you have a single health authority , and it acted — it acted quickly and responsibly , and it imposed social distancing .
And as it did so , there wasn ’ t @ @ @ @ @ @ @ speaking differently from his advisers , differently from the governments of 50 states , from local school boards , local mayors , different members of Congress .
No , there was one policy .
It was announced .
It was explained very clearly to the population that until we have a vaccine , that we have exactly one weapon to deal with this emergency , and that ’ s social distancing .
And therefore , if we — Italians were told , if we Italians want to save our country , we have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ re all in the same boat .
This is the only means available to save the country , to save our families , to protect our communities , to protect ourselves .
And as a result , there ’ s been — and I ’ ve observed this even in the neighborhood where I ’ m living , that the compliance has been extraordinary .
There haven ’ t been protests against it as in the States .
And I would say that it ’ s interesting that the local newspaper — it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ means “ The Messenger ” — had an article in which it said this is the first time in 3,000 years of Rome ’ s history that the population of Romans has ever been obedient .
And I think that ’ s because people were — the government was very clear .
Vans went through the neighborhoods .
There were posters everywhere .
The regulations were explained to everyone .
They were very severe , more severe than in the States .
But people were justifiably afraid .
The government explained why this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ afraid , and they wanted to do something .
I myself heard the kinds of conversations that people had when they were waiting outside grocery stores , were wearing their masks , and they were conversing with each other and saying things like “ I wonder if this was like the way it was during World War II .
Is this maybe the way it was during the Blitz in London , that everyone is in this together , it ’ s a terrible sacrifice , but this is what we have to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that I observed .
And now that I ’ m able to go outside again the last few days , I ’ ve observed on the streets again that this compliance is continuing .
People have been well educated in the dangers of the coronavirus .
And quite frankly , no one wants it to surge up again .
I would say that ’ s the basis of it .
The opposite is happening and has happened in the United States , where we had , as I said , this cacophony of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ an extraordinarily confusing way , and our great CDC , the world sort of model , the gold standard for emergency response , being underfunded and almost invisible throughout this crisis .
So , it ’ s been staggering , a country that has extraordinary medical centers , has this extraordinary CDC , wonderful doctors , an extraordinary tradition of scientific research in universities , national labs like the NIH , and yet — and yet , when this virus approaches , it has been unable to respond — unwilling to respond , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a single message to the American public .
And so the public is confused .
AMY GOODMAN : And you have the president also defunding the World Health Organization , an organization you have studied for years .
You quote Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization upon his return from China .
Can you tell us what he said , Professor Snowden ?
FRANK SNOWDEN : Yes .
He said that the world — China has had a model response , and the world will soon realize that it owes China a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of opportunity it provided by delaying the further onset of this virus , which gave the world a chance to prepare to meet it .
That ’ s essentially what he said on return .
AMY GOODMAN : Did he also talk about people having to change their hearts and minds to deal with this global catastrophe ?
FRANK SNOWDEN : Yes .
That was the second thing he said , that he said we must be prepared .
And people said , “ Well , how do we prepare ?
” And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that happens is that we need to change our hearts and minds , because that ’ s the premise for everything else that we need to do.
” AMY GOODMAN : Professor Frank Snowden , you have long studied epidemics , and I was wondering if , in the brief time we have together , though we do have the whole show — if you can go back in time to the bubonic plague and very briefly talk about the Black Death , caused by a bacteria , then move on to smallpox @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , from Haiti to the United States , and its connection to — this caused by a virus — its connection to colonization , to colonialism .
Start with the Black Death .
FRANK SNOWDEN : Oh , absolutely .
The Black Death reached Western Europe in 1347 .
It broke out first in the city of Messina in Sicily and spread through the whole continent .
And it lasted until , in Western Europe — the story to the east is rather different , but in Western Europe , the last case @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
So , that makes , unless I have my math wrong , 400 years in which it ravaged Europe and killed extraordinary numbers of people .
Now , this is a disease that ’ s spread by fleas , also by — and they ’ re carried by rats .
It also can be spread through the air in a pulmonary form .
And it ’ s extraordinarily lethal .
It ’ s something like 50 % of those who get the disease from being bitten by fleas perish .
Nowadays we @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of the Black Death , we didn ’ t , of course , and so 50 % of those afflicted died .
And the pneumonic version of the disease is 100 % lethal .
Even today , it ’ s almost 100 % lethal .
And so , this is an extraordinarily dangerous disease .
Its symptoms are also extremely powerful , painful and dehumanizing , and patients die in agony .
And this can — it strikes very quickly , and so people can also be struck down in public .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as people collapse in the streets .
So , this — AMY GOODMAN : Professor Snowden , the people suffered from what ?
Buboes , these massive inflammations of the lymph nodes ?
FRANK SNOWDEN : Yes .
That ’ s as the disease spreads from the flea bite to the lymph node .
There ’ s a massive inflammation , and you have a swelling , let us say , in your thigh or under your armpit or in your neck , that ’ s maybe the size of an orange , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ skin .
And it was said to be so painful that people even jumped into the — in London , into the Thames , into the Arno in Florence , to escape from the agony of this terrible pain they were suffering .
But there were other symptoms , as well : terrible fevers and also hallucinations , as people — it has neurological effects .
That ’ s part of the dehumanizing side of it .
There are these skin discolorations .
There are many symptoms , and it ’ s an @ @ @ @ @ @ @ still exists , by the way .
There are people who think that it ’ s just a medieval disease .
No , there are something like 3,000 people around the world who die of bubonic plague every year , and some — a trickle in the United States , in the Southwest in particular , where there is a reservoir of it .
So , it ’ s still there .
AMY GOODMAN : You knew a woman in Arizona who had bubonic plague ?
FRANK SNOWDEN : Yes , I knew @ @ @ @ @ @ @ plague , because they ’ re a disease — endemic disease of prairie dogs in the Southwest of the United States .
And if pet dogs are taken out into areas where the prairie dogs live , they can have an exchange of fleas , and the fleas can be brought back to a hotel or motel .
And that ’ s what happened to my friend .
There were contaminated fleas in the room where she slept , and therefore she became a — she survived but was a victim of bubonic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , we could be — AMY GOODMAN : Professor Snowden , you talk about the bubonic plague , the responses to it , being quarantined , the sanitary cordons , mass surveillance and other forms of state power .
And I also want to follow that through with these pandemics , is you have — you also are a scholar of fascism and the direction countries can go when such a crisis happens .
FRANK SNOWDEN : Yes .
Well , one of the things , I think , if a 15th century @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time machine today to look at what we as a society are doing , he or she would find it a rather familiar landscape .
That is to say , the things that you ’ re saying were adopted and devised as self-protection by the Italian city-states that were at the center of the trade in the Mediterranean , and so were repeatedly scourged .
So , yes , there was this terrible disease , and they dealt with it by creating health magistrates — we call them boards of health — by @ @ @ @ @ @ @ equipment , PPE , the masks , the long gowns , social distancing , hospital systems for dealing with this one single disease , the measure of quarantine — “ quarantine ” even being an Italian word , ” quaranta , ” for 40 days , because people were locked down for 40 days before they were released .
It had sanitary cordons .
All of this was part of the defensive measures that we see today and that were also present during the Spanish influenza .
Public health was a legacy of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ we look at these terrible events , we also need to remember that human beings are inventive and that there have been silver linings .
The development of public health , the development of science and scientific medicine are also gifts of these terrible events .
And indeed , I would say that the modern state is also part of — it was molded in part by the need for a centralized authority as part of our life protective system .
So , yes , the bubonic plague does that , and it @ @ @ @ @ @ @ ’ s not true to say that pandemics all do the same things .
There are some things that have been repeated again and again .
During the bubonic plague , the Black Death , the first years of it , there was this horrible surge of anti-Semitism across Europe , in France , in the Rhineland , in northern Italy , elsewhere .
And this was , in a way , the first Holocaust , when Jews were persecuted and put to death , not just in spontaneous ways by crowds , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were used to torture Jews into submission , to confessing crimes that of course they had never committed , and then they were judged and burned .
The Holy Roman Empire did this , and local authorities and leaders of city-states .
So this was a systematic purging and killing of Jews , who were thought to have — or so the case against them was that they were trying to put an end to Christendom and were poisoning the wells of Christians .
And so , you have Jews tortured , broken @ @ @ @ @ @ @ run through by the sword , and so on .
So , this xenophobia is — this blame , scapegoating , we see that today with the coronavirus .
It ’ s something that can happen , has repeatedly happened , with the idea that this is a Chinese disease .
It ’ s a foreign disease , we ’ re told , and therefore shutting borders against “ Chinamen.
” And we see that Chinese Americans , children being attacked in schools , Chinese Americans afraid to ride alone on the New @ @ @ @ @ @ @ groups so they won ’ t do that .
This is part of a long-term legacy of these diseases .
And we see it in Europe , as well .
Chinatowns were deserted long before the coronavirus actually arrived .
And the right-wing nationalist politicians of Europe have been using that , saying it ’ s been imported by immigrants .
So , that ’ s one of the false stories that ’ s followed in the wake of this .
So that ’ s another really terrible recurring feature of these pandemic @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lead to — you were asking about does this always increase state power .
Well , certainly , the Black Death in Eastern Europe , there were authoritarian countries , and they used these draconian , violent measures .
Yes , it was part of their assertion of power .
Indeed , this is one reason that these draconian measures appealed , because rulers , not knowing what to do , this gave the impression that they did : They knew what they were doing , and they were taking decisive measures .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ these sorts of measures would possibly be effective , and would certainly be a display of power and resolution .
So , we do see that happening .
But let ’ s take the Spanish influenza of 1918 , when , again , it ’ s a good comparison to today , because it was the time — it ’ s a respiratory disease .
It was terribly much more contagious than this and deadly .
Something like 100 million people are thought to have died around the world as a result of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ social distancing .
Assemblies were banned .
The wearing of masks was compulsory .
Spitting in public , which was very popular at the time , was forbidden , and there were heavy fines in places like New York City for doing so .
But it doesn ’ t result — measures were taken , but they were revoked at the end of the emergency , and one doesn ’ t find this leading , as it may in some countries , to a long-term reassertion of draconian power by political authorities .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ is mixed .
And remember , anything anyone says about it , we have to remember that this is very early in this pandemic , and so we ’ ll have to wait and see what the final results will be .
But we know already that Hungary and Poland have witnessed rulers who use COVID-19 as a cover for ulterior motives of becoming prime minister for life , with the capacity to rule by decree , to censor and shut down the press , to put their political enemies under arrest and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ t public health measures .
So , I would say , yes , it has this potential , but it ’ s not necessarily something that we ’ ll see around the globe , although there is that danger , and we ’ ve seen those two countries where it clearly is leading to exactly those results .
AMY GOODMAN : Frank Snowden , we have to break .
Then we ’ re going to come back , and I want to ask you about smallpox , about Haiti , the island of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Frank Snowden , professor emeritus of history of medicine at Yale University , author of the new book , Epidemics and Society : From the Black Death to the Present .
He is speaking to us from the lockdown in Rome , Italy .
Stay with us .
AMY GOODMAN : “ Killing Me Softly with His Song , ” performed by Marcella Bella .
This is Democracy Now !
, democracynow.org , The Quarantine Report .
We ’ re spending the hour with professor Frank Snowden , professor emeritus of history of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the book Epidemics and Society : From the Black Death to the Present .
He has devoted his life to looking at epidemics and teaching thousands of students .
He is now in Rome , Italy , where he has been for months , coincidentally went there for another project but got caught in the lockdown , got COVID-19 , has recovered from that , and we are lucky enough to have him as our guest for the hour .
Professor Snowden , take us to Hispaniola in 1492 , a different version @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Cortés and Pizarro , from the Incas in Peru to the Aztecs of Mexico , what happened in Haiti and in the United States when it came to smallpox .
FRANK SNOWDEN : Yes .
Well , Columbus landed at Hispaniola , the first place .
His idea — the Arawaks were the Native population , and there were a couple of million inhabiting the island when he arrived .
His idea was that he would be able to reduce them to slavery .
He wrote about how friendly the Arawaks were and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and his men .
But I ’ m afraid that the hospitality wasn ’ t reciprocal .
And Columbus ’ s view was this was a money-making expedition , and here it would be wonderful to have the Native population as mines in slaves , and mines to cultivate the fields .
The problem was that there was a differential mortality .
This has come to be called the Columbian exchange .
That is to say that Native populations in the New World didn ’ t have the same history of exposure to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same herd immunity to them .
The most dramatic example is smallpox .
Measles was another .
That is to say that Native Americans had never experienced those diseases .
Columbus and his men , on the other hand , had , because it was rife in Europe .
And so , unintentionally , for the most part , the Arawaks simply died off as they were exposed to these new diseases , smallpox and measles , and by 15 , 20 years later , there were just a couple thousand left .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Hispaniola there was the beginning — this is one of the reasons for the beginning of the African slave trade .
The Native population of the United States died from these diseases , and so the Europeans turned instead to importing people from Africa , because they shared many of the same bacterial histories , and therefore immunities , and could survive being enslaved in the Caribbean and then in the New World , on North America and also in South America .
So , we get the beginning of the slave @ @ @ @ @ @ @ this differential immunity .
This , then , on the wider scale of the New World , this was something that was — devastated the Native population .
When the Spaniards , the British , the French came , the Native population contracted their diseases and just was destroyed .
This destroyed the Inca and Aztec empires .
In fact , they were so devastated , that they lost their religion .
They thought the White man had much more powerful gods than they did , and so this drove the missionary and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ cleared the land for European settlers across the whole of the continent .
This was a tremendous impact of smallpox disease .
It ’ s called a virgin soil disease because they were so — the population had never experienced it and had no herd immunity .
There ’ s an irony that we can see .
Let ’ s go back to Hispaniola , that is now the island divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic .
And let ’ s talk about Haiti .
It was Saint-Domingue at the time , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ let ’ s remember that the French — this is now an island that had become , extraordinarily enough to think , the wealthiest colony in the world , the jewel of the French Empire .
And that is because of its sugar plantations .
And the sugar was exported to Europe and was the foundation of French wealth in this period .
And slaves are continuing to be imported throughout the 18th century at breakneck speed to cultivate the fields of sugarcane .
During the French Revolution , French power was neutralized @ @ @ @ @ @ @ toward slavery was entirely different .
And you got this upsurge of the slaves with the greatest slave revolt in history , led by the Haitian Spartacus , Toussaint Louverture .
And the colony was functionally operating under Toussaint Louverture ’ s control and was independent of France .
Napoleon — there was regime change , however , by 1799 , and Napoleon comes to power .
And by 1803 , he ’ s thinking that he wishes to put an end to this rebellion , to restore the Haitian rebels , to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to being this economic warehouse for France .
So he sends a tremendous armada , led by a general who was married to his sister Pauline .
And it was something like 60,000 troops and sailors who were sent to the former Hispaniola , now Saint-Domingue , to crush the revolt .
Once again , we see a difference in immunity to disease that proved decisive .
That is to say that yellow fever was something to which the African slaves had a differential immunity , whereas Europeans had no immunity .
They @ @ @ @ @ @ @ fever .
And so , what happens is that the French soldiers in Saint-Domingue begin to die at a rapid rate of a terrible epidemic of yellow fever that sweeps through the Caribbean and especially through Saint-Domingue .
And what happens , by — Toussaint Louverture was very aware of this and took advantage of it , luring the French troops , not fighting them in pitched battles but only small guerrilla campaigns , waiting for the summer months to come , and an upsurge of the disease , which happens .
And @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Paris to say — AMY GOODMAN : Professor Snowden , I ’ m only interrupting because we only have a minute .
Of course , Haiti becomes the first country born of a slave rebellion , as you are so graphically describing with an alternative view of history , that many may not have understood , with the role of disease .
But in this last minute we have , I wanted to ask you about how pandemics end and what you think will happen now .
FRANK SNOWDEN : I think there @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
Pandemics are all different , and they end in different ways .
Some die out because of sanitary measures that people take against them , so that we ’ re not vulnerable in the industrial world to cholera or typhoid fever , that are spread through the oral-fecal group , because we have sewers and clean , safe drinking water .
And other diseases end , like smallpox , because of vaccination , the development of a scientific tool .
So it really depends .
Some diseases are not very good candidates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that COVID-19 , I ’ m sure that we will develop a vaccine , but I also fear that it may not be the — it won ’ t be the magic bullet that people believe , that it will put this behind us , because the sort of features you want are , for an ideal candidate , like smallpox , a vaccine that doesn ’ t have an animal reservoir so it can ’ t return to us .
A vaccine is an ideal candidate if in nature it produces a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so people , having once had it , are totally immune for life .
That doesn ’ t seem to be the case with COVID-19 .
So I expect it to become long-term with us .
We ’ re going to have to learn to live with this disease .
It ’ s probably going to become an endemic disease , and so we ’ re going to have to adjust to — AMY GOODMAN : We ’ re going to have to leave it there .
And I want to thank you @ @ @ @ @ @ @ professor emeritus of history of medicine at Yale University , author of the new book , Epidemics and Society : From the Black Death to the Present .
I ’ m Amy Goodman .
Stay safe .

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman. Forty-eight states are at least partially reopening this week, even as more than a dozen states are seeing an uptick in cases, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention warns the U.S. death toll will pass 100,000 by the beginning of June. Last week, ousted U.S. vaccine chief Rick Bright testified that if the U.S. fails to improve its response to the virus, COVID-19 could resurge after summer and lead to the “darkest winter in modern history.” Coronavirus hot spots Italy and United Kingdom are both also slowly reopening businesses.
This comes as the World Health Organization will meet virtually today with all 194 member states, and the global coronavirus death count passes 315,000 with more than 4.7 million confirmed infections. This is Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the World Health Organization’s Emergencies Programme, speaking at a recent briefing.
DR. MICHAEL RYAN: To put this on the table, this virus may become just another endemic virus in our communities. And this virus may never go away. HIV has not gone away, but we’ve come to terms with the virus. Related Story News | Prisons & Policing Pandemic Policing Is Expanding the Use of Surveillance Technology Law enforcement agencies are already using small drones to enforce stay-at-home orders and social distancing measures. Truthout
AMY GOODMAN: Well, as global leaders prepare to discuss what to expect in the months and years to come, we’re going to look back today at the history of pandemics and how they end, with the renowned historian Frank Snowden. He’s a professor emeritus of the history of medicine at Yale University and author of the new book, Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present. Professor Snowden is joining us from Rome, Italy, where he traveled for research before the coronavirus outbreak and has remained under quarantine since. He has recently recovered from COVID-19 himself. He also lived through a cholera outbreak in Rome while conducting research there almost half a century ago.
In his book, Professor Snowden writes, quote, “Epidemic diseases are not random events that afflict societies capriciously and without warning. On the contrary, every society produces its own specific vulnerabilities. To study them is to understand that society’s structure, its standard of living, and its political priorities.”
Professor Frank Snowden, it’s wonderful to have you with us, albeit from Rome, where you’re under lockdown. What an amazing history yourself, as you are an expert in pandemics. In Italy, you survived the cholera outbreak half a century ago, and now, though getting COVID-19, you have survived this coronavirus pandemic. Can you talk about those two experiences?
FRANK SNOWDEN: Oh, certainly. Thank you. I’m delighted to be with you.
And the cholera outbreak was in 1973. It’s one of the reasons that I was — I took up an interest in the field, because the sorts of events that I was witnessing as a young man were quite extraordinary. They included such things as — Naples was the epicenter. Rome was nonetheless affected, but Naples was the center. And cars with Naples license plates were being stoned in the center of Rome. And there are open-air markets in Rome, and the vendors there were having their stalls overturned, and they were being attacked by crowds as being guilty of spreading the disease.
At the same time, Italy, at this time, let’s remember, was the seventh industrial power in the world, in the 1970s. And the minister of health of this power went on television. And what he did was to say that the microbe that causes the cholera is exquisitely sensitive to acid, so all you need to do is to take a lemon and squeeze just a bit of it on your raw muscles, and then you’ll be perfectly safe. And, of course, if you believe that, you’re likely to believe just about anything. And so, it was this sort of event that caught my attention.
And later on, when I was studying something else entirely, there was a cholera outbreak in Italy, and I began thinking, in my studies, that actually this showed more conclusively what values were in Italy, in Italian society, what living standards were, and so on, than any other kind of work that I might do. And so I moved into studying the history of epidemic diseases, and I’ve been doing that alongside an interest in modern Italian history, those two things ever since. So, that’s the cholera story.
With the coronavirus story is that I finished a book, my book that you mentioned, kindly, in October. It was published then. And I had been quite concerned about the possibility of a major pandemic disease — not just myself, but many people were — and I wrote that in the book. And so, I was stunned, though. I didn’t know when it was likely to happen; I thought one day in the future. And so I was stunned that in December the epidemic started.
And then, by the time I came to Italy in January, it really began to ramp up. And very soon, I was living in the epicenter of the coronavirus at that time. So, that was a very important experience for me. I was not able to do the research I came to do, and I’ve devoted myself ever since to doing that. And I guess you might say that I had a little bit too much enthusiasm for my work and caught the disease myself — fortunately, a mild case, and I’m here to tell the tale, and so I was lucky in that regard. But I certainly have had a close look at this event, this series of events, in Italy, and I’ve been reading intensively about it and talking to people about it around the world.
AMY GOODMAN: And our condolences on the death of your sister just a few weeks ago.
FRANK SNOWDEN: Oh, aren’t you kind? Yes, that was not a result of coronavirus, but, yes, and I wasn’t able to go back. And that’s, you know, another part of the times we’re living in. Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: I mean, your family history is so fascinating, your father the first African American envoy to Italy in the 1950s. He goes on to write Blacks in Antiquity and Before Color Prejudice. And your connection, all of these years, to studying Italy, until now — you are locked down there for months. Can you talk about the comparison of the lockdown there and what you’re viewing, your country here, the United States? You joked about — not really joked, but talked about lemon as a cure. Do you see comparisons to the president of the United States, President Trump, telling people to inject themselves with disinfectants?
FRANK SNOWDEN: I’m glad you asked that question. And I would say that what I’ve observed here, I’ve heard a lot of discussion across — in the States, about Italy’s terrible response to the coronavirus. And I find that surprising, because it seems to me quite the opposite.
First thing has to do with compliance. And there, I think a lot has to do with the messaging. That is to say that in this country, you have a single health authority, and it acted — it acted quickly and responsibly, and it imposed social distancing. And as it did so, there wasn’t a cacophony of noise from a president speaking differently from his advisers, differently from the governments of 50 states, from local school boards, local mayors, different members of Congress. No, there was one policy. It was announced. It was explained very clearly to the population that until we have a vaccine, that we have exactly one weapon to deal with this emergency, and that’s social distancing. And therefore, if we — Italians were told, if we Italians want to save our country, we have to do it together. We’re all in the same boat. This is the only means available to save the country, to save our families, to protect our communities, to protect ourselves.
And as a result, there’s been — and I’ve observed this even in the neighborhood where I’m living, that the compliance has been extraordinary. There haven’t been protests against it as in the States. And I would say that it’s interesting that the local newspaper — it’s called Il Messaggero, which means “The Messenger” — had an article in which it said this is the first time in 3,000 years of Rome’s history that the population of Romans has ever been obedient. And I think that’s because people were — the government was very clear. Vans went through the neighborhoods. There were posters everywhere. The regulations were explained to everyone. They were very severe, more severe than in the States. But people were justifiably afraid. The government explained why this was a danger, and people were afraid, and they wanted to do something.
I myself heard the kinds of conversations that people had when they were waiting outside grocery stores, were wearing their masks, and they were conversing with each other and saying things like “I wonder if this was like the way it was during World War II. Is this maybe the way it was during the Blitz in London, that everyone is in this together, it’s a terrible sacrifice, but this is what we have to do?” This was the attitude that I observed.
And now that I’m able to go outside again the last few days, I’ve observed on the streets again that this compliance is continuing. People have been well educated in the dangers of the coronavirus. And quite frankly, no one wants it to surge up again. I would say that’s the basis of it.
The opposite is happening and has happened in the United States, where we had, as I said, this cacophony of fragmented authorities all saying different things in an extraordinarily confusing way, and our great CDC, the world sort of model, the gold standard for emergency response, being underfunded and almost invisible throughout this crisis. So, it’s been staggering, a country that has extraordinary medical centers, has this extraordinary CDC, wonderful doctors, an extraordinary tradition of scientific research in universities, national labs like the NIH, and yet — and yet, when this virus approaches, it has been unable to respond — unwilling to respond, in a scientific, coherent way with a single message to the American public. And so the public is confused.
AMY GOODMAN: And you have the president also defunding the World Health Organization, an organization you have studied for years. You quote Bruce Aylward of the World Health Organization upon his return from China. Can you tell us what he said, Professor Snowden?
FRANK SNOWDEN: Yes. He said that the world — China has had a model response, and the world will soon realize that it owes China a debt of gratitude for the long window of opportunity it provided by delaying the further onset of this virus, which gave the world a chance to prepare to meet it. That’s essentially what he said on return.
AMY GOODMAN: Did he also talk about people having to change their hearts and minds to deal with this global catastrophe?
FRANK SNOWDEN: Yes. That was the second thing he said, that he said we must be prepared. And people said, “Well, how do we prepare?” And he said, “The first thing that happens is that we need to change our hearts and minds, because that’s the premise for everything else that we need to do.”
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Frank Snowden, you have long studied epidemics, and I was wondering if, in the brief time we have together, though we do have the whole show — if you can go back in time to the bubonic plague and very briefly talk about the Black Death, caused by a bacteria, then move on to smallpox, how it wiped out Indigenous people, from Haiti to the United States, and its connection to — this caused by a virus — its connection to colonization, to colonialism. Start with the Black Death.
FRANK SNOWDEN: Oh, absolutely. The Black Death reached Western Europe in 1347. It broke out first in the city of Messina in Sicily and spread through the whole continent. And it lasted until, in Western Europe — the story to the east is rather different, but in Western Europe, the last case was once again in Messina in 1734. So, that makes, unless I have my math wrong, 400 years in which it ravaged Europe and killed extraordinary numbers of people.
Now, this is a disease that’s spread by fleas, also by — and they’re carried by rats. It also can be spread through the air in a pulmonary form. And it’s extraordinarily lethal. It’s something like 50% of those who get the disease from being bitten by fleas perish. Nowadays we have antibiotics, but at the time of the Black Death, we didn’t, of course, and so 50% of those afflicted died. And the pneumonic version of the disease is 100% lethal. Even today, it’s almost 100% lethal.
And so, this is an extraordinarily dangerous disease. Its symptoms are also extremely powerful, painful and dehumanizing, and patients die in agony. And this can — it strikes very quickly, and so people can also be struck down in public. And so this becomes a terrifying public spectacle as people collapse in the streets. So, this —
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Snowden, the people suffered from what? Buboes, these massive inflammations of the lymph nodes?
FRANK SNOWDEN: Yes. That’s as the disease spreads from the flea bite to the lymph node. There’s a massive inflammation, and you have a swelling, let us say, in your thigh or under your armpit or in your neck, that’s maybe the size of an orange, a large navel orange, under your skin. And it was said to be so painful that people even jumped into the — in London, into the Thames, into the Arno in Florence, to escape from the agony of this terrible pain they were suffering.
But there were other symptoms, as well: terrible fevers and also hallucinations, as people — it has neurological effects. That’s part of the dehumanizing side of it. There are these skin discolorations. There are many symptoms, and it’s an entirely dreadful and horrible disease.
It still exists, by the way. There are people who think that it’s just a medieval disease. No, there are something like 3,000 people around the world who die of bubonic plague every year, and some — a trickle in the United States, in the Southwest in particular, where there is a reservoir of it. So, it’s still there.
AMY GOODMAN: You knew a woman in Arizona who had bubonic plague?
FRANK SNOWDEN: Yes, I knew someone in Arizona who got the bubonic plague, because they’re a disease — endemic disease of prairie dogs in the Southwest of the United States. And if pet dogs are taken out into areas where the prairie dogs live, they can have an exchange of fleas, and the fleas can be brought back to a hotel or motel. And that’s what happened to my friend. There were contaminated fleas in the room where she slept, and therefore she became a — she survived but was a victim of bubonic plague in the 21st century. So, we could be —
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Snowden, you talk about the bubonic plague, the responses to it, being quarantined, the sanitary cordons, mass surveillance and other forms of state power. And I also want to follow that through with these pandemics, is you have — you also are a scholar of fascism and the direction countries can go when such a crisis happens.
FRANK SNOWDEN: Yes. Well, one of the things, I think, if a 15th century Florentine were to come back in a time machine today to look at what we as a society are doing, he or she would find it a rather familiar landscape. That is to say, the things that you’re saying were adopted and devised as self-protection by the Italian city-states that were at the center of the trade in the Mediterranean, and so were repeatedly scourged.
So, yes, there was this terrible disease, and they dealt with it by creating health magistrates — we call them boards of health — by creating the first forms of personal protective equipment, PPE, the masks, the long gowns, social distancing, hospital systems for dealing with this one single disease, the measure of quarantine — “quarantine” even being an Italian word, ”quaranta,” for 40 days, because people were locked down for 40 days before they were released. It had sanitary cordons. All of this was part of the defensive measures that we see today and that were also present during the Spanish influenza.
Public health was a legacy of the bubonic plague. So, while we look at these terrible events, we also need to remember that human beings are inventive and that there have been silver linings. The development of public health, the development of science and scientific medicine are also gifts of these terrible events. And indeed, I would say that the modern state is also part of — it was molded in part by the need for a centralized authority as part of our life protective system. So, yes, the bubonic plague does that, and it affected every area of society.
It’s not true to say that pandemics all do the same things. There are some things that have been repeated again and again. During the bubonic plague, the Black Death, the first years of it, there was this horrible surge of anti-Semitism across Europe, in France, in the Rhineland, in northern Italy, elsewhere. And this was, in a way, the first Holocaust, when Jews were persecuted and put to death, not just in spontaneous ways by crowds, but the bureaucratic apparatuses of political authorities were used to torture Jews into submission, to confessing crimes that of course they had never committed, and then they were judged and burned. The Holy Roman Empire did this, and local authorities and leaders of city-states. So this was a systematic purging and killing of Jews, who were thought to have — or so the case against them was that they were trying to put an end to Christendom and were poisoning the wells of Christians. And so, you have Jews tortured, broken on the wheel, burned alive, run through by the sword, and so on.
So, this xenophobia is — this blame, scapegoating, we see that today with the coronavirus. It’s something that can happen, has repeatedly happened, with the idea that this is a Chinese disease. It’s a foreign disease, we’re told, and therefore shutting borders against “Chinamen.” And we see that Chinese Americans, children being attacked in schools, Chinese Americans afraid to ride alone on the New York subway and arranging to travel in groups so they won’t do that. This is part of a long-term legacy of these diseases. And we see it in Europe, as well. Chinatowns were deserted long before the coronavirus actually arrived. And the right-wing nationalist politicians of Europe have been using that, saying it’s been imported by immigrants. So, that’s one of the false stories that’s followed in the wake of this. So that’s another really terrible recurring feature of these pandemic diseases.
They don’t always lead to — you were asking about does this always increase state power. Well, certainly, the Black Death in Eastern Europe, there were authoritarian countries, and they used these draconian, violent measures. Yes, it was part of their assertion of power. Indeed, this is one reason that these draconian measures appealed, because rulers, not knowing what to do, this gave the impression that they did: They knew what they were doing, and they were taking decisive measures. And so, it was thought that these sorts of measures would possibly be effective, and would certainly be a display of power and resolution. So, we do see that happening.
But let’s take the Spanish influenza of 1918, when, again, it’s a good comparison to today, because it was the time — it’s a respiratory disease. It was terribly much more contagious than this and deadly. Something like 100 million people are thought to have died around the world as a result of the Spanish influenza. And people practiced social distancing. Assemblies were banned. The wearing of masks was compulsory. Spitting in public, which was very popular at the time, was forbidden, and there were heavy fines in places like New York City for doing so. But it doesn’t result — measures were taken, but they were revoked at the end of the emergency, and one doesn’t find this leading, as it may in some countries, to a long-term reassertion of draconian power by political authorities.
With COVID-19, I think the message is mixed. And remember, anything anyone says about it, we have to remember that this is very early in this pandemic, and so we’ll have to wait and see what the final results will be. But we know already that Hungary and Poland have witnessed rulers who use COVID-19 as a cover for ulterior motives of becoming prime minister for life, with the capacity to rule by decree, to censor and shut down the press, to put their political enemies under arrest and so on. And those aren’t public health measures. So, I would say, yes, it has this potential, but it’s not necessarily something that we’ll see around the globe, although there is that danger, and we’ve seen those two countries where it clearly is leading to exactly those results.
AMY GOODMAN: Frank Snowden, we have to break. Then we’re going to come back, and I want to ask you about smallpox, about Haiti, the island of Hispaniola, and about Native Americans. Frank Snowden, professor emeritus of history of medicine at Yale University, author of the new book, Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present. He is speaking to us from the lockdown in Rome, Italy. Stay with us.
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AMY GOODMAN: “Killing Me Softly with His Song,” performed by Marcella Bella. This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. We’re spending the hour with professor Frank Snowden, professor emeritus of history of medicine at Yale University, author of the book Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present. He has devoted his life to looking at epidemics and teaching thousands of students. He is now in Rome, Italy, where he has been for months, coincidentally went there for another project but got caught in the lockdown, got COVID-19, has recovered from that, and we are lucky enough to have him as our guest for the hour.
Professor Snowden, take us to Hispaniola in 1492, a different version of history that we learn about Hernán Cortés and Pizarro, from the Incas in Peru to the Aztecs of Mexico, what happened in Haiti and in the United States when it came to smallpox.
FRANK SNOWDEN: Yes. Well, Columbus landed at Hispaniola, the first place. His idea — the Arawaks were the Native population, and there were a couple of million inhabiting the island when he arrived. His idea was that he would be able to reduce them to slavery. He wrote about how friendly the Arawaks were and how welcoming to him, his ships and his men. But I’m afraid that the hospitality wasn’t reciprocal. And Columbus’s view was this was a money-making expedition, and here it would be wonderful to have the Native population as mines in slaves, and mines to cultivate the fields.
The problem was that there was a differential mortality. This has come to be called the Columbian exchange. That is to say that Native populations in the New World didn’t have the same history of exposure to various diseases, and therefore not the same herd immunity to them. The most dramatic example is smallpox. Measles was another. That is to say that Native Americans had never experienced those diseases. Columbus and his men, on the other hand, had, because it was rife in Europe. And so, unintentionally, for the most part, the Arawaks simply died off as they were exposed to these new diseases, smallpox and measles, and by 15, 20 years later, there were just a couple thousand left.
And it was at this time that in Hispaniola there was the beginning — this is one of the reasons for the beginning of the African slave trade. The Native population of the United States died from these diseases, and so the Europeans turned instead to importing people from Africa, because they shared many of the same bacterial histories, and therefore immunities, and could survive being enslaved in the Caribbean and then in the New World, on North America and also in South America. So, we get the beginning of the slave trade in part as a result to this differential immunity.
This, then, on the wider scale of the New World, this was something that was — devastated the Native population. When the Spaniards, the British, the French came, the Native population contracted their diseases and just was destroyed. This destroyed the Inca and Aztec empires. In fact, they were so devastated, that they lost their religion. They thought the White man had much more powerful gods than they did, and so this drove the missionary and conversion experience, as well, and cleared the land for European settlers across the whole of the continent. This was a tremendous impact of smallpox disease. It’s called a virgin soil disease because they were so — the population had never experienced it and had no herd immunity.
There’s an irony that we can see. Let’s go back to Hispaniola, that is now the island divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. And let’s talk about Haiti. It was Saint-Domingue at the time, by the 18th century certainly. And let’s remember that the French — this is now an island that had become, extraordinarily enough to think, the wealthiest colony in the world, the jewel of the French Empire. And that is because of its sugar plantations. And the sugar was exported to Europe and was the foundation of French wealth in this period. And slaves are continuing to be imported throughout the 18th century at breakneck speed to cultivate the fields of sugarcane.
During the French Revolution, French power was neutralized. The attitude of the French revolutionaries toward slavery was entirely different. And you got this upsurge of the slaves with the greatest slave revolt in history, led by the Haitian Spartacus, Toussaint Louverture. And the colony was functionally operating under Toussaint Louverture’s control and was independent of France. Napoleon — there was regime change, however, by 1799, and Napoleon comes to power. And by 1803, he’s thinking that he wishes to put an end to this rebellion, to restore the Haitian rebels, to reenslave them and to restore the colony to being this economic warehouse for France. So he sends a tremendous armada, led by a general who was married to his sister Pauline. And it was something like 60,000 troops and sailors who were sent to the former Hispaniola, now Saint-Domingue, to crush the revolt.
Once again, we see a difference in immunity to disease that proved decisive. That is to say that yellow fever was something to which the African slaves had a differential immunity, whereas Europeans had no immunity. They had no history of experience with yellow fever. And so, what happens is that the French soldiers in Saint-Domingue begin to die at a rapid rate of a terrible epidemic of yellow fever that sweeps through the Caribbean and especially through Saint-Domingue. And what happens, by — Toussaint Louverture was very aware of this and took advantage of it, luring the French troops, not fighting them in pitched battles but only small guerrilla campaigns, waiting for the summer months to come, and an upsurge of the disease, which happens. And pretty soon the French commander writes to Paris to say —
AMY GOODMAN: Professor Snowden, I’m only interrupting because we only have a minute. Of course, Haiti becomes the first country born of a slave rebellion, as you are so graphically describing with an alternative view of history, that many may not have understood, with the role of disease. But in this last minute we have, I wanted to ask you about how pandemics end and what you think will happen now.
FRANK SNOWDEN: I think there’s not one answer to that. Pandemics are all different, and they end in different ways. Some die out because of sanitary measures that people take against them, so that we’re not vulnerable in the industrial world to cholera or typhoid fever, that are spread through the oral-fecal group, because we have sewers and clean, safe drinking water. And other diseases end, like smallpox, because of vaccination, the development of a scientific tool. So it really depends. Some diseases are not very good candidates for vaccines.
And I would say that COVID-19, I’m sure that we will develop a vaccine, but I also fear that it may not be the — it won’t be the magic bullet that people believe, that it will put this behind us, because the sort of features you want are, for an ideal candidate, like smallpox, a vaccine that doesn’t have an animal reservoir so it can’t return to us. A vaccine is an ideal candidate if in nature it produces a robust immunity in the human body, so people, having once had it, are totally immune for life. That doesn’t seem to be the case with COVID-19. So I expect it to become long-term with us. We’re going to have to learn to live with this disease. It’s probably going to become an endemic disease, and so we’re going to have to adjust to —
AMY GOODMAN: We’re going to have to leave it there. And I want to thank you so much, Professor Frank Snowden, professor emeritus of history of medicine at Yale University, author of the new book, Epidemics and Society: From the Black Death to the Present. I’m Amy Goodman. Stay safe.