FEATURING LAURA CARLSEN – Mexico has finally declared a national emergency over the coronavirus pandemic this week after the World Health Organization says that confirmed cases of infection surpassed 1,000. Still the country has far fewer confirmed cases than the US and has only recently begun implementing social distancing measures and advising people to limit contact with one another. 

Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, as of mid-March was ignoring the dangers of the Covid-19 virus, saying instead that he would rely on “good luck” charms to keep himself safe. He has also come under intense criticism for ignoring his own government’s recommendations this past Saturday and traveling to Sinaloa to meet with the mother of the notorious drug lord El Chapo. 

Laura Carlsen, Director of the Americas Program of the Center for International Policy, a columnist for Foreign Policy In Focus, based in Mexico City. 

6.6 million Americans filed for unemployment benefits in the last week of March, a staggering figure, twice that from the week before and bringing the total figure for the month of March to over 10 million. Economists are speculating that the real figure may be much higher due to the lag time between losing one’s job and filing for unemployment. Additionally complaints abound of newly fired workers being unable to get through on the phone to file for benefits. Even if the government were to launch another aid package, some are speculating that the best-case scenario would be 20 million unemployed by this summer. Although the government has not yet released its official unemployment rate, it has likely jumped to 10%, up from 3.5% in February. In comparison, unemployment peaked at 10% during the worst month of the Great Recession of 2008-2009. The Washington Post explained, “Nations like Denmark chose to pay all workers so they would keep their jobs, even if they are at home. But the United States has largely left it up to companies to decide what to do.” 

NBC explained that the figures from last week are the, “single largest mass-unemployment event ever recorded in the U.S.” Additionally workers at government unemployment offices are inundated and overwhelmed: “Representatives for state unemployment offices across the country say the shock of such numbers has hit their workers almost as hard as the people calling after losing their jobs — and they describe the wrenching emotional toll the work is taking on call center staff, many of whom are still required to come into the office.” Gig workers are particularly hard hit by the economic crash with several states including California, Illinois, and Washington saying there will be processing delays for aid for such workers. Senators Bernie Sanders, Chuck Schumer and Ron Wyden on Wednesday sent a letter to Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia reminding him that, “it is absolutely imperative that the millions of Americans who are eligible for unemployment benefits receive every dollar to which they are entitled as quickly as possible.” The letter asked Scalia 11 questions about how he plans to address the massive onslaught of unemployed people applying for benefits including gig workers, reducing phone wait times, website crashes, and more. 

Linked to the massive record-breaking unemployment figures is a hunger crisis developing across the country. According to The Guardian newspaper, “About one in three people seeking groceries at not-for-profit pantries last month have never previously needed emergency food aid.” The Director one of organization overseeing dozens of food banks told the paper, “I’ve been in this business over 30 years, and nothing compares to what we’re seeing now.”

The organizer of a work stoppage at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York who was fired this week has spoken out. Chris Smalls published an op-ed on Thursday addressing Amazon CEO and founder Jeff Bezos, “instead of firing me, protect your workers from coronavirus.” Bezos,

FEATURING ANTHONY CARFELLO – As the month of April begins, with millions of Americans having been laid off from the coronavirus-related economic standstill, those renting homes are wondering how they will pay their monthly rent. 

In the sprawling metropolis of Los Angeles, California, where a majority of residents are renters, one organization has gone on the offensive and launched a “rent strike.” Under the banner of “Food Not Rent,” The LA Tenants Union has picketed outside the home of Mayor Eric Garcetti saying his moratorium eviction order does not go far enough. 

For more information visit www.bit.ly/foodnotrent.

Anthony Carfello, member of the Media Committee with the Los Angeles Tenants Union. 

FEATURING MUMIA ABU JAMAL – He recently filed a commentary themed around the coronavirus called Things Fall Apart.

Website: www.prisonradio.org

Mumia Abu Jamal, political prisoner and award winning journalist.

FEATURING FRANCISCO BENCOSME – Among the many poor nations around the world that are especially vulnerable to the Covid-19 crisis, India, the second most populous nation in the world has struggled with competing problems of the coronavirus, mass poverty, and an authoritarian government. On March 24th, the rightwing Hindu fundamentalist government of Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced an abrupt lock-down of the entire nation for 3 weeks, with no notice. 

Millions of migrant workers who live a hand-to-mouth existence in Indian cities were forced to choose between starvation or catching the deadly virus. Now, the nation is witnessing a deadly mass migration of people to their home villages that has thrown the nation into an even greater crisis.

For more information visit http://www.amnestyindia.org.

Francisco Bencosme, Asia Advocacy Manager with Amnesty International.

The White House coronavirus task force on Tuesday evening presented its grim projection of the realistic numbers of American deaths from the coronavirus pandemic. At the press briefing to present the disturbing findings, President Donald Trump stood in front of a graph titled “Goals of Community Mitigation,” a flattened curve from social distancing and quarantine measures showed a peak of 100,000 to 240,000 deaths. That is the best-case scenario. Without measures, the virus is projected to take 1.5 to 2.2 million lives. Dr. Deborah Birx, who coordinates the task force explained the statistics. President Trump momentarily struck a very different note from what he had been using when discussing the virus.

Meanwhile Vice President Mike Pence spoke to CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and flatly denied that President Trump had belittled the threat of the virus in early March saying that Trump was simply being optimistic. Meanwhile Associated Press on Wednesday offered its latest fact check on Trump’s various dishonest claims about the virus over the last several days and concluded that the President lied about the US mortality rate, the rate of testing, the federal government’s aid to states, the availability of medical supplies, and more. 

Two new polls offer a glimpse into the American mindset during this crisis. A poll by Morning Consult has found that support among Americans for a Medicare-for-All system has risen to 55% nationwide – that’s a 9-month high and a jump of more than 10 percentage points from February to March. And, a Hill-HarrisX poll concludes that “57% of voters say US political system works only for insiders with money and power.” Felicia Wong, President and CEO of the Roosevelt Institute, told The Hill, “The American public is very concerned that the money [from the recently passed stimulus bill] be used to support workers, to keep employees on payroll and that it not be used for things like stock buybacks or excessive CEO pay.”

The US death toll from the virus so far has topped 4,000 nationwide with more than 200,000 confirmed infections. New data from the CDC has found that those living with diabetes, heart, or lung disease and other chronic conditions, are particularly susceptible to virus-related fatalities. New York remains the current epicenter of the virus in the US with more than 43,000 infections. The New York Police Department has now found that 1,400 members of the force have tested positive. A new hotspot of the virus was identified in Southern California at a nursing home facility in Yucaipa, San Bernardino. According to AP, “As of Tuesday, 51 residents and six staff members had tested positive...

FEATURING JESSICA MASON PIEKLO – Five states including Texas, Alabama, and Ohio, have used the coronavirus pandemic to bizarrely limit abortions. Announcing the restrictions as part of their virus mitigation measures, the Republican-dominated states decided that abortions were not considered “essential care” and could therefore be postponed – as if pregnancies have a pause button. 

Now, a number of reproductive rights groups including Planned Parenthood and the ACLU filed emergency lawsuits against the states and have won a federal order voiding the abortion bans. However the states could appeal the decisions all the way to the Supreme Court. 

Jessica Mason Pieklo is Vice President of Law and the Courts at Rewire.News and co-host of their podcast Boom! Lawyered. She is a writer and adjunct law professor in Boulder, Colorado. 

FEATURING BRANKO MARCETIC – With the coronavirus pandemic bringing the country to a screeching halt and changing life as we know it in the US, the most important election of our time has also seemingly been halted in its tracks. The biggest story before the pandemic was declared was the primary race for the Democratic Nomination for president. 

Turning his candidacy around at the last-minute former Vice President Joe Biden appeared to be a front runner with a nearly insurmountable lead. But now, with much of the country under quarantine is Biden’s campaign also on life-support? 

Not only is Biden struggling with visibility, he also faces a growing enthusiasm gap. And, most troublingly, in recent days, an allegation against him of sexual assault has emerged. 

Branko Marcetic, staff writer at Jacobin magazine and a 2019-2020 Leonard C. Goodman Institute for Investigative Reporting fellow. His new book is called Yesterday’s Man: The Case Against Joe Biden.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Tuesday gave a press briefing as cases of Covid-19 infections in his state continued to spike. Cuomo said, “We underestimated this virus. It’s more powerful, it’s more dangerous than we expected.” He also announced that his brother Chris Cuomo, a CNN journalist, has tested positive for the virus. Gov. Cuomo announced that there were more than 10,000 hospitalizations over this virus so far with nearly 3,000 patients in intensive care. He also warned that the disease is likely to not peak for another 2 to 3 weeks. New York has ordered 17,000 new ventilators from China at a cost of $25,000 each. But because states like California and Illinois as well as the US federal government and nations like Italy had ordered ventilators, New York is likely to get as few as 2,500. 

The death rate from the virus in the US has climbed so high that it has already surpassed that of China where Covid-19 is thought to have originated. However, media outlets are expressing doubt over China’s estimate of 3,309. The official US death toll from the virus is now 3,415 with 500 people dying in a 24-hour period on Monday. The US now has 160,000 confirmed cases of infections worldwide – the largest figure of any nation in the world. A company that sells internet-connected thermometers found a strong correlation between social distancing measures and the reduction of fevers. The company, Kinsa, traditionally uses its data to track the spread of the seasonal flu. According to the New York Times, “To identify clusters of coronavirus infections, Kinsa recently adapted its software to detect spikes of ‘atypical fever’ that do not correlate with historical flu patterns and are likely attributable to the coronavirus.” Those fevers were trending down after stay-at-home orders were issued. Meanwhile, a new study by the University of Washington has found that states with Republican governors or majority Republican legislatures are significantly slower than their Democratic counterparts to enact social distancing measures. The study is called “Pandemic Politics: Timing State-Level Social Distancing Responses to COVID-19” and points to states like Florida where Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis took far too long to announce a “stay-at-home” order, and that too applied only to South Florida. Also in Florida, Rev. Rodney Howard-Browne, a Pentecostal pastor, was arrested this week for endangering his parishioners by holding mass. 

President Trump’s daily press briefings continue to be the focus of controversy. CNN’s Jim Acosta, who has been a favorite target of Trump for years, asked Trump why he spent days downplaying the virus spread, and quoted the President’s words back to him. The exchange was predictably disturbing. Trump faces accusations of using the press briefings as a spot for corporate advertising as he has paraded one corporate CEO after another in front of press. On Monday the Chief Executive of a company called...

FEATURING MATTHEW SMITH AND KSHAMA SAWANT – More than a hundred Amazon workers in the New York City Staten Island warehouse this week planned a walkout over dangerous working conditions. At least one Amazon employee at a warehouse in the Seattle, Washington area has already been infected with the virus. The company that had already been under fire for years before over low pay, poor working conditions and health benefits, is now overseeing a work force under even greater pressure as more Americans turn to delivery of retail goods during a time of quarantine.

 Matthew Smith, cargo handler with Amazon warehouse in Kent, Washington and Kshama Sawant, a member of Seattle’s City Council, with the Socialist Alternative party.