Workers who can do their jobs from home are being forced to do so by the coronavirus, and many of these workers feel fortunate, even if they feel that they are working harder.
Miguel Pereira | Getty Images
As the coronavirus has forced businesses, restaurants, stores and theaters across the country to shut down, a quarter of American workers have filed for unemployment benefits.
At the same time, the public health crisis has created some new jobs.
As companies weigh how to reopen and bring staff back in a safe way,temperature screenersand Covid-19 testerswill be needed. With parties and conferences unfolding over screens,video platform support specialistscould find it easy to get hired.
"[W]e have a public health disaster that's created a wide range of roles needed to contain the disease and increase the confidence of American consumers,"said Julia Pollak, a labor economist at ZipRecruiter, a job marketplace.
According to a list compiled for CNBC by Pollak, here are eight positions that are likely to only increase in popularity.
These workers will conductswab tests at hospitals, nursing homes, factories and offices.
The positions will likely be filled by registered nurses and nursing assistants. The pay can be as high as $45 an hour. "These opportunities are open to many people who are willing to invest in the skills training," Pollak said.
"And this will still be a growing job for quite a while as factories and companies reopen."
Honor connects older adults with caregivers using its app-based technology.
Source: Honor
There's a surgein demand for caregivers to tend to the hundreds of thousands of Americans who've contracted Covid-19.Of course, people will want to consider the risks to their own health from such work.
Wages typically go up to $25 an hour and may require training and certification.
Contact tracerscall people who might have contracted the virus to provide tips and try to arrange testing.
The work can typically be done from home, part-time or full-time, and pays up to $25 an hour.
Businesses and schools will need to install plexiglass shields and dividers if they want to safely accommodate students, workers and customers.
As a result, there should be a high demand for people who can make and set up the structures.
Wages can go up to $20 an hour.
People around the country could be wearing face masks for years, according to some predictions, and so the demand for the coverings will stick around, too.
Pollack expects companies to welcome back their employees with logo-branded masks. They could also be sold at sporting events and concerts, she said.
Pay for people who can make thecoverings can be as high as $18 an hour.
As teachers adapt to virtual classrooms, and doctors perform exams via screen, there's a growing need for video platform technical support.
"There's a huge demand for people who can help facilitate video meetings," Pollak said.
Pay can go up to $25 an hour.
The coronavirus that caused SARS was hosted by bats and palm civets. It jumped to humans because we had been pushing and pushing high-density urban population centers more deeply into wilderness areas, destroying that natural buffer and replacing it with monoculture crops and concrete.
When you simultaneously accelerate development in ways that destroy more and more natural habitats and then hunt for more wildlife there, the natural balance of species collapses due to loss of top predators and other iconic species, leading to an abundance of more generalized species adapted to live in human-dominated habitats, Johan Rockstrom, the chief scientist at Conservation International, explained to me.
These include rats, bats, palm civets and some primates, which together host a majority of all known viruses that can be passed on to humans. And when these animals are then hunted, trapped and taken to markets in particular in China, Central Africa and Vietnam, where they are sold for food, traditional medicine, potions and pets they endanger humans, who did not evolve with these viruses.
SARS jumped from mainland China to Hong Kong in February 2003, when a visiting professor, Dr. Liu Jianlun, who unknowingly had SARS, checked into Room 911 at Hong Kongs Metropole Hotel.
Yup, Room 9-1-1. I am not making that up.
By the time he checked out, The Washington Post reported, Liu had spread a deadly virus directly to at least eight guests. They would unknowingly take it with them to Singapore, Toronto, Hong Kong and Hanoi, where the virus would continue to spread. Of more than 7,700 cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome tallied so far worldwide, the World Health Organization estimates that more than 4,000 can be traced to Lius stay on the ninth floor of the Metropole Hotel.
It is important to note, though, that SARS was contained by July 2003 before becoming a full-fledged pandemic thanks in large part to rapid quarantines and tight global cooperation among public health authorities in many countries. Collaborative multinational governance proved to be a good buffer.
Alas, that was then. The latest coronavirus is aptly named SARS-CoV-2 with emphasis on the number 2. We dont yet know for sure where this coronavirus that causes the disease Covid-19 came from, but it is widely suspected to have jumped to a human from a wild animal, maybe a bat, in Wuhan, China. Similar jumps are bound to happen more and more as we keep stripping away natures natural biodiversity and buffers.
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. The number of deaths on Staten Island believed to have been caused by the coronavirus (COVID-19) has reached 994, city Health Department data shows.
At the same time, the total of confirmed coronavirus cases recorded in the borough since the pandemics outbreak stood at 13,414 on Monday afternoon, according the most recent figures published.
As of 1 p.m., the fatalities include 820 Staten Islanders with confirmed coronavirus cases. In addition, 174 deaths were in the probable category.
A death is classified as probable if the decedent was a city resident who had no known positive laboratory test for the coronavirus, but the death certificate lists COVID-19 or an equivalent as a cause of death.
A Health Department source said the figures reflect totals as of when they are reported to the agency and not when the deaths occur.
While the daily number of deaths and new cases on Staten Island have generally slowed since the beginning of May, they have not stopped.
*** CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE COVERAGE OF CORONAVIRUS IN NEW YORK ***
Across the five boroughs, there were 200,830 confirmed coronavirus cases as of Monday afternoon.
The number represented a spike of 283 from Sundays tally of 200,547.
Citywide, the death toll was 21,607 on Monday afternoon, up 38 from the 21,569 fatalities recorded 24 hours earlier.
The deaths consist of 16,882 individuals who were confirmed coronavirus cases, along with 4,725 others whose deaths were deemed as probable COVID-19 cases.
A large majority of the deaths in confirmed coronavirus cases which were investigated by the city thus far have occurred in patients with underlying medical issues, said the Health Department.
Underlying conditions include diabetes, lung disease, cancer, immunodeficiency, heart disease, hypertension, asthma, kidney disease and gastro-intestinal/liver disease, said the Health Department.
On a positive note, a total of 3,109 coronavirus patients have been treated at and released from the boroughs two hospital systems since the pandemics outbreak.
Staten Island University Hospitals (SIUH) two campuses have discharged 1,995 patients as of Monday, said Jillian OHara, a spokeswoman.
Richmond University Medical Center has treated and released 1,114 patients, Alex Lutz, a spokesman, said.
Meanwhile, the number of hospitalized coronavirus patients in the borough has dipped below 100.
On Monday morning, 92 patients were being cared for on Staten Island.
The total is a fraction compared to just under two months ago when hospitalizations peaked.
On April 8, 554 Islanders were hospitalized with the coronavirus.
At SIUH, 61 patients were being treated Monday morning all at the Ocean Breeze campus, said OHara. No coronavirus patients are in the Princes Bay facility, she said.
Richmond University Medical Center was caring for 31 coronavirus patients as of Monday morning, Lutz said.
With respect to testing, the data show 2,817 of every 100,000 Staten Islanders have received positive results for the coronavirus, according to 2018 Census data projections and the Health Departments Monday afternoon tally.
Staten Islands infection rate is second highest among the five boroughs.
Officials, however, stress the examinations do not necessarily reflect the full spread of the virus.
The Bronxs infection rate still tops the city.
In that borough, 3,172 residents per 100,000 have tested positive. The Bronx has had 45,428 cases.
Queens has the third highest rate of confirmed coronavirus cases in the city, with 2,693 residents per 100,000 testing positive. There have been 61,372 cases in that borough, the second-most populous.
Brooklyn, the borough with the largest population, has the fourth-lowest rate of infection per 100,000 residents 2,146.
Brooklyns 55,421 cases are the second most among the five boroughs.
Manhattan has the lowest infection rate among the boroughs with 1,541 per 100,000 residents testing positive.
There have been 25,092 positive cases in Manhattan, the data said.
Anthony Fauci, the director of the National Institute for Allergy and Infectious Diseases, has seen the photos of bars packed with mask-less patrons. He was not impressed.
He was similarly unenthused about a decision by the biotech company Moderna to issue snippets of early data from the vaccine trial his agency has been conducting without waiting for fuller results.
That said, these days, Fauci sees reason for cautious optimism about Modernas vaccine, and others. The idea of having a vaccine by the end of the year is aspirational, but its certainly doable, he told STAT in a wide-ranging interview.
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One of the most visible faces of the U.S. response to the coronavirus pandemic, the NIAID director also acknowledged the world will have limited data on the new vaccines when they are deployed, and may have to balance the need to save lives with the possibility of some adverse events.
A transcript of the interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
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A lot of states are moving to open up really quickly, trying to get their economies back in gear. Weve seeing pictures of crowds on beaches and in other settings; many people arent wearing masks. Are you worried that were setting ourselves up for a boomerang effect in the next few weeks?
I certainly have sensitivity for the need of the public to start getting to some form of normalization, given that weve been through more than three months of a very difficult time. But its a big country and the dynamics of the outbreak are different from one part of the country to another. If people want to get out, theyve really got to gauge it with the level of the outbreak in their particular area.
When I see a situation where there is a region, a state, a city, a county where theres a considerable amount of viral activity there, and you see people crowding around bars and there were several pictures of that, that was quite striking over the last couple of days or on boardwalks, where theyre very, very close to each other, I do get concerned.
Lets talk about vaccines. In a recent interview with the Financial Times Merck CEO Ken Frazier effectively questioned the assertion which you have made that we could have Covid-19 vaccines within 12 to 18 months. Merck has a ton of experience developing vaccines. Are you at all worried that expectations for the timeline to vaccines have been set too high?
I am not really very concerned about the timetable of this for the following reasons.
The general trend on the part of the pharmaceutical companies, because of the enormous investment that goes into the development of a vaccine, is that you dont go to the next step until youre fairly certain that the step youre in is going to be successful. The other thing is you dont start manufacturing anything until you have a pretty good idea that you have a successful efficacy signal. That protracts out the time frame. But what were doing is something thats called developing at risk.
What it means is that at the same time youre finishing your Phase 1 trial, youre preparing your Phase 3 trial sites, which is very expensive, and then youre starting to manufacture the vaccine even before you know it works. All of that cuts months off.
Were now completing the Phase 1 [with the Moderna vaccine]. The initial data look very promising from the neutralizing antibody standpoint. And so theyre planning to start the Phase 3 in the first week or so of July. Not only with the Moderna vaccine, but also very likely with the AstraZeneca vaccine. And then as we get later into the summer, well get the Johnson & Johnson in clinical trials.
You need a few months at least of having vaccinated individuals getting exposed. So lets say its July, August, September, October. By November, you should have an efficacy signal.
If you do and youre already manufacturing doses, by December and January, if youre lucky and if in fact it is effective, you can have a significant number of doses available by the end of the year, the beginning of 2021. So I think its aspirational, but its certainly doable.
The only thing thats the big unknown to me is that, is it going to be effective? I think we could do it within the time frame that Ive outlined. But theres no guarantee that its going to be effective.
Lets talk a bit about what youve seen so far in terms of data. When Moderna recently released some the information on the vaccine they are developing with NIAID, they showed neutralizing antibodies in eight people. Are there more data? And what are the antibody levels like? Because they didnt give us any kind of scale against which we could assess what they were saying.
I know. I didnt like that. What we would have preferred to do, quite frankly, is to wait until we had the data from the entire Phase 1 which I hear is quite similar to the data that they showed and publish it in a reputable journal and show all the data. But the company, when they looked at the data, as all companies do, they said, wow, this is exciting. Lets put out a press release.
The thing that made everyone be cautiously optimistic is that we didnt just see binding antibody. It was clearly antibody that was neutralizing live virus, at levels that you would predict would be protective if in fact neutralizing antibody, which is a reasonable assumption, is going to be a correlate of immunity.
Have you been at all concerned about adverse events? They had some Grade 3s. [Grade 3 adverse events are serious, but not considered life-threatening.]
At the high dose. Of course, whenever you get adverse events at high doses, youre hoping that you can get the protective effect that you want at a dose thats considerably less than that. And it looks like we can. [Moderna has discontinued study of the highest dose.]
What about what youre seeing about the other vaccines in the clinic already? Do you think things are looking good for multiple vaccines to come through?
Well, the Oxford University vaccine [developed in partnership with AstraZeneca], the data in the animals, you know, some of the animals got infected. They didnt get sick. I would have liked to have had protection against infection. But then again, it depends on what youre looking for with the vaccine. That vaccine doesnt look like its a knockout for protecting against infection, but it might be really very good at protecting against disease. So I withhold judgment on that.
Youre asking me an opinion of things, but theres still little data. The Pfizer one is very similar to Modernas. Its an mRNA vaccine. Im sure that Pfizer is going to get results that are as good as the Moderna vaccine. Theres no reason to believe one is going to be any different than the other.
What I like about the whole thing is that there are multiple candidates that were involved with. It just feels good to be directly or indirectly involved in four or five candidates, to do it in a way that I refer to as sort of harmonized, where you come to an agreement, which we did, that were going to do things where the trial protocols will be quite similar, where the laboratory tests that were going to ask for are going to be quite similar, so that you can extrapolate results from one study to another.
Now, why is that important? If one vaccine proves efficacy in a clinical trial and another vaccine is behind it but its getting the same correlate of immunity you could bridge data and facilitate the approval of the second and the third one based on the efficacy of the first one.
You said vaccine could start to be administered in late December or January. Is that the time frame President Trump is looking for? It sounds like hes hoping for something sooner.
I think that the president and the administration would be really very happy if we had a vaccine that we could deploy by the end of this year.
Does the president talk to you about the vaccine work often?
No.
We used to have task force meetings every single day, including Saturday and Sunday, and about 75% of the time after the task force meeting wed meet with the president. So I was meeting with him four times a week back, a month or so ago.
But as you probably noticed, that the task force meetings have not occurred as often lately. And certainly my meetings with the president have been dramatically decreased.
With such a compressed timeline for testing the vaccines, how much do you think were actually going to know about them before we start to deploy them? If youre only getting a few months worth of data, we wont know much, if anything, about the durability of the protection. And, you know, we may not have a ton of information about efficacy or safety.
So when you design a clinical trial, there are a certain number of events that will give you a definitive answer as to whether or not your vaccine is effective. That is set in stone. So were not going to declare efficacy or even begin to think about efficacy or not until we reach that predetermine statistically sound number of infections that either occurred and/or were prevented. I mean, whether we do the trial over 10 years, or we do it over four months, the endpoint is still the same. Its certainly statistically significant difference. So I dont worry about that.
On durability,youreabsolutelycorrect.Werenotgoingtoknowwhatthedurability is. But were going to have to live with that. The first thing were interested in is: If we vaccinate you in the late summer, early fall, are you protected through that fall, that winter and then going into the spring? If the answer is yes, wonderful. Then well worry about durability.
And in terms of safety, you are facing the same thing. I mean, obviously, the concern with a vaccine, with a virus like this, is what are you going to get enhancing effect, [where the vaccine actually makes some recipients develop worse illness if they contract the infection]. Weve seen it with a couple of other viruses that we had reasonably good vaccines against, dengue and respiratory syncytial virus.
Weve designed the Phase 3 trial, to very carefully look at safety, even more so than is done in a regular trial.
Is a trial of 30,000 people large enough to see that kind of a signal if it exists?
Yeah, I think so. But then again, someone would say, appropriately, but what happens when you give it to 5 million people?
Or 5 billion?
And then if thats the case, then youve got to balance you balance the lives saved from the vaccine with the enhanced detrimental effect. So if for every one that has enhanced illness, you save a thousand lives, Ill take that, right?
Theres a lot of interest in developing vaccine as quickly as possible, but theres also a lot of concern about the speed at which this is being undertaken. Should there be major adverse events associated with use of these vaccines, it could really damage trust in vaccination in general. Is that something you are worrying about?
Yes, I am.
But I just realized that I have to phone into an Operation Warp Speed meeting. Im already late. Ill talk to you later.
"We have to be smart": Cuomo discusses weekend protests as COVID-19 cases continue to drop CNYcentral.com
The COVID-19 pandemic has led to changes in a lot of people's lives. Andrea Darmawan, of Fairfax County's Robinson Secondary School, had to make a change of plans that will affect her next four years -- at least.
The second in a series by WTOPs Kate Ryan on local high school seniors and how theyre coping with the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the end of their school careers.
On one level, having to stay at home and take part in distance learning wasnt a big deal for Andrea Darmawan, 18, a senior at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax County, Virginia: Im an introvert by nature, she said, so I have not been too upset, to be honest.
But it did have its challenges. For one, she said, I struggle with being productive at home, and the structure of being in school helped her stay focused.
The other challenge was that Darmawan is blind, and having software that could meet her needs was critical.
Darmawan said she was lucky: One teacher had the foresight to get all the blind and visually impaired students at our school together to test the software. They did find some bugs that would have made the software unusable. It could have been worse, she said with a laugh.
Like every high school senior, Darmawan dreamed of hearing Pomp and Circumstance at her graduation ceremony, crossing a stage and collecting her diploma.
WTOP's Kate Ryan talks with a senior at Robinson Secondary School in Fairfax County on the impact of the coronavirus outbreak.
She recalled in previous years watching livestreams of her friends graduations and thinking Oh my gosh, I cant wait to be that person! I cant wait to be up on that stage, and theyre going to be saying my name and theyre going to have everyone clapping for me and its going to be so great!
Then along came the coronavirus. And then it was, Oh well, nope.
COVID-19 and the Class of 2020
Graduation was scheduled for June 3, and there will be a photo opportunity for students, but Darmawan said, Its kind of anti-climactic, really.
For her, the effects of the pandemic could last well past high school: Her first-choice college was Emerson, in Boston, and she was accepted there. But she knew she needed to visit the school before enrolling, to determine whether it would be a good fit, especially from a logistical point of view.
The plan was to fly up with her mother and take advantage of an orientation. Thats when the coronavirus pandemic struck: Virginias stay-at-home order went into effect, and travel would mean a 14-day quarantine in Boston, which wasnt feasible.
So, the decision was made to attend the University of Mary Washington, in Fredericksburg, where shell study political science. And her future looks bright. She was thrilled to hear that the school plans on having classes on campus she wont have to settle for distance learning.
I need to be there, she said. Besides, having to pay for a college education but take lessons online negates the whole experience.
She said her teachers have prepared her to head off to college and have helped her push herself. One teacher, in particular, Ms. Bremer, nudged her out of my comfort zone.
She also described Mr. Ruiz and Ms. Marker as inspirational, passionate about their subjects and supportive of their students.
As a student with a disability, I always feel like Im kind of a burden, Darmawan said, because I have accommodations that teachers need to fulfill.
She said she felt supported at Robinson, but that wasnt always the case.
Darmawan was born in Indonesia, and attended school there for a year before coming to the United States.
I come from a country where people with disabilities dont have many rights, she said. Youre supposed to manage on your own.
Shes managing plenty as it is, as the coronavirus is directing a major part of the course of her life.The loss of her graduation and the change in her college plan are behind the advice she gives for others affected by the pandemic: Thats just the lesson I have, I guess: Just keep in mind that things arent always going to work out the way you imagined.
Responding to the COVID-19 pandemic requires global cooperation among governments, international organizations and the business community, which is at the centre of the World Economic Forums mission as the International Organization for Public-Private Cooperation.
Since its launch on 11 March, the Forums COVID Action Platform has brought together 1,667 stakeholders from 1,106 businesses and organizations to mitigate the risk and impact of the unprecedented global health emergency that is COVID-19.
The platform is created with the support of the World Health Organization and is open to all businesses and industry groups, as well as other stakeholders, aiming to integrate and inform joint action.
As an organization, the Forum has a track record of supporting efforts to contain epidemics. In 2017, at our Annual Meeting, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI) was launched bringing together experts from government, business, health, academia and civil society to accelerate the development of vaccines. CEPI is currently supporting the race to develop a vaccine against this strand of the coronavirus.
1. How COVID-19 is affecting the globe
Number of confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in the last seven days by country, territory or area, 25 May to 31 May
Image: World Health Organization
2. Pope: People more important than the economyFor the first time in several months, Pope Francis addressed the public, stressing how countries should prioritize as they reopen.
Healing people, not saving (money) to help the economy (is important), healing people, who are more important than the economy, Francis said.
Pope Francis leads the Regina Coeli prayer from his window in the newly reopened St. Peter's Square after months of closure.
Image: Vatican Media via REUTERS
3. Britain eases lockdown, but is it too soon?
English schools reopened on Monday for the first time since they were shut 10 weeks ago, but many parents planned to keep children at home amid fears ministers were moving too fast.
Britain has one of the highest death rates from COVID-19, and many people are worried that it is happening too soon, including a number of scientists who advise the government who have warned it could lead to a second spike in infections.
4. Mythbusting can strengthen false beliefsCOVID-19 mythbusting may have had limited impact because familiarity can strengthen false beliefs, according to an article published by the Conversation. Studies have shown that people who have read 'myth vs fact' articles remember which items are true and which are false right after reading such pieces. But several days later, people can accept false ideas as true.
Facts: Earth is not flat; Moon is not cheese.
Image: The Conversation
A study by health economists finds that paid sick leave could help slow the spread of diseases such as coronavirus. The study examined mandates enacted by state and local governments in the US between 2005 and 2018. Their research found that workers were more likely to stay home when sick with such measures in place, helping to contain illness. Women and minorities, who often work in industries that don't traditionally offer paid sick leave particularly benefit.
COVID-19 brought many policies around the globe to prevent the virus' spread including policies such as the Families First Coronavirus Response Act in the US. That policy, which went into effect April 1 for small- and medium-sized small businesses, was the first congressionally-passed bill providing Paid Sick Leave for employees. Bills like that, wrote the researchers, will be key to containing the virus, especially as businesses reopen.
License and Republishing
World Economic Forum articles may be republished in accordance with our Terms of Use.
Written by
Linda Lacina, Digital Editor, World Economic Forum
The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone and not the World Economic Forum.
Law enforcements brutal response to this weekends protests may fuel mistrust in the health care system as the COVID-19 pandemic continues to smolder through the country.
Experts say the danger is especially acute in black communities, which have already been hit hard by the virus, and have historically borne the brunt of discriminatory policing. In the aftermath of the police response to protests, vulnerable communities may be even less likely to trust and cooperate with health officials. That could make it harder to control another wave of illness.
This blatant display reminds folks how bad the devaluing of black lives is, at the height of a global pandemic, and its certainly going to lead to less willingness to engage in the system, says Rachel Hardeman, an assistant professor and health equity researcher at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health.
People already feel less willing to engage with contact tracers in the Twin Cities, according to someone with knowledge of the Minnesota COVID-19 response, who asked not to be named because they didnt have permission to speak with the media. Its hard to say yet if data would back up that assessment, they told The Verge, but anecdotally, people making calls feel like theyre meeting more resistance. Contact tracers identify people with a disease like COVID-19 and figure out who they recently interacted with to stop the virus from spreading. The Minneapolis health department did not respond to a request for comment.
Large gatherings like protests already make contact tracing difficult. When people at those gatherings encounter police violence, that task gets harder. People who test positive for the coronavirus may be reluctant to tell health officials if they were at protests because they may worry about retaliation. They might not want to identify people they interacted with at the protests for the same reasons. Thats just one way mistrust makes it difficult for public health officials to track down clusters of COVID-19.
Some statements from officials are only making the problem worse. Minnesota Public Safety Commissioner John Harrington used public health terminology to describe police work and said that officers are contact tracing people who were arrested to find out the groups that they were a part of. The conflation between an important public health activity like contact tracing and investigation of people who have been arrested could make people less likely to trust public health workers trying to trace the disease.
Black communities, as well as communities of other people of color, already distrust the health system. Police violence is, in itself, a constant public health issue: one in every 1,000 black men may be killed by police, and seeing images of police violence is associated with poor mental health for black Americans. Discrimination by law enforcement can lead to symptoms of depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder; stress from encounters with police is also linked to risk factors for chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension.
People who have negative encounters with law enforcement are also less likely to trust medical institutions, one study found. All public health efforts in the United States are forced to grapple with that challenge its harder to engage with communities that, after decades of mistreatment, are reluctant to trust officials of any kind, including health officials.
Its one of the many ways that this sort of violence impacts health and well being, Hardeman says.
Finding solutions to those issues is even more significant during a pandemic. Instead, law enforcement created environments that are bad for public health. Police officers in Detroit, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and other cities used disease-exacerbating tactics like tear gas and pepper spray and carted hundreds off to crowded jails, which are known transmission vectors for COVID-19. Tear gas and pepper spray make people cough, a risk factor for spreading a respiratory disease. Many officers didnt wear masks and herded protesters into close quarters. The strategies are health threats at any moment, but are even more dangerous against the backdrop of the novel coronavirus and at a time when health officials need community engagement.
Itll be difficult to tell how much of the suspicion of public health officials that people may see in the next few weeks was already there and how much is new, Hardeman says. Itll be hard to tease apart ... which pieces bubbled up further because of whats going on, she says. But the violence from police officers during ongoing protests highlight and strengthen the reasons for the existing suspicion.
Adding community health workers to the COVID-19 response could help bridge gaps between black communities and public health, Hardeman says. They can bring folks along and keeping them safe, while also not devaluing their lived experiences of feeling this mistrust, because this mistrust is warranted.
Its difficult to act as a representative of a local government when that government is under such an unfavorable lens, the person with knowledge of the COVID-19 response in Minnesota told The Verge. Its hard to expect that people would be open to working with you when theyve witnessed violence from other government workers. Were supposed to be on the same side protecting the public, they told The Verge. Its just a horrifying incident.
CLINTON, Ark. After a brief shutdown to hinder the coronaviruss spread, Arkansas began opening up, slowly and cautiously, on May 11. Businesses are placing limits on the number of customers they will serve at any one time, and social distancing and mask wearing is still required in establishments like restaurants. The states Republican governor, Asa Hutchinson, has been critical of businesses and customers that dont follow these rules. Even so, Arkansas has seen a second peak of coronavirus infection, as cases surge especially among younger people and the Latino population in northwestern counties. On Thursday, Governor Hutchinson announced the largest single-day increase in community transmission 261 cases.
Despite this, and despite predictions that the virus will take a crushing toll in rural areas like ours, this part of Arkansas has so far been spared the worst health effects of Covid-19. Van Buren County, where I live, has fewer than 17,000 people and has had only 28 confirmed cases of the coronavirus to date. Two people died, but the rest have recovered. Early cases were concentrated in bigger cities, like Little Rock and a suburb of Memphis, and were disproportionately among black Arkansans. There have been more than 6,500 cases in the state about a fifth of them have been in prisons, and those cases werent even added to official totals at first, all of which is a human rights disaster but most families havent been affected. Any death is a tragedy, but death from Covid-19 hasnt personally touched very many people here. At least not yet.
I moved back here to my hometown two and a half years ago to write a book about it. Since returning, Ive become more active on Facebook, which is both a source of local gossip and official news; county officials and offices often post important updates, especially about the coronavirus outbreak, to their Facebook pages. Im also a member of three local news groups that are a source of insight into how my neighbors think about current events. Ive found that a vast majority of people here approach political issues, whether local or national, with suspicion of taxation and government spending, even when such spending is for their own benefit. This has remained true even during these unprecedented times.
We have been hit with the economic devastation caused by the pandemic. The median household income in the state is $45,726; for the county its $34,428, so there are many people who live paycheck to paycheck. While a large majority of Americans 74 percent support continued efforts to slow the viruss spread, and there are plenty of well-off Americans and business owners eager to get back to work, the divide over whether lockdowns should continue is a strongly partisan one. Many Republicans, including low- and middle-income whites think businesses should reopen now. For the most part, the people Ive spoken to and seen commenting online here accept as a given that the only way to be able to pay their rent or to feed their kids is to return to work: They dont think its possible to protect our health and our economic well-being at the same time.
