JoAnne Lum, Nat. Mob. Against Sweatshops

JoAnne Lum National Mobalization Against Sweatshops discussed the impact of COVID-19 on poor and precarious workers.

Jerimaih Johnson discusses the COVID-19 impact from an AIDS activist perspective.

If the worse case scenario of  70-150 million people are infected we can expect 2 million deaths to 5 million deaths.

In an article in the Journal Nature, “Neither the United States nor the United Kingdom has said why it has not been following the advice of the World Health Organization (WHO), which is to aggressively test, track and isolate as many cases of COVID-19 as possible.” It goes on to say, “Aggressive testing of cases, and quarantining of their contacts, is still not a declared policy priority for the United States, where efforts are being hampered by the shortage of COVID-19 diagnostic tests and the absence of a unified public health system.”

Joining us to discuss this issue is Jeremiah Johnson of the Treatment Action Group, an AIDS advocacy and treatment organization which spun off from the AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power, or ACT UP for short.

ACT UP in coalition with other AIDS organizations forced the US Government to fund research and treatment for AIDS at a time when there were no good treatments and many were dying of neglect and being refused housing and medical aid. Jeremiah has also been a member of ACT UP/NY