How should we deal with the reality of this epidemic?

By John Andrews (Massachusetts)


• Inaction on the part of of both Democrats and Republicans is responsible for us being unprepared for COVID-19.  The failure did not start in January 2020.

• We need to invest in adequate public health and stop letting our investments be dictated by the need to help profit-driven capitalist companies exploit sick people.

• We need Medicare-for-All so that everyone gets preventive health care and adequate treatment.

• We need to develop vaccine production that is not dependent on capitalist corporations that wait for an attractive return-on-investment opportunity before they get busy.

• We need paid sick days for every worker in America so that no one feels pressured to come to work when they are sick.

• We need to separate health care from employment.

• We need to have a coordinated national plan for addressing pandemics and other health challenges - not an uncoordinated mishmash of independent players who are urged to get involved voluntarily. Note Pagan Kennedy writing in the Boston Globe: “We often talk about the pandemic as a kind of war. If it is, then each Massachusetts hospital is a battleship. Without a clear chain of command, the battleships drift about and may even end up crashing into one another. In order to work as a fleet, the battleships must be united under one admiral and a team of captains.”

• We need housing assurance programs that put tenants first and don’t drive families into debt.

• We need assured employment programs that ensure a living wage job for every person that wants to work.