Los
Angeles, California, is now considered one of the worst COVID-19
hotspots in the nation. LA mayor Eric
Garcetti
assessed grimly that there is one new infection every six seconds and
a death every 10 minutes from the virus. Hospitals are turning away
ambulances, and health facilities in LA County are quite literally
running
out of oxygen.
But last spring, as the pandemic was first declared, the city was an
early adopter of mandated
mask wearing
and benefited from California
enacting the first statewide shelter-in-place order that helped curb
the worst spread of the virus. So, what happened?
There is a
possibility
that the deadly surge in cases may be a result of a new, more
transmissible strain of the virus circulating in the area. But more
likely the spread is the result of the message that authorities are
sending of a premature return to normalcy. As social media platforms
are filled with angry Angelenos blaming and shaming one another for
brazenly vacationing and flouting social distancing guidelines, in
truth, the burst of infections is the price that officials are
willing to pay for ensuring that corporate profits are protected.
California’s
latest
shelter-in-place order
is quite different from its first one. Whereas in March 2020 the
state ordered all non-essential
businesses
to remain closed, in early December, at the peak of the holiday
shopping season, all retail stores were allowed to remain open, even
as outdoor parks were closed. So outraged were Californians by the
obvious double standards that state officials caved and reopened
parks
- instead of shutting down retail stores.
Predictably,
infections at malls soared as shoppers, eager to salvage Christmas,
rubbed
elbows
with one another in their rush to fulfill holiday wishes. After all,
authorities had okayed such actions, so they must be safe, right?
Rather than enact strict rules to prevent such congregating, some
Californians rightfully terrified of the disease simply blamed the
shoppers. Even LA County health services director, Dr. Christina
Ghaly, told the Los
Angeles Times,
“If you’re still out there shopping for your loved ones
for this holiday season… then you are missing the gravity of
the situation that is affecting hospitals across LA County. Though
they may seem benign, these actions are extremely high-risk.”
LA County Public Health Director, Barbara Ferrer, said to Angelenos,
“stay home,” but has refused to consider shutting down
non-essential businesses.
In other
words, officials kept retail stores open but then chastised residents
for shopping. There are two ways to interpret the muddled messaging.
If authorities are allowing all businesses to remain open, surely it
must be safe to frequent them. Or, authorities are being driven by
financial stakes, not public health, so surely it is not possible to
trust them.
Hollywood is
another exercise in contradictions. While new films and TV shows were
not considered essential last year, production has now resumed. Why?
Simply put, “there
is too much money at stake,”
in the words of one TV producer. State and local authorities have the
power to stop production in the interest of public health, but rather
than exercise that power, they asked
companies to volunteer
to halt their projects. Now that the virus has spread so far and has
caused so much suffering and death, even Hollywood has decided maybe
it is not a good idea
to continue filming. But is it too late?
American
society is ruled by the right of businesses to make money above all
else. And while for a few months in 2020 it seemed as though we
prioritized public health and well-being by shutting down large
swaths of the country and passing the modest CARES
Act,
that did not last. Lost in the horrifying surge of cases and mounting
death toll is the stark fact that authorities have chosen to
sacrifice human life at the altar of corporate profits. By their
logic, if anyone is to blame, it is the individual American who has
brought the disease upon themselves by simply making the wrong
choices. It is the American way.
Take John
Mackey,
CEO of Whole Foods, an elite grocery chain favored by wealthy and
health-conscious Americans. According to Mackey, there is no need for
health care services. “The best solution is to change the way
people eat, the way they live, the lifestyle, and diet,” he
said in a recent interview. He added, “There’s no reason
why people shouldn’t be healthy and have a longer health span.
A bunch of drugs is not going to solve the problem.” Tell that
to the seemingly healthy people among us who contract dangerous
diseases like cancer and need the kind of chemotherapy drugs that do
precisely that - help “solve the problem” of cancer.
Mackey’s
logic is consistent with that of the new pro-business
“shelter-in-place” orders in California, which
effectively send the message that if you catch COVID-19, it is your
fault, not the fault of the indoor mall that was allowed to remain
open.
Businesses do
need to continue operating if they want to make money. But large
corporations have amassed so much wealth through the Republican
Party’s tax giveaways
that surely those in non-essential industries can survive for a year
or two while remaining closed and dip into their assets without
threatening their bottom line.
The situation
is, of course, far different for small businesses that operate on
razor-thin margins and are easily plunged into bankruptcy with just a
few months of forced closures. But surely the world’s richest
government can pay such businesses to remain closed so that they can
reopen safely once the danger is over. European
nations have paid workers
to stay at home - an obvious solution to curbing the virus.
An NBC
News
article compared the U.S. response to other nations, making the point
that “unlike Western Europe and Canada, the U.S. is asking
citizens to face the COVID-19 pandemic without any additional
financial cushion from the government.” One epidemiologist told
the outlet, “I know multiple industries have been lobbying
governors to stay open because closing means a huge loss of income to
business owners and employees, even if it would be the best thing to
do from a public health perspective.”
Indeed,
California has allowed businesses to remain open in part because of a
dangerous decline in tax revenues and a lack of federal government
funding to states to make up for pandemic-related losses. Again,
authorities have chosen the sink-or-swim approach to business and
public health. Why pay people to stay at home and remain safe when
those individuals can simply risk their lives in the service of
profit? After all, it is the same logic that has driven the
relentless shredding of the pre-pandemic
safety net programs
for economically struggling Americans.
There
is much hand wringing, blaming and shaming the individual, and
general confusion over why COVID-19 is continuing to claim so many
lives. But to understand the real reason for the ever-increasing
death toll, look no further than the American way of leaving citizens
to fend for themselves in the service of capitalism.
This
article was produced by Economy for All,
a
project of the Independent Media Institute.
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