Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240713

There will not be anymore zone one or zone to in the country. It will be italy. Italy is a protected zone. All Movement Across the country is to be avoided unless three specific circumstances. Reason of wk, reason of necessity, or health reasons. Amy we will spend the hour on the response to the coronavirus around the world. We will speak with thomas boyd and Thomas Bollyky alfredo morabia. We will go to italy to speak with a student in quarantine and ask about life in the red zone and we will talk to the Marshall Project reporter Keri Blakinger about fighting the virus in prisons where key supplies like alcoholbased sanitizers are banned. We will go to Washington State and talk to an undocumented immigrant organizer about domains to protect thousands in Detention Centers around the United States. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Coronavirus cases continue to surge worldwide. The death toll has topped 4000, with over 113,000 confirmed infections. Italy is now on nationwide lockdown. I am about to sign a decree that we can describe as he stay at home. There will be no more zone one or zone two and the country. He will be italy. Italy is a protected zone. All Movement Across the country is to be avoided in this motivated by three specific circumstances. Reason of work, reasons of necessity, or health reasons. It is prohibited to gather in and outside bars open to the public. Amy hats italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte. Around 60 Million People in italy are now under the restrictions. At least sixrisoners in italy have died as riots erupted across dozens of densely populated italian prisons over restrictions imposed to contain coronavirus, including limits on family visits. In china where cases steadily declined, president xi jinping visited the quarantined city of wuhan today, the epicenter of the pandemic, for the First Time Since the coronavirus was identified there. Here in the United States, a number of major universities have moved to online classes, including ohio state, university of southern california, brown, university of washington, stanford, columbia, and barnard college. In detroit, officials restored Water Service to thousands of households as fears spread of coronavirus reaching the city. Thousands of detroit households were without water because of unpaid bills. Florida Republican Congress member matt gaetz announced via twitter monday he will selfquarantine after learning he had contact with an attendee action conference, or cpac, who has been diagnosed with coronavirus. Gaetz reportedly received the news while aboard air force one with President Trump. Just last week, gaetz appeared to mock the coronavirus outbreak, showing up in Congress Wearing a gas mask as the house passed emergency funding to combat the disease. On saturday, he announced a resident of his district had died from the disease. He is the latest republican lawmaker to selfquarantine after attending cpac last month. Georgia Congressmember Doug Collins is also in selfquarantine. Collins joined trump on his visit to the centers for Disease Control last week and shook trumps hand. The white house has President Trump has not taken a coronavirus test. Meanwhile, wall street suffered its worst day in more than a decade monday, bringing losses in recent weeks to more than 5 trillion in stock market wealth. An Oil Price War between saudi arabia and russia further compounded the stock market turmoil. We will spend the entire hour on the coronavirus pandemic after headlines. Voters are headed to the polls and caucus sites today in six states michigan, mississippi, missouri, idaho, north dakota, and washington. Voting also ends today in the democrats abroad primary. A total of 352 delegates are up for grabs with the biggest prize being michigan, which will award 125 delegates. Bernie sanders beat out Hillary Clinton in michigan in 2016. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has backed joe biden, while sanders has been campaigning in the state with reverend Jesse Jackson following his endorsement. Sanders has called out joe bidens record on trade, ans his support for deals like nafta which he says have cost americans millions of wellpaid jobs and hurt unions. This is sanders speaking a detroit rally friday. Going to defeat trump in michigan, pennsylvania, and wisconsin. It will be very hard for a candidate who voted for the disastrous trade agreement. Amy senator sanders also held a roundtable yesterday in michigan on the coronavirus. The primaries have narrowed down to a race between senator Bernie Sanders and joe biden after senator Elizabeth Warren and billionaire Mike Bloomberg dropped out last week after disappointing super tuesday results. Hawaii Congressmember Tulsi Gabbard also remains on the ballot, though she has been locked out of next weeks debate following a dnc rule change on the delegate count needed to qualify. Bloomberg has since endorsed joe biden, joining other former president ial candidates Pete Buttigieg and senators amy klobuchar, cory booker, and kamala harris. Senator warren has yet to back either candidate. The working Families Party monday endorsed Bernie Sanders. The group, which initially endorsed Elizabeth Warren before she dropped out of the race, wrote Bernie Sanders has been a lifelong champion for working people. He wants to make healthcare, housing, childcare, and education basic rights, reform our criminal justice system, protect and expand social security, and take bold action on climate. The Progressive Group backed his candidacy in 2016. Meanwhile, axios on hbo is reporting joe bidens inner circle has been discussing possible cabinet appointments if he wins the presidency. Contenders reportedly include jamie dimon, ceo of jpmorgan chase, and Anne Finucane of bank of america for treasury secretary, Mike Bloomberg for World Bank President , and susan rice Obamas National Security adviser or john kerry as secretary of state. Pete buttigieg may be considered as ambassador the u. N. After he quickly moved to endorse biden after suspending his own president ial campaign. The plan is being described as return to normal, as a counter to the tumultuous Trump Administration. In more primary news, Dallas County is requesting a recount of last weeks super tuesday votes after officials discovered a discrepancy between the number of voters who signed in and the number of ballots cast. Marches continued across latin america monday, one day after International Womens day, to protest femicide and state repression and demand equal rights and reproductive freedom. In mexico, tens of thousands of women withdrew from public life as part a nationwide strike dubbed a day without us. Organizers are drawing attention to the fact that 10 women in mexico are killed every day, often by their domestic partners. Women across chile also staged mass rallies and took part in a work stoppage as part of the strike. Similar actions took place in argentina, where demonstrators called out violence against women and voiced their support for recent efforts to legalize abortion. This is andrea conde of the feminist organization avanza. Go out towomen will continue to fight for our rights in a very social year in argentina where the president has announced he will announce our project for legal and safe abortion. This year has a strong significance and we are overflowing the streets of all the cities in this country. This womens revolution does not only occur in argentina, but everywhere in the world and that is why it has the power it has. Amy in afghanistan, u. S. Troops have started their withdrawal as part of the u. S. Taliban agreement, as political turmoil deepens following dual inaugurations monday. Afghan president ashraf ghani and rival leader Abdullah Abdullah both held inaugural ceremonies interrupted briefly after explosions were heard, though no injuries have been reported. The fate of intraafghan talks, due to kick off today, remains uncertain. The u. S. Is calling for the u. N. Security council to endorse its deal with the taliban. Ceremonies are being held in ethiopia and around the world today to mark one year since the crash of Ethiopian Airlines flight 302, which killed all 157 people on board. A new house report released friday finds that engineering errors, inadequate federal safety oversight, and a culture of concealment were responsible for the crash, as well as indonesias lion air crash in october 2018, which killed 189 people. Both crashes on boeing 737 max aircraft. Ethiopian aviation authorities also released a report this week blaming boeing equipment and training for the crash. In other aviation news, the trial of four people three russians and one ukrainian accused of downing malaysia Airlines Flight 17 over Eastern Ukraine in 2014, opened in the netherlands monday. The names of the 298 victims were read in court before proceedings began. A memorial tribute for puerto rican revolutionary Rafael Cancel Miranda is planned in new york city on thursday following his death last week. Rafael cancel miranda was a hero in the Puerto Rican Liberation Movement and onetime member of the puerto rican nationalist party, but was labeled a terrorist by the u. S. Government after he and three others shot up the u. S. Capitol on march 1, 1954, to protest puerto ricos status as a u. S. Colony. Miranda often referred to the attack as an armed demonstration. He was eventually released from prison in 1979. In the subsequent decades, miranda continued to advocate for the independence of puerto rico. In 1990, he told the new york times, if this is still a colony, why should i change . He died at his home in san juan, puerto rico, at the age of 89. And the 2020 izzy award for Outstanding Achievement in independent media will be shared with between three recipients journalist matt taibbi, the publication news inside, and puerto ricos center for Investigative Journalism. Longtime reporter matt taibbi has focused on media bias, government misconduct, and the president ial campaign over the calling into question corporate and so called liberal Media Coverage of politics. He is the author of the book hate inc. And cohost of the useful idiots podcast. News inside was launched by the Marshall Project in 2019, and it provides reporting on criminal justice issues for prisoners, with articles written by current and former inmates. Puerto rico center for Investigative Journalism published 900 pages of damning messages last year between thengovernor Ricardo Rossello and other toplevel officials, triggering a mass uprising that led to his resignation. The izzy award is presented by the park center for independent media at Ithaca College and is named for legendary dissident journalist i. F. Stone. You can see our interview with these members of the center for Investigative Journalism, as well as our past interviews with matt taibbi, at our website democracynow. Org and those are some of the headlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman. Juan and im juan gonzalez. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Today we spend the hour looking at the coronavirus pandemic that has now infected more than 113,000 people globally and killed more than 4000. Italy is under a nationwide lockdown, with all 60 million residents now facing travel checks, school closures, and bans on public events. This comes as chinese president xi jinping visited the virus epicenter of wuhan for the First Time Since the outbreak. Chinrecordedust 19 new cases of the virus over the previous 24 hours, the lowest update since it began reporting national figures. In the United States, officials report deaths of people infected coronavirus, most of them in Washington State. The number of confirmed cases in new york has grown to 143, making it the state with the largest number of confirmed cases. Amy meanwhile, wall street suffered its worst day in more than a decade monday, bringing the dow jones following nearly 8 based largely on concern over the coronavirus and oil prices. This brings losses in recent weeks to more than 5 trillion in stock market well. President donald trump announced monday he will take major steps to minimize the economic impact. Pres. Trump were going to be asking tomorrow we are seeing the senate and meeting with the house republicans, mitch mcconnell, everybody, and discussing a possible payroll ax cut or relief of substantial relief, very substantial relief. It is a big number. Were also going to be talking about hourly wage earners they can be so that in a position where they are not going to ever miss a paycheck. Be working with companies and small companies, large companies, a lot of companies so they dont get penalized for something that is not their fault. It is not their fault. It is not our countrys fault. This is something we were thrown into. Were going to handle it and we have been handling it. Juan this comes as five congressman have selfquarantined, including florida Republican Congressman matt gaetz, who announced on twitter monday he will selfquarantine after learning he had contact with an attendee at the conservative Political Action conference who has been diagnosed with coronavirus. Gaetz reportedly received the news while aboard air force one with donald trump. Just last week, he appeared to mock the coronavirus scare, showing up in Congress Wearing a gas mask as the house passed emergency funding to combat the disease. Republican congressman doug collins of georgia also came in contact with the cpac attendee at the end of february. Collins joined trump on his visit to the centers for Disease Control and prevention in atlanta last week and shook his hand. Collins also is in selfquarantine. Gaetz and collins join lawmakers senator ted cruz and arizona Congressmember Paul Gosar in selfquarantine after interacting with the individual at the conference. Amy meanwhile, more than 40 u. S. Colleges have canceled inperson classes, including columbia, princeton, rice university, stanford, hofstra, the university of southern california, ohio state, the university of washington. Meanwhile, detroit mayor mike duggan announced monday that the city will restore service to thousands of households whose water was shut off. For more, were joined by two guests. In washington, d. C. , Thomas Bollyky is director of the Global Health program, senior fellow at the council on foreign relations, and author of the book plagues and the paradox of progress why the world is getting healthier in worrisome ways. Here in new york, dr. Alfredo morabia is professor of epidemiology at the Barry Commoner center for health and the environment at queens college, city of new york, editor in chief of the american journal of Public Health. We welcome both of you to democracy now u. S. S bollyky, why has the mismanaged this so severely at a time when time is of critical importance, at the beginning of a pandemic . For example, the number of tests, the lack of Testing Available in this country compared to china, compared to south korea. Can you explain what happened . Seemsthe testing side, it what happened is our center for Disease Control and prevention developed a test in real time. That is great. In most of the former outbreaks weve seen, the cdc has led the world. They did so under emergency use authorization from the fda. It became clear pretty quickly that there was something wrong with that test. We are still investigating what was the cause of that erro the challenge was from the fda perspective, when they started to get requests from state labs and make their own version of the test, the fda refused to grant that authorization for five days. That is a little ironic because the Trump Administration itself has been reluctant to regulate Laboratory Tests overall. It is really only during an emergency the fda even has this role. We were very slow to respond. The broader issue here is that the had a test cdrejected. Is that right that everyone else is using . Thats right. It was developed in germany, adopted by the World Health Organization as you said most countries are using it. South korea has done at least tests. Of these last week we had done just a little under 2000 test. We are greatly behind on that. Some of it really does seem to then the u. S. , a focus on threat from abroad as opposed to recognizing that to some degree the burglar was in the house. The pathogen was spreading domestically and we had to shift tactics. Juan i would like to ask dr. Alfredo morabia, what about the status of the cdc . Thereve been numerous cutbacks in recent years to the cdc. Talk about its preparedness for this pandemic. Cuthe cdc budget has been for at least 12 years now. Following the recession in 2008, i think it was the peak and since then it has been declining about 10 i think. Is notlear the budget what it should be. It is clear we dont have health is as good asat it could be. But i think the problem and this is what the journal has been raising and authors have been writing, we have a social problem. It is much more important, which makes us vulnerable for the progression of the epidemic. If people have access to care, have insurance, we can manage this. We can slow down the progression. Here we have a pandemic. Were going to have the epidemic occur. It is going to rise until and people are infected and it will disappear when maybe 40 or 70 of the people are infected. If it all occurs quickly, we are in trouble because our system is going to be overwhelmed. It will be a health crisis. We have to slow it down. We have to stretch it. If people are insured, if people have access to care, we can deal with it. Even with the limitation of the budget that the cdc has had to endure over the last years. But the question is, the lack of access for poor people that have been increasing whitley i mean, the aca, the affordable 10 the, had reduced to proportion of people who are not covered with insurance in this country. It is up again 5 . The fact that people have access to medicaid have to work, you know . It will push them to go to work even if they are sick. The fact that immigrants who are undocumented are scared to go to get health care, to get tested, treated, vaccine we get it, you know . Public charge. The risk of being deported for undocumented immigrants, but for the ones that are legally here, the public charge rule says if they use welfare, they cannot be admissible to get a green card. Amy even though it is legal to use welfare. Exactly. So they wont be considered for green card, so these immigrants are also deterred from using health care, from going and getting a test. So what does this create . It creates a zone of the country, a large sector of the population in which the progression of the epidemic and the virus can go very fast, like wildfire. We cannot contain it will stop and this is what makes us today very vulnerable. I think this should be rescinded immediately. The public charge rule, the fact that people have to work for medicare, the attacks on the Affordable Care act which the Supreme Court is going to look at very soon all of these issues needs to be changed in order to be able amy do you see it as medicare or coronavirus for all . That is a good way of saying it. In some ways, it is true. In some ways it is true. That is why European Countries are better prepared than as. Universal access to health care is key for the protection of the whole population here. Juan i wanted to ask Thomas Bollyky, this whole issue of the federal government pursuing one strategy and various states pursuing or stringent strategies. Give oregon, washington, california, maryland, new york declaring states of emergency while from the white house, we are getting this message from President Trump that is quite different. Yeah. To some degree, it is appropriate that states and localities tailor their response to what they are seeing at their communities. That is both what their legal authorities are and what we should see from medical and ethical standpoint. The challenge we have, they are being undermined to some degree by the mixed mesges that are coming out from the white house. This is an environment where it is really important to be clear to the public what the risks are, the importance of taking that threat seriously, and to adopting the Good Measures that one can have to reduce the read of infection. And they are not getting that support from the white house. State and local officials need guidance on when they should be adopting social distancing policies, what are the criteria, what should they be looking at. And by all reports, theyre not getting it from the federal government. And that is unusual in comparison to past outbreaks. Amy do you think, Thomas Bollyky, that not only are these massive cutbacks to the cdc, but in 2018, President Trump disbanding the white house as Pandemic Response team to the National Security council so when he is talking to the nsa, we have to get billions for the wall, there is in a Group Pushing back in december saying, wait, were looking at what is happening in china and we have to have a serious uptick now in dealing with could be a pandemic. Folks i think there are a lot of lessons that no one should take from china. Things. D many draconian they had censorship. They were slow to respond in the early days of the outbreak. There are two lessons that are important to take three, lessons really. First, speed matters. Second, the disproportionate effect of the elderly. Third, the importance to assure medical care for when the cases start to surge and to be able to do that safely. Nsc director of health reduced that dramatically. The secretary of health and Human Services had the lead on this issue, but it reduced the ability and that bench of people that really knew how to respond to an outbreak most up and that is really important for speed. At t end of the day, as my colleague was saying, that is the important part about responding to it epidemic is doing so to effectively reduce the spread and doing so in a timely fashion. Amy detroit mayor mike dugan announced monday that the city would restore service to thousands of households whose water was shut off. Sat downvernor and i and said, were going to have a solution. That no resident of the city of detroit has their water shut off for lack of funds. If you receive a shut off notice , whether in the mail or hung on your door, you can avoid your water shut off by paying 25. We will keep your rates at 25 a month as long as covid19 remains a Health Threat in this community. Amy that is the detroit mayor announcing making this announcement after the city and state of michigan came under fire last week for declining to restore service. Ceeded to leave tweeted no disrespect, but i am still waiting to hear the plan that includes getting peoples water back on as this disease spreads. Please dont forgetoor famies. They deserve protection and with no access to water we are putting them in jeopardy. This is a critical point, dr. Alfredo morabia. For years activist have been saying this is an outrage you are cutting off water. You cut it off to the individual people, and other corporations. Now theyre talking about turning it back on. Can you talk about the significance of this and once again how it highlights how different people are treated but how these Health Issues threaten everyone . Absolutely. I think this pandemic shows the idea that reducing access to welfare, to the poor in order to simulate them to get jobs stimulate them to get jobs or get the immigrants become selfsufficient, etc. , in order to reduce public expenses, this doesnt work. But in addition, they make us more vulnerable because the problem of access to care, access to hygiene, access to sanitation you mentioned water. Were going to have access to tests now . If you have a treatment by the end of the year, access to treatment. If we have a vaccine, people must have access to the vaccine, too. All of these issues are key. We are like a collective individual. This is how we have to consider ourselves. All of these antipoor, antiimmigrant and i would say also antiscience. There is been his tendency to deemphasize the role of science. In reducing the budget of cdc, that is what is happening. When they dismantled the Global Security help Security Team at the National Security council, and sideways they reduce the influence of sciences on the executives. This has been really a very those lastponent of years of policies. Juan i would ask about President Trump made comparisons to the regular flu season and the number of people who died from the flu. Could you talk about this whole issue of the mortality rate and also the rate of people with the coronavirus are getting seriously ill or i think it is about 10 are seriously ill, but in about 4 or 5 , the mortality rate, how that compares to the normal flu . This is not exactly my expertise, but i think the important to raise the flu because he mentioned the vaccine. The flu will not protect against the coronavirus, but it will protect you against the flu and we dont have to we dont want the two of the demos together. To remind people to get their flu shot, even under a coronavirus epidemic, that is very important. It will be true also next year. There are two epidemics, one is a pandemic and we want people to be protected from both because both pandemics are likely to stress our health care system. Amy it was astounding to hear him say he had no idea people died of the flu. He was trying to minimize the coronavirus by saying of thousands of people dies a result of the flu. Astounding because his own father his own grandfather, friedrich trump, died of the flu in this country. But you see, the role of the journal, is to bring the science, to bring the history, and to support policy. We are not watchdogs. Were not judging or giving awards or points are things like that. What we do is this. Already in november of 2018, we flu,his issue on the 1918 the great flu pandemic. Amy the spanish flu. The socalled spanish one that killed 29 people. But all of these issues, we raised them. And now we are stressing the not myself but we have to be prepared for the vaccine. And it wont happen if we are still letting antivaccine ideology spread. Amy we have to go to break. When we come back, our scientists will stay with us but we will go to a College Student and malign. The entire country of italy is locked down. Stay with us. We will ask her about life in the red zone. [music break] amy it is super tuesday. This is democracy now , im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Juan we turn now to italy, which has announced a lockdown for the entire country of 60 Million People in an attempt to halt the spread of coronavirus. In an unprecedented move, italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte extended regional emergency coronavirus measures, including strict travel restrictions. Decree about to sign a that we can describe as a stay at home. There will not be anymore zone one or zone two and the country. It will be italy. Italy, a protected zone. All moment acrs the country is to be avoided unless motivated three specific circumstances reon of work, reasons of necessity, or health reasons. Not easy. , it is im completely aware of the seriousness of these measures for the whole country, but i am forced to intervene in a more determined manner. The worst affected country as far as we know with reuters reporting some 9172 confirmed cases and 463 deaths on monday. The emergency crackdown measures are the most stringent since world war ii. People will only be allowed to travel for work, medical reasons or emergencies until early next month. All schools and universities will also remain closed until that time. Major sporting events are also suspended. Passengers now have to justify their reasons for traveling, as will those attempting to enter will those attempting to enter italy. The Italian Parliament will now convene just once a week. For more, we go to the red zone and joined in milan, italy, by romy kool, an International Student where courses are now being taught online amid the coronavirus outbreak. Also with us, Thomas Bollyky and dr. Alfredo morabia. You are in milan right now. Tell us what university go to. What is the climate . What does it mean to be under total lockdown . Hello. In milan but i went to my family wants the whole chaos started about two weeks ago. This chaos has created runs on the supermarket, pasta, rice, masks, and handed ties are completely to go outcome as well myall of my classes and University Campus has been close. Juan what you do in terms of being able to go to the store or as in most restaurants have nobody eating in them, but in terms of the everyday necessities that you have to deal with . Restaurantsrs and have now created a time limit so they close a6 00 or 8 00 p. M. At night instead of going on. As for supermarkets, they have not opened so far but now there been stricter rules will stop if you go outside, you normally send one person in the family and you can get stopped on the street by police and they can ask your reason for being out of the house. Amy are there shortages of food, medicine . What does it mean if you are sick . Are you allowed to go to the doctor or how do you get drugs . Can you go to the hospital . Do they encourage you to go to the hospital . At first there was a lot of ce andges onpasta and ri durae products. In milan, the supermarkets were crazy. Now it has calmed down a little bit and everything is restocked. Again, Hand Sanitizer and masks are impossible to find. As for the hospital, if you show that you have symptoms serious symptoms of the coronavirus, you can be tested. But otherwise, they will not test you for no reason. They also prefer that people stay outside the hospitals to not create a very tight space and to increase the spread of the virus. Amy i want to bring dr. Thomas bollyky professor Thomas Bollyky back into the conversation. If you can talk about the approaches that romy is talking about in italy, it also europe and africa what you think are the most effective policies for countries to take and how extreme is this . Italy on total quarantine, not not just the north where Keri Blakinger is. Romy kool quarantining 60 laypeople, and now seems like it would not be such a large number given that china has locked down under Residential Movement restrictions on 760 Million People, but 60 Million People under 19 is a significant effort. What we have found from the early studies to come out about chinas response and estimating which were more effective, a really does seem to be the soal distancing policies, which can be done without restricting human rights. So the banning of public gatherings, the banning of public transport, closing of schools in affected cmunities those seem to be the effective policies. Frankly, for the communities in the u. S. Where we are starting to see Community Spread the kind of policies we should consider. Juan in new york on a lot of the private schools and their universities have closed, but the Public Schools and universities remain open. Do you have any sense of what policies should be considered when they decide on these things . From a Public Health perspective, it is going to be a balance. For affected communities, it is time to start considering wherever possible cancer in canceling large gatherings. We are seeing Community Spread. Obviously, that is a decision that will be made at the state and local level and they should do that. But in places where the we are seeing Community Spread, it is a strategy that people are looking at. As i understand it, the issue within your Public Schools, there are significant number of students that rely on the schools for lunch and for broader sources of support. That is its own problem that schools are the only avenue for which that is available, but is part of the reason that people are taking a more balanced approach and only come as i understand it from the new York Public School system, canceling school as a measure of last result. Amy and the colleges like cun y. Your professor at queens ,ollege, dr. Alfredo morabia there also not close. I want to talk about paid sick leave. President trump said they are unveiling an array of them today, not clear if that will happen. He also said that i million tests would be administered by last wedding. It is estimated 4000 have been. Cuny has not closeeither. It is important to do this progressively. You understand we have to slow down the progression. So where there are risks, people are quarantined, but the progression has slowed down so our system is not overwhelmed, ok . It can be done in different ways. Amy with the issue of paid sick leave. President trump did not mention that, what so many people when they are told by Vice President pence and others just a home if you are sick. Absolutely. That paid sick leave is a very important component. I think that is where we are vulnerable. Im not so worried about the responses aspect, the of our medical system even though it is really stretched thi becausen of lack of resources but i think we can handle this. The problem is our social vulnerability. The fact that even if you have the resources, people dont access it. Again, this woman was talking about what is happening in italy. People rushing on pasta and rice. It is part of the science that has been fed over all those years. If scientists had their proper role, if there were no systematic attacks against cdc, the human general and Health Services all of those agencies that are here supposed to protect the population, we would be in a much better shape. Juan i want to ask romy kool, many of the universities now in italy are going to online education. How is that working out compared to your end face classes . At first wead slides and now we have youtube videos being uploaded by her teachers giving lectures. My siblings are in high school and they actually have live lectures to allow interaction with the teacher and questions which is one thing we have not gotten yet, but we are heading there. Amy we want to thank you all for being with us. Is speaking to us from italy, and international College Student. Dr. Alfredo morabia, professor jimmy knology. And Thomas Bollyky from the council on foreign relations. 70,000 Prisoners Released in iran, new york prisoners making Hand Sanitizer that, well, maybe they wont be able to use themselves because of the alcohol content. We look at coronavirus in prisons and then in Detention Centers. Stay with us. [music break] amy the groundbreakingpianist died friday at the age of 81. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the war and peace report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. On this super tuesday two, where people are voting in six states across the country for who could be the next president of the United States. Juan we turn now to look at how coronavirus is affecting the worlds prisons. As italy went on lockdown, nearly 30 prisons across the country broke into riots sunday and monday after visitation rights were suspended in response to the outbreak. In a prison in sthern italy, a right left at least incarcerated six people dead and caused 50 people to escape. Notoriouslyons are overcrowded and advocates are sounding the alarm that people inside have not been tested for the virus. Meanwhile, italys death toll continues to rise with more than 9000 reported cases and 463 deaths. This comes as the United Nations confirmed that coronavirus had reached irans prisons, as the number of cases there continues to soar. Iran has temporarily freed some 70,000 prisoners in response to in response. On monday, iranian officials reported 595 new infections and 43 new deaths in just the past the deathbringing toll to at least 237. Amy and concerns are growing about the health of the at least one million uighur muslims jailed in prison camps in western china, where at least 13 cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the region of xinjiang. Despite a Public Health crisis that has left at least 3136 dead, china has refused to close its prison camps, where conditions are reportedly dire with rampant overcrowding and lack of sanitation. Writing for usa today, one human rights advocate called the uighurs sitting ducks for coronavirus, demanding they immediately be restored to their homes. Back in the United States, new York Governor Andrew Cuomo is facing backlash after announcing monday that new york state would respond to the growing coronavirus outbreak by producing its own Hand Sanitizer made by prisoners for less than a dollar an hour. Not only will prisoners be making the 75 alcohol Hand Sanitizer for an average of 65 cents an hour its unclear if they will even be allowed to use it to protect themselves from infection. Because of the level of alcohol. Items with alcohol are typically considered prisoner contraband. Well, for more on these issues, we go to houston, texas, where were joined by Marshall Project reporter Keri Blakinger. She is the publications first formerly incarcerated reporter. Her latest pieceis headlined when purell is contraband, how do you contain coronavirus . Why dont you answer that question for us . Give us the lay of the land. What is happening in the United States prisons and then talk about other places as well. Thank you for having me. In u. S. Prisons, there is a lot of problems with understaffing, including both the guards and the medical staff and even in the best case scenario, the medical care is not that great in prison. Then you add on top of that, just basic disease prevention measures are either against the rules were simply impossible. It isat ranges from contraband have any sort of alcoholbased contraband to have any sort of alcoholbased Hand Sanitizer. Sometimes the water is out or you dont have access to a sink for hours. Sometimes if you are on transport, or chained to the person next to you. It is really hard to do any sort of social distancing or to just stay clean. Juan your article begins with an example of a prisoner who was punished for using Hand Sanitizer . Could you explain that . Close sure. Theres a woman ive spoken to for a few stories come her name is lauren johnson, now with the aclu of texas. Before she became an advocate, she did time. While she was doing time in texas, at one point she gone to an annual gynecological checkup and came out and understandably wanted to wash her hands. There was a thing of Hand Sanitizer on the wall. She used it and the guard started screaming at her and gave her a ticket. She ended up losing phone rec privileges because it is an alcoholbased product. You cannot possess them or use them in prison. The idea is prisoners were potentially drink it or put salt in it and separate out the alcohol. As result of that, these products are typically banned. Amy can you respond to what is happening in new york state, to Governor Cuomo announcing that it is prisoners who are going to make what he called new york clean . People know around the country the shortage of purell right now. Explain what that is and if the prisoners themselves would get to use it, and what it means for prisoners to be making an essential product like that and what they are being paid . So in new york prisons, the average pay is around . 62 an hour. Meadow will be producing this. There are a lot of Prison Industries that are making things like license plates and stuff. But that means we have a lot of predominately black and brown people who are being paid less than one dollar an hour, and if you dont go to work, typically get a ticket come you get written up. You face the possibility of punishment. I think that is the dynamic we need to be aware of when we are thinking how this plays out. Also, in the case of Something Like purell or the state hasvalent of purell, it alcohol in it. I see when he announced this, Governor Cuomo said he would be available in schools and prisons. I have been asking the prison system since then if they were going to allow inmates to use it . When i was there, when i did time in prison, were not allowed to have alcoholbased Hand Sanitizer. Looking at the rules they have online, it doesnt look like alcoholbased Hand Sanitizer is allowed. So for the prison system has been ignoring my questions and questions from other reporters about whether theyre going to change that and actually allow prisoners to utilize the product theyre making for less than a dollar an hour. Juan inevitably, theyre going to be some incarcerated people flu and theith the coronavirus. What has been the practice in the past when we have had, for instance, legionnaires disease or other flu outbreaks in these prisons . How have they dealt with the inmates . Have they basically put them in solitary confinement or lockdown . How have prison authorities dealt with these issues in the past . Typically when we are talking about things like swine fluke, legionnaires, moms caps on m umps happens a lot, they shut down visitation to put everyone in isolation. There probably better responses, even within the realm of prisons and their understaffing a lack of medical care, mean, one possibility that ive never heard of being implemented but might be considered, some prison systems chart inmates copay for medical care. I dont know if waving that would have any sort of impact, but typically, prisons start with isolation and cutting off visitation. Eri, he talked about how iran responded . There being incredibly hit hard right now. They released 70,000 prisoners. Theres been a push in the United States to also, particularly among huge numbers of elderly and chronically ill people in prison, can you talk about that movement and also what is happened in italy with the uprisings in 70 of the prisons they are now in the coronavirus pandemic . People,rms of releasing i am not sure what that would look like here. There are different sorts of ways that could work out. He could simply try to avoid pretrial detaining people and sort of reevaluate who is really a risk and hooligan and who needs to be brought into john the first place. On the backend, the possibility of releasing. It would not necessarily take any sort of legislative action in some cases the parole board could decide, hey, were going to release people more frequently right now. High needsre also medical population. They have higher than average rates of things like asthma, heart disease, mental Health Issues, hepatitis, hiv. So this is a high risk prisonion and the population as a whole is aging. There are many who might be good to consider for release. In terms of what happened in italy when youre talking about riots, that is something we could also we at least need to be aware of here. Im not saying theres going to be a prison riots, but we have a lot of facilities and a lot of prison systems that are very understaffed. Obviously, we have seen what happens in mississippi. There are prisons in texashat are at 40 staffing level. The federal prisons have had ongoing staffing issues. There are some jails and prisons that are much better staffed, but there are a number where we have these understaffing issues. If you have 10 of the officers not show up, could have a substantial security problem. Amy Keri Blakinger, thank you for being with us, staff writer for the Marshall Project. Congratulations on the Marshall Project winning the is the award izzy award for all of your great work, especially winning news inside launched by the Marshall Project, providing reporting on criminal justice issues for the prisoners with articles written by krebs and former prisoners. Thank you so much for being with us. Responds to world the coronavirus outbreak, we look at how the trumpet administrations immigration policies may put everyone at risk. For more, we go to seattle, the epicenter of the was outbreak. Amy our next guest says shes up posters in english only which would to visit immigrants held in the northwest Detention Center, which is run by private Prison Company geo group. Marung us on the phone moravillalpando. Last week they shoot a public help, along with other demands of how they should respond to the epidemic. Welcome back to democracy now tell us what youre demanding right now. Good morning. All,e asking first of the two, Health Department to ensure theres some sort of how theyrehis and being treated. We know because it incidents of record that outbreaks have happened in the Detention Center in the past three years were we mumps outbreak. We want to know what is being done beyond placing flyers in washing hands and covering costs. In also asking caseworkers and up [inaudible] let me remind your audience that the building here in the seattle area of the United States citizenship and Immigration Service has been in lockdown or actually shut down for two weeks since march 5 because of an ice employee that was exposed to the virus. The office decided to shut down the building. That building is the building were both ice officers and people detained could come in and out. So how do we know that people that have been to this building have not been exposed . Stope asking ice to transfers. We want a moratorium on transferring anywhere in the nation because we are not certain that people are safe and ice custody. Juan what about your own experience in seattle, Washington State, which has been an epicenter of the virus here in the u. S. . Looking atbviously different ways to engage. Action last saturday where we had to come up with different protocols. We decided to go ahead with this action because it is an act or activity. A lot of activities have been haseled. We know the state done a really good job of trying to issue to the public that something is being done. We have not seen anything in donts iersonall have insurance. Im still trying to figure out if anything happens to me or communities like me that are not insured, what is going to happen . Are we going to have access to medical care . Im a consultant myself. I dont have paid sick leave. What is going to People Like Us . Amy are you concerned about guards coming in with the virus . Close yes, were definitely concerned. We know there are more people being found that have the coronavirus. It is just a matter of when. Even the governor agreed it is a matter of when. If we really worry about people in detention, we know people in detention are already at risk of even dying another person has died in ice custody. It might be coronavirus goes into the Detention Center, were really worried about the hundreds of people that are in there. Just sunday, march 5 dylan amy we have to leave it there but we will continue to cover this ever important issue. Maru moravillalpando, an activist and undocumented immigrant with the group La Resistencia and mijente. That does it for our broadcast. I am amy goodman with juan gonzalez