Transcripts For LINKTV Democracy Now 20240712

In a surreal display that alarmed Public Health experts, trump reved his mask before entering the white house potentially infecting the dish anyone inside. We will get the latest. Then we speak to Kristin Urquiza, whose father died from covid 19. My dad was a healthy 55yearold. His only preexisting condition was trusting donald trump. And for that, he paid with his life. Week, Kristin Urquiza attended the president ial debate sitting just feet away from President Trump. She is now in selfquarantine. Plus we will speak to a College Student in vermont who is doing what the white house doesnt want the cdc to do trace the contacts of people who may have infected or been infected by President Trump. All that and more, coming up. Welcome to democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman. President trump returned to the White House Monday after being hospitalized since friday for covid19. He will continue treatment at the white house. On monday night, trump walked out of the golden front doors of the Walter Reed Medical Center and then walked to the president ial helicopter. It was the beginning of a bizarre sequence of eventshat alarmed Public Health experts. At the white house, trump removed his mask as he posed for pictures. He then saluted and gave thumbs up. At times, trump appeared to be short of breath and panting. He then walked into the white housunmasked, potentially exposing the household staff many of whom are older and people of cor. At least two housekeeping staff have recently tested positive. Trp also reased a video whe he minimed the risk of covid19. Prestrump i learned so much aboutoronirus d one thg that ifor rtain, dt t it domate u. Dont be afraid of it. Amy trumps medical team has refused to answer key questions, including when trump last tested negative for covid19 and details about his lung scans. And whether he has pneumonia. Meanwhile, more Close Associates of trump have tested positive for the virus, including White House Press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany and two aides. Well have more on President Trump after headlines. Other coronavirus news, the New York Times is reporting Top White House officials are blocking new food and drug admistration guidelines that would likely delay the approval ofny Coronavirus Vaccine until after november 3. Election day. The fda wants to monitor the health of trial volueers for two months to make sure there are no longterm side effects but the whithouse opposes the plan. In other medical news, the cdc has acknowledged covid19 can be spread by airborne transmission in indoor settings. The cdc had made a similar statement in septemberut then removed the information from its website. In international news, the World Health Organization now says as much as 10 of the worlds population may have had covid19 a far higher number than previously thought. India has become the third country to pass 100,000 reported covid19 deaths after the u. S. And brazil. Meanwhile, in iran, the government reported 235 deaths monday, the highest daily toll since the start of the pandemic. Much of tehran has been shut down again and hospitals are at capacity. A number of European Countries have announced new records in daily cases in recent days as britain, france, germany, italy, and spain have all imposed or announced stricter containment measures. As early inperson voting kicked off in South Carolina monday, the u. S. Supreme court sided with South Carolina republicans by reinstating a law that requires a witness signature for mailin ballots. Democrats argued the requirement puts people at risk during the pandemic and decreases voting. The ruling will not apply to ballots that have already been mailed. Early voting is now open in california, iowa, illinois, maine, michigan, minnesota, montana, nebraska, South Carolina, south dakota, virginia, vermont, and wyoming. Meanwhile, in florida, the states Voter Registration website crashed and stayed down for several hours monday, the deadline to register for the november election. Kristen clarke of the Lawyers Committee for civil rights under law called on florida officials to extend the deadline, adding or we will explore other options to protect the rights of those seeking to register to vote. In iowa, a judge has blocked a republican directive barring counties from sending out absentee ballot applications with prefilled voter i. D. Information. The republican effort to require all ballot requests be blank when sent to voters resulted in tens of thousands of ballot requests being invalidated. Election officials are now determining whether they can still get ballots to those residents whose applications were invalidated. And in arizona, a federal judge issued an order extending the Voter Registration deadline until october 23 due to the ndemic. In other election news, senator Kamala Harris and Vice President mike pence are expected to hold their debate separated by wednesday plexiglas. Pences team mocked the news. Spokesperson katie miller, who herself tested positive in may, said if senator harris wants to use a fortress around herself, have at it. Pence has so far tested negative for covid19. In related news, joe biden appeared at a sociallydistanced, outdoor nbc news town hall in miami last night. He said President Trump bears some responsibility for contracting covid19. Mr. Biden anybody who contracts the virus by essentially saying masks dont matter, social distancing doesnt matter, i think is responsible for what happens to them. Amy in texas, a white Police Officer has been charged with murder for the Fatal Shooting of 31yearold jonathan price, a black man who was killed at a gas station on saturday. Officer shaun lucas tased and shot price even though he was walking away from him and was nonthreatening according to the Texas Rangers who arrested lucas. Just prior to his killing, price had reportedly intervened after a man assaulted a woman, but that situation had already been resolved before officer lucas arrived at the scene. Jonathan price was a motivational speaker and trainer and former college fooall player at hardinsimmons univsity. In california, prosecutors said monday they are reopening an investigation into the 2009 killing of oscar grant, a 22yearold unarmed black man, by a white transit officer in oakland. The officer who shot grant, johannes mehserle, was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter, but another officer present at the scene, anthony pirone, was terminated and never charged even though a report revealed he repeatedly lied to investigators and attacked grant, stating a cascade of events that ultimately led to the shooting. Oscar grants family called for the case to be reopened. His mother, reverend wanda johnson, spoke at a monday News Conference in front of the train station where her son was killed. If it is going to be our judicial system continues to lie and continues to not honor their words, then we will continue to be out here and remind the world of how our judicial system is continuing to fl people of color. Amy oscar grants mother speaking at fruitvale station. Survivors of chemical weapons attacks in syria have filed a criminal complaint in germany accusing the Syrian Government of killing more than 1400 people in two separate attacks, one in the damascus suburb of Eastern Ghouta in 2013 and another in the village of Khan Sheikhun in 2017. Meanwhile, the united nations, the United States, britain and france blocked the former head of the organization for the prohibition of chemical weapons, or opcw, from testifying monday. Jose bustani was slated to read a statement about a possible internal opcw coverup of a chemal attacin doumasyria, in 2018. The cw and t Trump Administration have blamed the Syrian Government for the attack but leaked documents show two opcw investigators have questioned the official findings. The u. S. Bombed syria days after the alleged attack. After bustani was barred from testifying at the security council, he recorded a video reading his prepared remarks. The opcw is confident in the robustness of its scientific work and the integrity of the investigation. Then it should have little to fear and hearing out its inspectors. However, if the claims of evidce shows exclusion of key instigatoramong otr allegations a unfoundedit is even me imperative that you should be dealt with open and urgently. Amy in kyrgyzstan, protests have erupted following a parliamentary election sunday critics say was rigged through votebuying. Demonstrators are demanding prorussian president Sooronbay Jeenbekov resign and to hold a new election. On tuesday, protesters seized a government building and freed a jailed former president , almazbek atambayev, an adversary was sentenced on corruption charges and is adversary of the sitting president. In eastern russia, marine biologists are warning of an ecological catastrophe after scores of dead seals and other marine animals washed ashore over the weekend in the kamchatka peninsula. Several surfers reported the water had a foul odor and unnatural color and left them with chemical burns to their eyes. The cause of the apparent Chemical Spill has not been confirmed but sometime rocket fuel stored in the areas military testing grounds may have leaked. Leaked internal documents from exxonmobil reveal the oil giant plans to increase annual Carbon Dioxide emissions by 17 by 2025. Bloomberg reports exxons plans could add the annual Carbon Emissions of a country like greece to the atmosphere, or the equivalent of 26 coalfired power plants. Exxonmobils own scientists have known about the threat of Climate Change for decades but suppressed the information and have not committed to curbing emissions, even as other Major Oil Companies have announced cuts after Massive Public pressure campaigns. The Environmental Protection agency has granted oklahoma environmental regulatory control of nearly all tribal lands in oklahoma, rolling back sovereign rights for dozens of tribes. The move effectively cancels out many rights that would have been gained after a Landmark Supreme Court ruling earlier this year asserted about half of oklahoma remains native American Land recognizing a 19th century u. S. Treaty with the muscogee creek nation. In a statement to news outlet the young turks, casey camphornek of the ponca tribe of oklahoma said after over 500 years of oppression, lies, genocide, ecocide, and broken treaties, we should have expected the epa ruling in favor of racist Governor Stitt of oklahoma, yet it still stings. In media news, Los Angeles Times executive editor Norman Pearlstine has resigned after only two years in the role. This comes after several investigations into pearlstine, including one published by vice news that alleged he ignored serious concerns from staff about a toxic workplace, lack of diversity in the newsroom, sexism allegations, and other ethical issues. The l. A. Times publicly addressed the papers track record of perpetuating racism both in the newsroom and in their coverage amid the national antiracist uprising and as staffers fight for more diversity in the newsroom and in management. And the nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three scientists for their discoveries related to black holes, which helped reveal the darkest secrets of the universe. Roger penrose, reinhard genzel, and andrea gehz received the award. American astronomer ghez is only the fourth woman to ever win the nobel prize in physics. On monday, two american scientists and one british scientist harvey alter, charles rice, and Michael Houghton jointly won the 2020 nobel prize for medicine for their work in identifying the hepatitis c virus, which causes cirrhosis and liver cancer. The Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on and those are some friday. Of theeadlines. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report. Im amy goodman in new york city, joined by my cohost juan gonzez in nebrunswick, new jersey. Hiuan. Juan hi, amy. Welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. Amy in a shocking show of recklessness, President Trump left Walter Reed National military Medical Center for the white house on monday evening, staging a series of photo ops as he walked out through its golden doors after a 72 hours day and boarded the president ial helicopter back to the white house to continue his treatment for covid19. It was the beginning of a bizarre sequence of events that alarmed Public Health experts. At the white house, trump stepped off marine one and then ascended a set of stairs to the first floor balcony where he removed his mask dpite havg covid come and waved farewell to the helicopter in a propaganda style video he soon posted to twitter accompanied by dramatic music. He entered the white house unmasked, potentially exposing more staff after at least two housekeeping staff recently tested positive. Trump filled the video in front of the found the video in front of the white house which has become a covid hotot due tois the administrion neglence. Pres. Trp arresd outont. Let. Body thais a leader wod nodo what i did i ow theres a sk, thes a dang, but at is ok annow i am betternd maybe i iune. I dont know but dlet it dinate yo live get out there. Be caref. We have thbestedicinesn thworld. Amy tmps comes sparked outrage d alarm from puic heth officls and ce as the u. S. Cid death toll passed 210,000. Other video of trumps homecoming shows the president appearing short of breath. Drabdul elsayed tweeted this is not how a healthy man breathes. Meanwhile, white house physician dr. Sean conley refused monday to answer questions from reporters about the health of trumps lungs. Busy of pneumonia or any inflammation in his onset all . We have done routine imaging. Im not at liberty to discuss. Clubss you are actively not telling us what the lung scans show . Rules andre hippa restrictions that restrict me in sharing certain things for his safety and his own health. Amy dr. Conley also refused to disclose the last time the president tested negative for the virus. Can you tell us please on testing, can you tell us when he had his last negative test . Was it thursday . Do you remember when he had his last negative test . I dont want to go backwards. Amy this comes as the number of coronavirus cases emanating from the white house continue to grow. On monday, trumps press secretary Kayleigh Mcenany said she had tested positive, along with two of her press deputies, bringing the number of people in trumps circle with covid to well over a dozen. For more, were joined by dr. Dara kass, emergency medicine physician at Columbia University Medical Center and yahoo news medical contributor. Welcome to democracy now can you talk about what you witnessed last night . Trump standing at the white house, returning home saying yet learned real lessons he had learned real lessons, removing his mask coming giving a thumbs up, then turning and walking into the white house were so many staff are under siege, where people are tking about it as have shut down because of the number of people who are testing positive . A couple of things. First of all, myself and anybody that has been touched by this virus, then millions of americans that have had it themselves, the hundreds of thousands the family members of the hundreds of thousands who have passed ay were horrified at this display of nonchalant is around the virus that s killed so Many Americans and infected affected all of our lives. Anyone watching this video does not think the president is healthy right now. There is no evidence he is over this, immune, better. We know this president has the idea if he thinks positively, positive things will happen. You may be convincing himself he is somehow over this virus, somehow finished the course, but as somebody who has had the virus myself and also taking care of hundreds of patients who have had it over the past six months, the virus takes time on your body, especially when you have known lung disease. We know the president has lung disease. Not just because he was clearly short of breath in that video, gasping air, but also being treated with the medications we get for patients that have lung disease. In that is what is going to have address significant percentage of patients who are in his age brackets, theyre going to get lung disease. Theres nothing wrong with having side effects of this virus, having effects on your body. There is no indictment of your strength if you are ill from this virus or you pass away. The worst thing for us as doctors, as Public Health professionals, is the idea that this display of a grand eyes, boisterous bravado will somehow protect him from a virus that has hurt so Many Americans. That he is somehow better than the rest of us. I had this virus. I was in bed for over a week while taking naps, hydrating myself. I moved my children out of my house. And i never left my bedroom wiout an n95 masks on my face. Because i was petrified of giving it to my friends and family. So t idea the president would pose for photo op unmasked and expose even one person to his virus i think says a lot about how he feels about the people around h. Juan i wonderi if you can talk about the treatment the president has received, not only the experimental antibody made by regeneron t antiviral drug remdesivir and also dexame thazone, commonly used for critically ill patients d yet we were told initially, and there hasnt been anything to cases largely his mild . Going on the course of what we heard from thwhite house about his treatment, the iseneron antidy cocktail supposed to give your body a head start on the antibody response. If your body has not made its own antibodies, they give you the antibodies. We think it is interesting he got the regeneron cocktail as opposed to the plasma, which is fda rushed in emergencie authorization for they functionally do the same thing. Honestly, his physicians made the choice to go this experiment on medication, which i think says a lot about the potential for this medication. That helps your body fight the virus. And ideally, would decrease the viral load in your body. So the other effects on your body would not happen. The lung disease, kidney disease, blood clots, difficulty breathing. Eventually, the Heart Disease and other system problems we are seeing. After that, we dont he moved to the hospital. That is not to say that did not work, it is just as i he was sick. He went into the hospital and got remdisiver. That is an antiviral that i showed to shorten the course of hospitalization. So it is recommended in hospitalized patients to make them come out of the hospital faster. But it has not been known to change whether or not somebody dies. It is given to patients who have moderate illness. Inconsistent with what we are telling. Afterwards, we find out maybe his oxygen levels were low for short period of time. Remembering those low oxygen levels reflect lung damage and not likely there was transient lung damage, more that he was able to compensate and then not able to compensate on and off. Last medication received we know about is dexamethazone. That happens after these multiple levels of hypoxia, low oxygen, and we know this medication, which is the oldest medication it is been around forever is given to patients who have oxygen needs. Theyre getting supplemental oxygen. Serious, moderate, even critically ill patients. This has been shown to save lives in that subset of patients. Group ofnow that that three medications has not been given to one patient before because of the fact this is a new and experimental medication, the first one, only being given in compassionate use meaning the risk to the patient are lower than the benefit of him living because we dont know much about the medication. So it is a very aggressive cocktail of medications. We dont know how they interact we dont think they would have side effects interacting with each other. They all act early on the body. The most concerning thing, and i think the disconnect here, it is not that he is sick or got medications that will happen to somebody in his age bracket with his risk factors it is somehow he is able to override his physicians in minimizing that effect on his body, or more importantly, the risk he poses to other people. The president is the president of the United States, incredibly Important Patient and we want to make sure he gets the best treatment, but he also is an infected patient putting other peoples lives at risk. St imptantly, an example for the rest of america. How many patients who find out they are exposed to this virus will now not quarantine because the people in his orbit are not quarantining . Have any patients wont isolate themselves in their house and expose their partner, their children, elderly grandmother to the virus because he walked into the white house without a mask . How many people juan you mentioned him trying to override his physicians. Could you talk a little bit about how the physicians, especially dr. Sean conley and others, how they had been transmitting information to the public on this issue . I would say their press conferences have been a lot more like a press briefing then a medical briefing. What i mean is they are leading with what the president wants to hear, not what we need to know. As americans, we deserve to know about the condition of the president and our commander in chief in a transparent and driven open way. None of us need to be the president s doctor. He has an excellent medical team. What we need to know is what his health means for our country and how is that virus transmitted to other people in the white house. The simple fact of them not telling us when he was testing negative versus when he tested positive, while for months theyre telling us he is getting negative tests all the time or theyre not transparent him when his exigent levels dropped. It is not because we want to manage his medical care, it is because that representnot the severe disease but potentially impaired decisionmaking capacity. It is incumbent on them as americans and Service Providers to this country to be true and to be honest with the american people. Instead, it seems like theyre serving at the pleasure of the president. In a lot of ways in this ticular case, the patient amy on monday, ro khanna from california tweeted there are now more recorded cases of covid19 in the white house than in new zealand, taiwan, and vietnam combined, and they have 124 Million People. Let that sink in. Your thoughts . My thoughts are if justin arden was in charge of the white house, he would be shut down. Amy you have so many different issues. Dexamethazone has a side effect of grandiose delusions, hard to separate that from President Trump on a regular day without the steroid. What that means in terms of decisionmaking and taking off that mask and walking inside where the majority of the nonpolitical staff, the household staff, are older people of color and we know that is the most Vulnerable Group when it comes to covid19. If you can just talk about wt this means that he went back to the white house and after saying he had learned something not textbookwise he said, but he lived the learning and took off his mask . It is a front to the service of this country. As has their lives dont matter to him. Another to the families lives. Remembering all of this people who work at the white house have children and spouses. Yes no idea if they are immune compromised, no idea about their children trying to stay in school, about their own personal circumstances. We know from a memo in the white house they are not doing Contact Tracing to do at the rose garden, not offering testing to anybody not wellknown to the American Public. In a world where the president was supposed to be getting daily testing, there telling people who work at the white house they should go to the primary care provider if they are concerned. Any employer that puts their ploys at risk to this level should be mandated to take care of their patients which adam neumann on includes paying for the quarantine and making sure their testing and supporting supported if they get sick from their employment. Amy two household staff have tested positive. It is going to be very hard to know, both in trumps family and the staff of the white house, who has tested positive or how many people have tested positive right before the precipitate Kayleigh Mcenany tested positive , she told reporters on sunday she would no longer be reporting the number or the people in the white house it would go dark. How are we going to find out this information now because this ghosted issue of Contact Tracing. Something the white house says it is also not going to do for the large rose garden ceremony, more significantly, the receptions that were held indoors last weekend the Supreme Court Justice Amy Coney barrett. Nominatede woman he as a Supreme Court justice. It is a Real National security issue because we dont know how many people are exposed or even how their offices will be exposed what if we find out this has gotten into the pentagon . What if this has gotten into other areas of the white house . Remembering by not Contact Tracing come to quote dr. Conley were not going to look back, Contact Tracing is looking back. The idea that somehow theyre not going to report out how many people are positive minimizes the risk to all of americans. The idea when it gets into your workplace, you need to be responsible to share that information. How Many Americans are going to not get tested now . Like they dont have a positive test, they dont have to tell anyone theyre positive . This will perpetuate the spread of this virus through this country. I spoke at a ceremony on sunday in front of the white house commemorating the 200,000 americans that have passed away from the virus. Remembering they represent a fraction of millions of americans that have been affected by this virus. Likes like almost jarring in a way that it is almost surreal to speak in front of the white house commemorating 200,000 americans dying and asking america to help us not deaths next 200,000 more away and literally watch the president take a joyride currently infectious around walter reed, exposing a secret Service Members to this virus. We need to we dont have to have the next 200,000 die. We can do this even if our president is not going to lead us. Juan dr. Kass, i would ask you about report that their blocking strict reports by the fda for an approval of a vaccine. The white house supposedly is objecting to roll that would make the authorizationf a vaccine before the election almo impossible. Could you talk about that and also your sense of where the vacce trials stand right now . Close the vaccine trials are encouraging. Operation warp speed has invested a significant amount of money a multiple vaccines. These candidates and to be these vaccines seem to be producing antibodies. It is encouraging. Unfortunately, weve seen the white house politicize is the process of approval, like i said, we saw this with hydrochloric when and convalescent plasma. We were worried ey were going to do this to the vaccine. Basically dumping in nothing in before phase three trials were complete and sign this one is good enough or us. We will say now have a vaccine. Heres our miracle cure and we will start giving it to americans and we will start with vulnerable americans remembering there is a history vaccines ind around vulnerable populations because of them being used as guinea pigs, in all fairness. We need to understand Community Trust around this vaccine is critically important. Going to the proper channels to the fda and approval is going to be critical to actually getting the vaccine the fda put forward rules that really was built to get public trust around the vaccine. It did not do much for the approval process. The most rigid thing they said was they were going to wait two months after the last dose of vaccine to make sure the safety profile was robust, that nobody had any side effects of the vaccine. In debt and debt people were protected from the vaccine, then in enough people were protected from the vaccine. We knew there was a good chance the white house was going to put their finger on the scale and try to undo that and we heard from the president himself when asked about this, well, we will see. Remember who is really in charge. Haveda and the cdc about had to walk back recommendations they have given or change processes because of direct intervention from this white house on the medication and the approval of educations and therapeutics and vaccines not vaccines yet, but you know what i mean for this coronavirus in addition to recommendations on things that quarantine and isolation. This is not surprising. I am hoping the vaccine makers and the fda really stand up against this president and say, no, the science must come first. Amy dr. Dara ka, the Vice President s role debate is taking place tomorrow night in person at this point. Do you think Vice President mike pence, who is clearly in and out of the right house and was right there at this ceremony, the Supreme Court ceremony, should be selfquarantining at this point . Close yes. Objectively, theres no reason he should be quarantined. Unfortunately, he is not. Carol harris is going to protect yourself especially needs to family harris is going to protect yourself as best she needs to. Amy and they mocker for standing behind a partition. Vice president biden. You think you should be courting . We do not know when President Trump last tested negative. It was clear he did not test on tuesday because he socalled came too late to the debate to be tested. Not so far away from him. Lena of the president would be honest about his testing, it would be easier for the Vice President to make that decision. We know with the information the Vice President has being over 10 feet away from the president and currently wearing a mask everywhere he goes, he is following the cdc guidelines are President Trumps administration. Right now the information the Vice President has i think is he does not need to quarantine. It would be important there was missing information from the stas int of united his office to share that. Amy dr. Dara kass, emergency medicine physician at Columbia University Medical Center. Yahoo news medical contributor. When we come back, we will be joined by Kristin Urquiza after her father, a trump supporter, died from covid19. She attended the debe. Now in selfquarantine. Stay with us. [music break] amy hes back by alice cooper. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, the quarantine report im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. Covid19 has infected about 7. 5 Million People in the United States and killed more than 210,000 people. That is over 20 of the deaths reported worldwide. Even though the u. S. Has less than 5 ofhe wors polation. But on mday, the hiestprofe coronarus paent in t world rurned to e white use whilstill infeious, doplaying e sevety of thvirus inweets and vio. Es. Trp dont be aaid of it. Ureoing to at it. We havthe best dical equipmenand the best medicines all developed recently. Youre going to be it. Amy President Trumps comments outraged many emergency room doctors, Public Health experts, survivors of the disease and those who have lost loved ones, especially as infections a on the rise in many areas of the country. For more, we are joined by someone who lost her father to covid19 in june. Kristin urquiza says her dad, Mark Anthony Urquiza, was a supporter of donald trump who died after believing the president s assurances that the coronavirus was under control. Kristin spoke about the loss of her father at the Democratic National convention. My dad was a healthy 65yearold. His only preexisting condition was trusting donald trump. And for that, he paid with his life. Amy Kristin Urquiza attended the first president ial debate last week in cleveland. After trumps covid diagnosis on friday, she wrote a piece for the Washington Post headlined i sat in the front row at the debate. Did trump infect me with the coronavirus . She is joining us now from san francisco, california. Kristin, welcome to democracy now we played your speech in full at the Democratic National convention. And our condolences to you on the death of your beloved father. What was your response when you saw President Trump walkout of walter reed and then walk into the white house after taking off his mask, turning around and walking in the door . I was appalled. I know i am not alone. Every Single Person out there who has lost a loved one to covid, who is he up close and do,onal with this virus can felt the same way. I honestly felt like i was watching a scifi horror show. Sadly, it is rely. Juan im wondering if you c go back to but we could go to the first president ial debate. You are a guest of Vice President joe biden, sitting right up front. Can you talk about what you were told about the covid status of the candidates and also how that trump family that was not too far from you was dealing with the issue of Wearing Masks . Were they offered masks . Can you talk about what you saw . Heavy too. First and foremost, every Single Person in that audience was told the people inside of that debate hall would have had a covid negative test that day. So we all got there early, went to the process of getting tested on site, doing selfisolation between that and our test results before being able to enter into the debate hall. Once i got into the debate hall and we found our way to our seats, there were a couple of things that stood out. First and foremost, on one side of the hall was full of people Wearing Masks. And on the others, us, be one or two which was fairly alarming to me because we had all also been told mask wearing was going to be enforced inside the debate hall itself. I did not have really time to raise my concerns because the program was getting started. And as the program was about to get started, the trump family entered. They were Wearing Masks at first, and then they sat down and defiantly took their masks off. I saw somebody from, issume it was Cleveland Clinic or the president ial counsel, offer them masks, which they refused. They stood there or sat there in masked and its we were sitting there for you can call it a debate, the debate. I was appalled. But honestly, i did i took a deep breath and was like, at least everyone has been tested. I had no idea that that was not the case. Just a microcosm of what we have been seeing over the course of not just this pandemic, but this entire administration were President Trump himself and the people in his inner circle run a government where there is a total disrega for law and order. And it is due as i say and not as i do. Amy we have been looking at pictures of President Trump and the First Lady Melania Trump at the debate who is not sitting yards from you, kristin, and we know not only President Trump but the first lady have tested positive for coronavirus. It is not clear if we will even be told about the rest of the family. But i wanted to ask you about your dad. I wanted to ask you about Mark Anthony Urquiza who died of coronavirus. Tell us who he was most of your twitter bio says trump lied and my dad died. You blame President Trump and the Arizona Governor ducey. Tell us why. My dad, first and foremost, was great and did not deserve to die alone in a hospita with just a nurse holding his hand. He was also a lifelong republican who was politically aware. He watched Television News programming fairly regularly, read the newspaper, and engaged me as again kit in politics which is kind of where i got my interest in the world around me from. He was a trump supporter and himd for trump and believed and what he had to say. So as the coronavirus came to the United States, me and my dad engaged in daily conversations about the information that we were all receiving. My dad, first and foremost, believed it was real. Believed we should take some safety precautions such as Wearing Masks and social distancing. He, like so many of us come, tens of sacrifices over the first of march and april in order to help flatten the curve, which seems like such an old saying now. But whenever the president started to ram this idea down our throats that we had to pick Public Health or economic health, my dad tuned into that. When my dad heard the president say were on the other side of this pandemic, if you dont have an Underlying Health condition you are safe, this is no worse dad listened to that and make decisions based upon that information. As the state of arizonaeopened and the governor of arizona reinforced those messages, inually going on the radio late may saying there is nothing to worry about, my dad listened. And as a result, two weeks later, he woke up with a fever and the 19 days after that, passed away. Kristin, we need here, for instance, President Trump tweeting on monday, i will be leaving the great walter reed today, feeling really good, dont be afraid of covid, dont let it dominate your life, we have developed under the Trump Administration some really great drugs and knowledge, i feel ,tter that i did 20 years ago what is your reaction . About thes me think two or even three americas that we live in. Theres Donald Trumps america and then everybody else is. And while i agree that the president of the United States holds a very Important Office and whose medical attention should get very High Health Care coverage, when i think about my own situation, my dad had similarly, nearly similar symptoms as the president , at least what we know. My dad had a lowgrade fever. He had a call. He had low energy. He got his after test, the day after he woke up the symptoms, he was told to go home and quarantine. And only return if he could not breathe. My dad waited six days on Doctors Orders before he returned to the hospital. And that was underneath the conditions of him hardly being able to walk to the door because he was so out of breath. The president of the United States was able to get not only the best medical attention in the world and every single drug known and unknown to treat this virus, he also got the privilege of an abundance of caution in his care. And i can tell you this. From ever Single Family that i have spoken to over the course of the last several months through my organization that i have launched, no one has received the same cautionary care. And at is what ultimately boils my blood. We should all have that opportunity. And by the president flaunting it in our face just ramps down the fact of our broken, and Equitable Health care system that is causing so much pain and suffering right now. Amy kristin, before we go, i want to ask you about your day job. You started marked by covid, but you also work for mighty is focuses on the amazon rain forest. Can you talk about how you believe that forced preservation could prevent future pandemics . Absolutely. Of of the largest drivers potential pandemics is what is called the zoo not a transfer of disease zoonotic transfer of disease. Basically a term that means animals and human beings coming into closer contact and germs jumping from one species to another. Where hiv andt is aids comes from. We also have evidence that this particular strain of coronavirus also came from zoonotic transfer of disease in indonesia. One of the best angst that we can do according to research and science is to actually work to in order to forests. Revent even before i became an activist for Public Health on covid, i was already thinking about pandemics on the side of prevention. In ring force protection also is a wonderful way in which to protect Indigenous Peoples rights as well as to fight Climate Change. As we look atad the recovery and resiliency pieces of covid, there needs to productsct ban on entering into the United States, such as cattle, soy, and other Consumer Products that are linked to deforestation. Amy kristin arcades, thank you for being with us, cofounder of marked by covid. After her dad died of covid, she wrote an obituary in the Arizona Republic that went viral. Kristin spoke at the dnc in august and attended the firs president ial democratic debate as a guest of joe biden. She also is the Deputy Director of mighty earth, which works to protect tropical rainforests around the world. She is mexicanamerican. Her dad as well. And african immigrant populations, the hardest hit by covid. Come back, we will speak with a College Student in vermont whos doing what the white house doesnt want this easy to do, Contact Tracing of President Trump. Stay with us. [music break] amy just dropped in performed by kenny rogers the first edition. This is democracy now , democracynow. Org, thquarantine report. Im amy goodman with juan gonzalez. As the number of people in President Trumps orbit who test positive for covid19 continues to grow, were joined now by a student journalist who helped who is doing with the white house does not want the cdc to do. Tracing the context of people may have been affected by President Trump. Benjy renton, a Middlebury College senior, developed a tool. He is the digital director for Middlebury Colleges school newspaper. We welcome you to democracy now your website shows 277 contacts with 25 positive cases and a list of people you know to have come in contact with donald trump and others through him. Can you explain who is on the list, how you were able to come up with this group of people . Thank you so much for having me. We have been able to essentially track the contacts of anyone who is come in contact with the president or hope hicks or any of the individuals who have tested positive. We have had 277 contacts we have been able to track so far. 25 of those are positive, including bill stepien, White House Press secretary kenny mcinery Kayleigh Mcenany, melania trump, john jenkins. Were still trying to understand the scope of the spread of this outbreak and sort of what events really led to the viral transmission. We have determined the spread is particularly alarming in and around the white house. Your you have included in contactracking map a variety events the rose garden event where trump Supreme Court nominee was officially announced saturday, september 26. The presidtial debate last tuesday. The president s rally in duluth, minnesota on wednesday, and his fundraiser at his golf club in bedminster, new jersey, thursday evening. Talk about the map, how you put it together, and how youre getting this information. So we were able to essentially use public reports, pictures, flight manifests, as well as we have her own tip line where individuals can fill out any sort of tips they want us to investigate. We look essentially at any events or settings the president may have come in contact with, and that goes, as you said, to the Supreme Court nominee event in the rose garden which there was also an indoor event just before the ceremony which viralially contributed to spread. It was smaller scale but indoors with a larger pace of transmission. On tuesday, the debate prep beforehand. Fundraiser. A we are adding a couple of individuals at the restaurant helping prepare the food for the fundraiser who are not renting. It is truly you are now quarantined. Were trying to reach of the American Public have access and have the transparency they deserve. Amy which also shows us how important Public Information is. Yet Michael Scheer of the New York Times who is covidpositive, one of reporters, who have tested positive since last weekend. He has not been contacted by the white house he says. Anyhe real russian of Contact Tracing being done and why is this Contact Tracing so important when people find out they have been near any of the people . Chris christie now come the former governor of new jersey, who did debate prep and was at the Supreme Court ceremony, he is hospitalized with covid. Yeah. As you said, Michael Scheer and a couple of individuals, including Chris Christie himself really only found out they were in contact with someone who tested positive for covid19 via the media or any sort of news reports they consumed because there was no official Contact Tracing effort that we know of at the white house and we received notification yesterday and the New York Times report the event the nomination event will not be contact tracer. While this is none official investigation, we are not conducting a medical investigation, we lieve and we helpthis tracker can people understand the scope as expose thoseully are contacted with the president or in contact with the president those are positive the quarantine and prevent further spread of this virus as weve seen second order context, sickly people not at the event the president attended or not at the white house event but were in contact with some deals and more positive. It is a Ripple Effect only talk about the threat. Juan can you talk about some of the people youve identified as possible secondlevel contacts . Conway, the daughter of former counsel to the president kellyanne conway, posted on tiktok she had tested positive for covid19. She was done at any of the initial events or anything. She had contact with her mother, obviously. We know that covid19 spreads oftentimes in Home Settings or family settings because of the areas where families are in close contact without masks. That is one of them. We have started to really draw back the scope of this and maybe even go earlier than that saturdays servant court event. Supreme court event. We learned two white house resident staff have tested positive. We write a cnn report a couple of days ago that showed even as far back as two weeks or so ago there was a white house staffer that tested positive. We want to reiterate we want to protect the individuals privacy so this is publicly available information and that often means we need to name someone as white house staff or journalist one or journalist two or three. But we really want to get as accurate and timely a data set as possible without sacrificing privacy for accuracy. Amy and if people want this information . They can go to whcovidt rcker. Com whcovidtracker. Com. Benjy, i can see your time is well spent. Benjy renton, senior at Middlebury College majoring in ÷e÷e÷eleddddd