03/26/20 03/26/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york city, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, this is democracy now! >> at this point are cases in new york city constitute about 54% of the total in the state of new york and about 30 2%, almost one third of the cases in the united states of america. amy: as new york hospitals see a surge in coronavirus c cases, medical workers report growing shortageges of protective geara.

a nursrse who tetested positivie afafter treating patieients wite highly c contagious disesease hs died. we will get anan update from a w york city emergency room doctor craig spencer -- who is also a survivor of ebola, which he contracted while fighting its outbreak in africa. then senator and presidential candidate bernie sanders successfully fought to strengthen assistance to laid-off workers in the $2.2 trillion emergency bill passed by the senate, even as warned about the bill's s corporate bailout t fund. pres. trump: i am very, very, very concerned about a $5000 billion that will go out the corporate world without -- let me underline -- without the accountability and traranspareny that is needed. amy: and as the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread around the world, we will look at india, which is now under the

largest lockdown in human history, with 1.3 billion people ordered to shelter in place. we will speak with amitav ghosh. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the united states sesenate has voted unanimously to approve a record-shattering $2.2 trillion emergency relief package to battle the unprecedented economic shock of the coronavirus pandemic. the house of representatives is set to vote on the bill friday. and president trump has promised to sign it as soon as it reaches his desk. the bailout package would massively expand unemployment benefits, providing laid-off workers up to 100% of their salary and health insurance benefits for four months. freelancers and gig economy workers would be eligible for unemployment benefits for the first time ever.

over $300 billion would go toward direct cash payments to most americans, with one-time checks of $1200 for adults and $500 per child. states and municipalities would receive $150 billion in direct aid. companies would receive $221 billion in tax benefits, would fund hospitals and the $117 billion veterans health care, and a half trillion dollar fund would provide loans and loan guarantees for corporations. vermont senator and presidential candidate bernie sanders, who successfully fought to strengthen the bill's assistance to laid-off workers, voted "yes" even as he warned abouout thee bill's corporate bailout. >> we do not need at this moment in history to provide a massive amount of corporate welfare to large profitable corporations. i think as many of you are aware, you have industries like

the e airlineses industry, among forrs, that have provided stock buybacks. leads and billions of dollars. they spent all of their cash rewarding themselelves and their stockholders. and lo and behold today, they need a major bailout. amy: the vote on wednesday evening was 96 to zero, with four senators absent. just minutes before the roll call, republican senator john thune announced he was feeling ill and would return to his home in south dakota to self-quarantine. three other senators were also absent due to the coronavirus -- rand paul of kentucky, who has tested positive, and utah senators mike lee and mitt romney, who are in self-quarantine. here in new york city, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the united states, hospitals are seeing the same surge in cases that overwhelmed healthcare systems in china, italy, and spainin. refrigerated truckcks and tents have been stationened outside se hohospitals to hold the bodies f

the dead as morgueues fill u up. in just 24 hours on tuesday, 13 people repeportedly y died at elmhurst hospital center in queens. new york city is reporting 366 deaths and over 3333,000 confird cases, though the number is likely far higher due to a critical lack of tests. more than 4000 corononavirus patienents have been hospitalizd in new york, where a leaked fema briefing shows all 1800 intensive care beds in the city are expected to be full by friday. we'll have more on the healthcare crisis here in new york city after headlines when we speak to dr. craig spencer, director of global health in emergency y medicine at columbma university medical center. he himself suffered from ebola when he treated people in afririca. across the united states, new coronavirus infections continued to increase exponentially, with 13,000 newly confirmed cases

reported wednesday, pushing the nationwide total above 67,000. -- 68,000. over 1000 people have died in the united states. louisiana, with one of the fastest infection rates in the world, marked its largest one-day increase in covid-19 patients, bringing its toll to 65 dead and nearly 2000 infected. in neighboring mississippi republican governor tate reeves , defied calls for an emergency stay-at-home order, declaring "mississippi is never going to be china." "the washington post" reports 140 u.s. nursing homes have recorded at least one coronavirus case. the pentagon has ordered a 60-day freeze on troroop movemes overseas, with at least 415 pentagon emploloes testing positive for coronavirus. attorney geneneral williamam bar has directed federalal prosecuts to charge anyoyone deliberatatey spreading, or threatening to spread coronavirus, with terrorism.

meanwhile, amazon says it will keep its massive fulfillment centers open amid a surge of online orders after workers in at least eight amazon warehouses around the u.s. tested positive for covid-19. in pittsburgh, pennsylvania, hundreds of saninitation workers held a wildcat strike wednesday demanding more protection from the virus. this is one of the workers, sheldon white. equipment,better protective gear. we have no masks. we want hazard pay. hazard pay is very important. why? because we have high copayments for any type of -- we risk our life every time we grarab a garbagage bag. there could be a needle or something in it. amy: tony award-winning playwright terrence mcnally has died in florida of complications from covid-19. mcnally's career spanned six decades and included celebrated productions like "kiss of the spider woman" and "love! valour! compassion!" mcnally was an openly gay writer whose plays tackled issues of love, homophobia and the hiv/aids crisis. he was 81 years old.

celebrated chef floyd cardoz has died from a coronavirus infection. cardoz was the first chef born and raised in india to head a major dining kitchen in new york city. in the dominican republic, acclaimed fashion designer jenny polanco has died from complications of covid-19. polanco's career spanned four decades, and she was a regular fixture at miami fashion week. in geneva, switzerland, the director-general of the world health organization on wednesday urged world leaders to take strong actions to end the scourge of coronavirus sweeping the globe a as global confirmed cases apppproach half a bibilli. -- half a million. >> we have overcome many pandemics and crises before. we will overercome this one, to. the question is, how large a prize we wilill -- price we wiwl

pay. already we have lost more than 16,000 lives. more.w we will lose how many more will be determined by t the decisions wee make ande actions we take now. amy: in italy, the nation hardest hit by the pandemic, the death toll has topped 7500. but for the fourth straight day, the pace of new coronavirus cases fell, raising hopes that a nationwide lockdown is beginning to flatten the curve of infections. spain announced 738 coronavirus new deaths wednesday, surpassing china's death toll with over 3600 fatalities. in china, authorities have lifted restrictions on millions of residents of hubei province, the original epicenter of the pandemic, although the provincial capital wuhan remains on lockdown. chinese officials say new cases of covid-19 hahave all but stopd inin hubei, but some observers

question that assessmement and fear a a potential second wave f cases. in cities across india, police are using violence to crack down on curfew violators, beating and whipping anyone flouting a nationwide lockdown for 1.3 billion people. viral videos showed indian police forcing groups of men to do squats and pushups as punishment. india's bus and train services have been canceled, creating a crisis for thousands of migrant workers trapped in big cities. there are widespread reports of hoarding, raising fears of shortages of food, medicine, and supplies. we'll have more on india's coronavirus crisis later in the broadcast. in kosovo, lawmakers ousted prime minister albin kurti in a no-confidence vote wednesday over his refusal to declare a state of emergency. in chile, with over 1000 confirmed cases, large parts of the capital santiago will go into lockdown to slow the spread of the virus. earlier this month, fears over the pandemic ended five months of large-scale protests

demanding the resignation of president sebastian piñera. in stockholm, sweden, 1717-year-old clatate activivist greta thunberg said she very likely had covid-1-19 and has since recorered. thunberg said she experienced a very mild illness, w while her father svante experienced much more intense symptoms. in new zealand, prime minister jacinda a ardernrn asked her nation's 5 million residents to behave as though they were contagioious as a sweeping nationwide remain at home policy came into effect at midnight thursday. >> if you have any ququtions about what you can or can't do and you are looking for answers, apply simple principle -- act like you have covid-19. every move you make could be a risk to someone else. amy: her plea came on the same

day that the white supremacist terrorist who massacred muslim worshipers in two new zealand mosques last march pleaded guilty to the murder of 51 people. his sentencingng trial will bebe delayed untitil new zealand's covid-19 epidemic is under cocontrol and family members o f ththe victims hahave a chance to attend. senator bernie sanders has challenged former vice president joe biden to a 12th and final debate next month, signaling he will continue to compete for the democratic party's presidential nomination. the democratic national committee has yet to schedule a date or a broadcast partner for anan april debate. on biden dismissed the idea. wednesday,>> my focus is dedealg with this crisis right now. i've not thought about anymore debates. i think we've had enough debas.s. thinink shoululget on with this. amy: meanwhile, the inrcrcept rerting g at the time's up legal defee e fundset t upo lp survirs of rape and sexual assault, refused f fund a #moooo allation agnst t jo biden. the ararges re b broht by y ra read w who wked d as staff

assianant fothen-senor b bid in 13, when e e was herer mid-202's. reade told journalist kaee halper ian interew publied tuesy that ben repeadly totoucd her wiout heheconsent and xually aaulted h. i warning to listeners and viewers, her account is graphic. >> and then his hands were on me and underneath my clothes. yeah, he went -- he went down my skirt but then up inside it. me with hisd fingers. amy: reade approached the time's up legal defense fund in january looking for assistance, but was reportedly told the fund could not help her because biden is a candidate for federal office and pursuing a a case could jeopopae the fund's nonprorofit status.. the intercept reports the public relations firm representing time's up legegal defense fund s s.k.d. knickerbocker, whose managing director, anita dunn, is top adviser to biden's presidential campaign.

at the white hououse, president donald trump wednesday repeated his call for the united stateses to r reopen for business on aprl 12, , easter sunday -- around te time the coronavirus crisis is expected to peak in new york city.. trump's call for packed churches across the u.s. in mid-april came as pope francis oerered bishops around t w worldo instruct c catholics to o celebe eastster in their r homes. trump's plan also defies the entire medical establishment, which is pleading with americans to remain at home to prevent new covid-19 patients from overwhelming the healthcare system. researchers at the imperial college of london estimate that without measures like lockdowns and social distancing, 2.2 millllion people in the united states will die of covid-19. and in a major victory for environmentalists and indigenous water protectors, federal judge ruled the army corps of engineers violated the national environmenental policy act whena

permitted construction of the dakota access pipeline. the court ruled the court failed to reserve paul's by the standing rock sioux about the potential impact of oil spills in order the trump administration to prepare a full environmental impact statement on the pipeline. standing rock sioux tribal chair celelebrated the ruling writing "it is humbling to see how actions we took four years ago to defend our ancestral homeland continue to inspire national conversations about how our choices ultimately affect this planet. perhaps in the wake of this court ruling, the federal government will begin to catch on,." and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. we are broadcasting from new york city, the center of the coronaviruss pandemic in the united states. and my dear cohost, nermeen shaikh, is joining us from self-isolation in new york city. nermeen, w we are so close and t

so far. nermeen: thank you so much, ama. we are i indeed living in an extraordinary moment in the city. i would like to welelcome our listeners and viewerers both hee in the country as well as around the world. many of whom are in the same position as i am, namely in self-isolation or in quarantine or, as we just mentioned, in india, a country of 1.3 billion peoplele come undeder curfew. even as wewe are reporting now n how difficult the situation is in new york city hospitals, the health system bebeing completety overwhelmed by the number ofof cases, it is difficult not to think of places around the world in africa and asia - -- which he been referred to as a titicking time bomb -- the covid-19 may strike there and where h health care systems are so much weaker, what the effectsts of this lethl

pandemic idea. amy: and we are going to talk about india later in the broadcast, the largest lockdown .n all ever in the world and we're going to talk about issues like climate change and how it relates to the pandemic. but we're going to begin right here in new york city, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the united states, where hospitals are seeing the same surge in coronavirus cases that overwhelmed health care systems in china and italy and spain. refrigerated trucks and tents have been stationed outside of some hospitals to hold the bodies of the dead as morgues fill up. in 24 hours on tuesday, 13 people reportedly died at elmhurst hospital center in queens. a publblic hospital in the boroh of queens. "the new york times" reports -- "in several hours on tuesday, dr. ashley bray performed chest compressions at elmhurst hospital center on a woman in her 80's, a man in his 60's and

a 38-year-old who reminded the doctor of her fiance. all tested positive and all eventually died." dr. bray called the situation "apocalyptic." new york city is reporting 366 deaths and more than confirmed 33,000 cases -- almost half of all cases in the united states -- though the number c could b e so much higher dudue to the lack of tests. momore than 4000 coronavirusus patients have been hospitalized in the c city. a leaked fema briefing shows all of the more than 1800 intensive care beds in the city are expected to o be full by f frid, and d the state has cacalled for tens of ththousands morere ventilators, hospital beds, and intensive care beds. this comes as workers at new york city hospitals report shortages s of personal protecte equipment as they work amid patients w with the highghly contagious disease. workers for the massive mount

sinai health system shared photos online of themselves wearing trash bags for protection. a new york city nurse who was treating positive patients has died. mount sinai west nursing manager kious kelly was in his 40's and his co-workers described him as compassionate and devoted to his patients. for more, wewe are joined by dr. craig spencer, who is director of global health in emergency medicine at columbia uniniversiy medical center. dr. spencer contracted ebola while fighting its outbreak in africa and survived the disease. he is now an emergency room doctor in new york city where he isis treating coronavirus patients. he is also on the board of doctors without borders. and again with us, our cohost nermeen shaikh. welcome to democracy now! dr. craig spencer, describe a day in the new york city hospitals. we just laid out this graphic picture of shortage. and the question is, how

unnecessary was this? the idea that in this country, the richest in the world, doctors, people like you and nurses and the stataff of the hospitals going to those who even clean the hospitals, do not have the access to necessary protection to treat the patients that are surging into these hospitals? andake you for having me on let me share the story. look, it is pretty dire inside new york city hospitals right now and we are all concerned about how that will spread throughout the rest of the country. frankly, the rest of the world. it is no surprise the greatest number of cases are being reported in the places with the strongest or the best health care systems. we know cases are spreading all over the world. we're just picking them up more here and sing a lot more of the complications inside of our emergency departments as has already been reported. we have a growing number of patients coming in every day with coronavirus.

we have people young andnd old with complicationsns, without complications, who get put on mechanical ventilators, who get put on life support to help their breathing, who have cardiac arrest. it is a daily , espepecially here in new york city. amy: n nermeen? nermeen: dr. spencer, one of the things as amy mentioned that is very striking g is that the u.s. isis extreremely wealthy -- the wealthiest country in the worlr, but it alslso has, according to the global heaealth securityty x , in 2019 the u.s. was the hihighest ranked country in ters of pandemic preparedness. the u.s. w was the b best prepa. so if american hospitals are being overwhelmlmed in ththis w, what about all of the other countries that don't have the resources that the u.s. does? >> yeah.

i ththink if you ask anyone over the past couple of years -- anyone that does this for a living, whether or not the u.s. was prepared for a pandemic, we would all have said no. we have limited the fact the u.s. h has torn apart ththe preparedness architecture here in the u.s., underfunding t the cdc, underfunding state and local department of health, it is not surprising to anyone that has been looking at this or been worrying about this the past couple of years that this pandemic is wreakingng such havc here in the u.s.... underfundedtically the world health organization. despite what we learnened in wet africa in 2014 and 2016 with the ebola crisis. we learned that having preparedness was much more important than a reactiveve response. we learned that putting the right amount of funding into the organizations who are capable of picking up thesese disease thres and responding to them a all of

the world d is the only way to protect people everywhere. it is so much cheaper, soso much cheaper to i invest in preparedness t than it is to scramble for response. we're putting together trillions of dollars to try and respond to this just here in the united states. and that amount of money would have provided for global preparedness for over a decade. we really need to think about our priorities. i hope and we come out on the others of this, we think about where the smart investment is. the smart investment is not just trying to build a wall around this country with the hope that we're going to keep microbes and bacteria out. the reality of our world right now is that wherever disease starts -- and it is m more likey to be in china than it is to be in columbia, missouri -- it can be anywhere in the world within 24 to 48 hours. and we are all at risk unless we have strong health systems in the places where the most vulnerable patients are.

nermeen: d dr. spencerer, can yu explain for people whoho don't know -- in the u.s., most health care is privatized. so why is it in private hospitals there is not sufficient -- ththere isnsn't sufficieient personanal protecte equipment? because not fundiding the cdc or cutttting funding to the cdc, etc., should not impacact the decisisions that private hospits make about the equipment, the bebeds come in etctc., thahat ty acquire. >> we talked about these n95 masks, the filter particles like the coronavirus and generally, we are fit tested in the hospital every year as a requirement to make sure they fit right, that thinking get through. you must never use them because in the u.s., we don't have tubererculosiss papatients are a lot of p people

have to use this type of prototection. thatat is not t the reality in y other places that i worked. west africa, east africa, southeasast asia, etc. the globalused for diseases that we havave -- communicicable diseases that we hahave stoppedeeeeing the u.s.s. a lot of m my colllleagues don't have this amomount of expense working with the personal protective equipipment that we need right now. i see a lot of people who are touching the masks or puputtingt on a and taking it off incorrectly. personal protetective equipmentt like g gloves and masks do o not protect you u if they are used o correctly. one of the greatest risks when using them is taking them off wrong, touching her face, touching the mask, infecting yourself. don'tnot surprising we have a huge supply of these things. we did not prepare f for this scenarioio. i think this is the most importrtant message. so many people k knew this was coming. so many people knew thihis was coming. you cacan look back anand see

headadlines from three month ag, three years ago. everything that we learned in west africa seem to have been torn apart in decisions -- seemingly undermine our ability to respond to pandemics, not only here in the united states, but throughout the world. amy: dr. spencer, if you would take aside your personal journey. what happened to you when you were dealing with ebola and in africa, got contracting it? and then the lessons we can learn. i would particularly go to the issue of the agree just lack of tests and how that isis a major public health care measure just for people to understand the lack of tests, the lag in getting them,m, and then even nw the amount of time it takes for people -- it can before, 5, 10 days to find out even impact if they get the test, very difficult come and what that means in terms of contagion. start with y yourself contractig ebola.

africa ind in west guinea in 2014. i was in epicenterer of an outbtbreak providing direct clinical care on a daily basis in full protective personal quip met with doctors without borders. i followed rigorous protocols every single day. my organization had been doing and really hads done a great job in minimizing the risks to the providers and increasing the quality of care we can provide to o our patient. that beieing said, personall prototective equipment is not flawless, not perfecect, even if used pererfectly. at 1.i was infected. when i came back to the u.s., i was thankfully treated here and received incredible quality care and was lucky enough to survive. largely because i w was treatedn really great health h system. i was also really young and did not have any other r medical issues.. atat the only time the o only tg i could think about were my colleagues and princnce back in west africa that did not have access to the same quality ofof

care. in w west africa, i took care of about 30 patients,s, myself, att anany time and herere in the u.i probably had 30 providers on call to take care of the at any time. stunnininghe similarities and dififferences between west africa a and coronavirus is that they are both viruses, coronavirus seems to infect more people and kill a relatively smaller percent versus ebola. butt the difference in terms of the fight was that in west africa, i at least nevever realy had to worry y about my persosol protective equipmentnt. n n95 rpirators w we have come how limitited our supplyy chain is, and if it is bad here, what is it going to look like in the rest of the country? you bring up another important point we h have not talked aboui think enouough is the issue ofof testining. righght now we are talking about only testingng certa p people. so only testing some health-care workers, only testing people that are hospitalized. it is not because that is the

best thing to dodo, it is becaue that is the only thing we can do right now.w. testing capacity has incrcreased dramatically in the papast coupe of weeks, but we arere months delayed. we should have had a testing strategy like south koreaea. we need to understand where this disease is, where it is passing, where it is transmitting. the only w way to dodo that is o test, test, test. we have all been limited in our hospitals and commmmunities. people are walking aroround now not knowing whether or not they have had coronavirus, whether they have protective immuninity, whether they can be out helping other people if they h have antibodies by delivering groceries to the elderly or helping in other i ititutions.s. our testing stragy r right now is such because we failed to be prepared. therere were critical missteps n the testing capacity in the testing kits that t were sent o. there were a lot of promises abouout our ability t to do bils -- millilions of beautiful tests

for anyoyone that wanteded one. that was n never the reality on the front line. that has completely changed in the past couple of weeks. spencer, if craig you could talk about the use of measurepublic health that you understand and now as a result everyone must treat themselves as if they are contagious, as if they are protected to -- infected to protect others, and yet you have president trump, if you can respond to what he is saying, that by easter, in just a few weeks, he wants to see packed churches while the pope at the vatican is telling people to wash their hands but not wash the feet of the worshipers. what he is saying, pray at home. of course, he is in italy, which is so hard and many are deeply concerned the u.s. could go that route. what would stop us from going that route?

i talk about the danger of president trump's message. i think in a week we will be italy, at least here in new york city where we are already seeing that. somethininthat i havave been warning about for weeks and ititaly has been warning about r weeks. in terms of what can stop this, i don't want to incite panic ababout because we still h havea country outside of new york city and the other epepicenters right now that will be impacted by this virus i in the coming weeks and montnths. look, the me just say the first case o of coronavirus was diagnosed here in new york city in early march, so just over three weeks ago. easter is just a couple o of wes away, , two to t three weeks aw. have thishat we can dramatic spike in cases -- which is still going up, by the way -- and that we're somehow going to level off and get a p place whee

by easter we are going to have people back together again? that is dangerous andnd magical thinking. it defies all of the modeling that we have seen. it defies any of the reality any of my colleagues are seeing in the emergency department.t. quie frankly, going into work and sing coronavirus patients and seeing them crash into compensating, get sick really quickly, is scary. this idea of millions and millions of my fellow americans all being in church or r being n concert halls were being together in just a couple of weeks gives me such because knowing that this is the only way the virus can infect t you. it cannot infefect you if they cannot meet you. by bringing people back together, this is the greatesest possible risk.k. thisssible risk worsening pandemic, fueling the flames across the unitedd states. the momost important mesessage everyone needs to know right now is the o only way you can be sad is by y staying home. the virus cannot infect to if it does not meet you.

the streets may look empty, i know, but i assure you what t is happening within the walls of the emergency departments here in new york city and maybe next week in new york in a week after that in new mexico, is anything calmhee quietness and the you see on the empty city streets. amy: dr. craig spencer, what keeps you going? you, your colleagues kemal of the health staff of all of the hospitals in this country and around the world are so incredibly brave. you are the hardest hit. what g gets you to that hospital every day? i is what we do. it is our moral obligation. yeah, we want to do it with the right equipment and toolsls, bui think all ofof us have the sense of perersonal drive to be able o provide care. ththis is what i feel and what l of my colleagues have felt come the national staff i have worked with and getting in 2014 and 2015.

i rememember being so moved by their wilillingness and abilityo come to work every single daday despite communities beingg destroyed byby virirus. i have leaearned so much frorom them, so much that has prepared me for this outbreak that i try to share with my colleagues. i think we need to be thinking about the fact that, yes, the u.s. is hard-hit and it is going to words in the n next couple of weeks, but let us not forget there is a world outside thesee borders. i have worked in a lot of placee where nonot just the critical ce doctors are in short supply, but there may be no critical care beds. there may be no ventilators. there may be no icu's or the ability to provide higher quality care that we are talking about right here in the united states.. it is just a good reminder that the media is focused so much on what is happening in new york city. i assure you this is an issue and will be a greater issue everywhere else in the world. just make sure we all keep everybody e else in our thoughts most of amy: dr. craig spencer,

thank you so much for being with us, directctor of global healthn emergency medicine at columbia university medical center. speaking to us from his home. work with in his doctors without borders and many other groups as he spends his time having been in africa anand now in new york city. when we come back, we will hear the words of senator presidential candidate bernie sanders on the record shattering $2.2 trillion emergency relief bill passed by the senate last night. stay with us. ♪ [music eak]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. in a historic vote, just before midnight, the senate unanimously approved a record-shattering $2.2 trillion emergency relief bill to battle thehe unprecedend economic shock of the

coronavirus pandemic. the house is set to vote on the bill on president trump has friday. promised to sign it. an livestream legislative update and say not, vermont senator and presidential candidate bernie sanderers spoke about who the bl will help. >> this packckage provides the largest expansion of unemployoyment benefits in american history with an increase of over $250 b billion. under this bill, average americans who have been furloughed will be able to receive up to 100% of their salary and their health insurance for four months. four months. weekly unappointed benefits will increase by $60000. out, yourare laid item plummet b benefit will

increase by y $600 aboveve whatt otherwise would have been. and right now the average $364 fors about workers. , thisery importantly expansion of unemployment will include part-time workers. it will include gig workers like those who drive uber cars. it will include tip workers and ththe self-employeded who wouldd byerwise not be covered unemployment insurance. in other words, what we're doing now is at a time when fewer than half of the american people would normally be covered by unemployment, what this legislation does is it expands , and the overall workforce on top of that, for many workers, would provide $60600 a

week more than they otherwise woululd have gotten. that is one of the more important provisions i in the bill. provideson, this bill $250 billion to go out and one time checks of $1200 for adults and $500 for kids. let me be honest, some of you may know, i wanted much more. i wanted every american family to be able to receive $202000 every singngle month that we continue to exixist withihin the crisisis. so this does not do that. and this is clearly not enough to me, but that is what it is. amy: that is v vermont senator bernie sanders speaking wednesday night about the unprecedented $2.2 trillion emergency relief bill. the legislation would also provide $150 billion to states and municipalities, tax benefits to companies, must $120 billion

in aid to hospitals, and half $1 trillion fund provide loans and loan guarantees for corporations. senator sanders another progressive critics are sounding the alarm over the bailout portion of the bill and its limited oversight measures. >> i am very, very, very concerned about a a $500 billion that will go out to ththe corporate world w without -- let meme undnderline, withouout the accountability and transparency that is needed. we do not need at this moment in history to provide a massive amount of corporate welfare to large profitable operations. i think as many of you are aware, youou will have industris like the airlines industrtry, amonong others, that have provid for ststock buybacks. bibillions andnd billionons of s

for stock k buybacks.. theyey spent all of ththr cash rewardrding themselves and their stockholdeders. and d lo and behold, today they need a major bailout. is, eight,ern here do we trust the trump administration to effectively decide which company will get the loans or the grants? the answer is, no, i do not. do we think these loans and grantsts during a political sean will be used to benefit the presidents -- president selection process? absolutely, i do. amy: that's presidential candidate and vermont senator bernie sanders wednesday night. u.s. unemployment claims have million claims last week. what rippling the record from 1982. when we come back, we turn to india, which now under the largest lockdown in human history. stay with us.

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amy: that was sophia blum and jess regelson from providence, rhode island, singing their rendition of "tinny!" by rani arbo and daisy mayhem. they dedicated their video and -- they dedicated it to their nephew and grandchildren who they haven't seen because of self-isolation. ththis is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. nermeen shaikh is in self-isolation and new york city. we returning t to india now whee prime minister narendra modi ordered the largest lockdown in human history starting wednesday, telling the country's 1.3 billion people to shelter in place. with 693 confirmed coronavirus cases and 13 dead, india's three-week lockdown is an attempt to stave off the sky-rocketing death tolls and overwhelmed health systems already y seen in china, italy, spain, and now the united states. but as the country's economy and daily life comes to an abrupt halt, hundreds of millions of

indians who live hand to mouth have been left without the means to support their families. more than 80% of india's workforce is informal, meaning most living off two or three dollars a day. wages they cannot earn of the present curfew. some states, including uttar pradesh and kerala, have announced economic relief packages for workers and the poor, and modi's government is expected to do the same in the coming days. but critics say momodi's respone to the cororonavirus crisis was has left india's poor to fend for themselves, with migrant workers left stranded at now-closed train and bus stations with no way to get home and millions wondering how they will survive weeks and potentially momonths without wo. meanwhile, india's testing lags far behind other nations, leading to fears that the actual number of covid-19 infections is far, far higher than reported. as of tuesday india had only conducted 15,000 tests -- 15,000 in a nation of 1.3 billion. well, for more, we're joined by the award-winning indian writer amitav ghosh.

he's joining us from his home in brooklyn, new york, where he is sheltering in place. his books include "gun island" and "the great derangement: climate change and the unthinkable." thank you so much for being with us. let's start with what is happening in india. let's talk about this largest lockdown in human history. whwhat do understandnd is going? >> well, it seems toto be a very chaotic s situation. lelet me say first of all, one f the terrible things about thisis lockdodown is it should have happened a l lot earlier. i have been self-isolating in brooklyn for almost three weeks now.w. i talked to my friends and my family e every day back in indi. fofor three eks, they y were jut not takingng this seriously at all. those signgnals have to come frm the govevernment. minineample, a friend of

and i'm devastateded to hear abt his papassing, but i am told hee had a huge party in bombay earlier thisis mononth. if they had d shut down the sort of big gatherings and so on, two to three weeks ago, it would have served in a norma's purpose but they didn't. so this lockdown has come as a huge surprise. i family back in calcutta, they aree completely panicked because they did not have time to go out and buy food or anything. about my talking family. employment is in the formal sector and those people are completely devastated. you saw the picture of people being beaten by the police. workers areormal

now out on the streets. they lived on the streets anyway. they have no way to get back to their homes, which are hundreds of miles away. they are just stuck on the street. yesterday i saw horrifying video of a young boy being beaten by the police. he was just out on the street because he had nowhere to go. you see these pictures of workers carrying their children on their head, trying to walk back hundreds of miles to theirr families. situation.t a shocking nermeen: amitav ghosh, what do you expect will happen now? what are y you learning fromouor fafamily? at the moment, this lockdown is supposed to last f for three weeks. what are you hearing, though, about how long it is likely to continue beyond that? and alsoso, what provisionons te modi has put in place, if any, for people under curfew to get access to even basic goods --

food, drinking water, etc.? government has announced d me sort of relief measures. it varieies from state to staten india. and has been very proactive very early amongngst indian states. how efeffective these measures will be, i just don't know. evenen delivery workekers are bg beaten by the pololice. it just makes absolutely n no sense. journalists try to get to work are e being beaten by the polic. health-care workers are being beaten. as far as i can see, it is a strange situation of chaos and panic and building upon each other. families like mine are able to stop a certain amount of food at home. but you think about the people who are stuck in tiny shanties. you think about who have not the

ability to even stock any food. and the weather is turning hotter and hotter. they are stuck inside. be appalling for them. and let me say straightaway that reported numbers, we just cannot trust them at all. we know now really the numbers reported are a function of -- as amy said earlier, very few indians are being tested. 15,000 in a huge country? agagain, another statistic that is not at all trustworthy is the numbeber of people who ae dying.g. because a vevery large number deaths in i india arere not acty reported or they are not certified by doctors. so we really have no idea at all of what is going o on on the ground. nermeen: could you elaborate a little bit more? you suggesested the extraordinay

ininequalityty in the effffectsd spread of this virus. of course come here in the united s states, perhaps with different ordersrs of magnituden countries like india with such a large population that is poor, virus is likely to impact the most? and the relationship between these decade which you pointed out, decades of neolibeberalism and the populations that are going to be the most affecteteby this, in india as well as here? >> the sort of neoliberal sorts of policies we havave seen aroud the world have h had the effectf greatly increasing i inequality, you know? you seee this terrible sort ofof cycle. a lot of the informal workers in delhi i are actually farmersrs m

arareas that have been very bady hit by climate change. 2016, for example, there's aa terrible droughtht and central inindia. hundredsds of thousands of peope were leaeaving their bidid l les ever single -- v villages flockg toto cities like delhihi. what arere those people e goingo do?? how canan they even retururn? , people live in very close contact in slumums, and shantytowns stotop it will spred very fast over there. those people are nothing to be able to get tested. they are not what to go to hospitals. in any case at this point in time, i suspect spindles are going to be the prime center of the spread. we are seeing that around the world. there's no reason to believe that would be the case in india. just take one example. week as thelast

panic was beginning to spread in india, migrantnt workers started piling into trains and thousands. you can imagine in a small train confirming how quickly this would spread. amy: if you could comment, amitav ghoshsh, i'm president fm going to india right at the time that people were saying he had to be spspeaking about coronavis -- not only there, but dealing with what is happening in the united states as well, that instead, he was there at a stadium being celebrated, not saying any word when it could have made such an enormous difference. and also talk about -- i mean, your book is titled "the great derangement: climate change and the unthinkable." very appropriate for what is happening right now. but if you could talk more deeply about the connenection between climate change and the growth of these viruses, the

spread of these viruses, and what we have not taken sereriouy until this point. >> yes, you are right. just a few weeks ago, president trump p was in india with the prime minisister modi. they werere in a huge stadiumumh tens of thousas s of peoplple. i think it was hundreds of thousands, actually. this is ast sense huge incubator of the disease. even a couple of weeks ago, there were massive cricket match is on across india. it was just a a ectacle ofof derangemement. my book is called "the great arrangement" and every single day i see more signs of f this kikind of derangement. the relationship with climate change, as far as i can tell, obviously, one direct relationship is rising temperatures will create -- will make the transmission certain kinds of diseases in certain

places. but i think we can't think of it only in terms of a causal relationship. i think these things -- this pandemic, , the global migration crisis, some of the other things thectually, t they all affect great acceleration that we have been saying for ththe lasast 30 yeyears. starting in about 1990. since we have had this sort of neololiberal regime, economic regime put in place e across the world, half of all the greenhouse gas emissions that are in the skies right n now s e 1990.. it is s exactly in this period e have witnessed this incncredible acceleraration in travel, mobily , of the things that make it possible for a pandemic like this to instantly come as it were, spread itself araround the worlrld. nermeen: can you speak

specifically on the question of this great acceleration to the modi government policies, specifically, i mean, a lot of peopople have criticized the moi government for the way in which it imposes curfew, and compared it to his decision to de-monetize the currency aa couple of years ago. so could you talalk about the impact of the modi government's policies both on thehe questionf on theality and the impact climate crisis of some of the polilicies that the modi gogovernment has pursued? >> the lockdown announcement was made 8:00 0 p.m. at nigight. they do monetizization announcement was m made in a simimilar way. they created absolute panic that lasteded for a long time e to disruptedd l lives, and really

renderered thenformal sector very, very vulnerable. they still have not recovered from that. announced that the prime minister was going to make another sort of announcement already that created a kind of incredible panic. last fewm that, the months in india have been incredibly difficult. i mean, the government also announced a set of changes in citizenship laws, which is completetely dividing the county and created a people's's across the country. this would not h have happened - could not t have happened at a worse e moment. a lot ofng to create uncertainty, a lot of panic going had. i don't think anyone could really foresee what lies ahead in the next few weeks. i feel absolutely sure that three weeks is not enough. it will be much more than that.

we are just seeing the beginning of this pandemic in india. the modi government's policy from the start has been very anti-environmental. thathave diluted the pact prevented the rights of many force dwellings. they have even diluted things like in india we had strict regulations about building close to the sea, to the coast. tricked regulations about needing g a certain amount of ld that youou could not build on. ofhotels, resorts, alall sorts lobbies, they wanted that chchanged and they were able to push throughhahange. you just think about this moment .n time with sea levelel rise and you're suddenly allowed to build closer toto the s sea. it is a kind of madness. especially t the devasastation t s, h happening in inindia's fort

forests being opened up toto mining interesest across india. this will create absolute disasaster because we can see it is that kind of ecologogical , it is s deforestation ththat creates the cononditionsr these and all the human transmissions for viruses. amy: amitav ghosh, we have to leave it there. thank you for being with us, india writer based in brooklyn were his cell -- self-isolating, author of "the great derangement: climate change and the unthinkable." and that does it for our show. and we can't end the broadcast without a moment of joy, and that it is nermeen shaikh's birthday. during the oh, gosh. amy: a very, very happy birthday. i wish you are right here at my side so you can blow out candle with me. but you are so important in this broadcast t and represent such n importanant ray of hope, as do l of our colleagues here at democracy now! both at the

studio and self-isolating, but working so hard at home. happy birthday, nermeen. happy, happy birthday. democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013. [captioning made possible by democracy now!]

announcer: on this episode of "earth focus"... we vivisit oil-rich communitiesn california's san n joaquin vavay and along alaska's arctic slope, where residents are asking tough questions about the consequences ofof fossil fuel extractction. it's been t the bedrock of their economicic livelihoods for deces but is now fracturing communities and threatening the planet. [camera's shutter advancing]