04/17/20 04/17/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from m new york city, the epicenter of the pandemic, this is democracy now! >> when you make colossal e errs which are killing thousands of peopople, find somebody elelse o blame -- and inin the uninited ststates, it is in forort lee te case f for well over a centutur, century and a half, it is always easy to blame cash claim the

world health organization, blame china. amy: we continue our chomskytion with noam as president trump cuts u.s. support for the world health inanization and debts surge the united states s to another rerecord high. we will alalso talk withth profr chomsky abouout conditions in gaza, the rise of authoritarianism around the world, and the progressive response. then a new policy at new york city's public hospitals requires medical workers who call in sick to produce a doctor's n note. we will spspeak with a nurse ata bronx hospital. >> we are e all coming to woror, we'rere all d doing herculean -- making herculean efforts to make this w work. wewe are all exposining oursrseo these risks, and we know we are at the very tip othe iceberg. amy: we will speak with bronx nurse sean petty,, who is organizing yet another protest again today. all of that and more, coming up.

welcome to democraracy now, dedemocracynow.org, the quarante report. i'm amamy goodman. deaths from covid-19 in the united statates surged to ananor rerecord high thursday, nenearly doubling to surpass the previous record set just a day before. 4591 u.s. residents died over a single 24-hour period, with another 31,000 newly confirmed coronavirus cases across the u.s. worldwide, over 145,000 people have died of covid-19 according to data compiled by john hopkins university. at the white house, president trump on thursday outlined federal guidelines for states to reopen their economies, saying it was up to individual governors to decide when and how to relax social distancingng measasures. pres. trump: some states are not in the kind of trouble that others are in.

now that we have passed the peak startingses, we are our life again. we are starting rejuvenation of our economy again in a safe and structured and very responsible fashion. amy: trump told governors in a conference call thursday, "you're gonna call your own shots," reversing his claim last monday he has total authority to tell states when and how to open. medical professionals say it's far too early to reopen schools, businesses and large gatherings without spawning a new surge in covid-19 cases. they say a massive increase in testing and contract tracing -- contact tracing capacity is needed before social distancing measures can be relaxed. here in new york, health officials reported another 606 covid-19 deaths thursday, bringing the statewide death toll to more than 12,000.

the number of hospitalizations continues to fall, suggesting new york has passed its peak of coronavirus infections. as of 8:00 p.m. this evening, new yorkers are required to carry facial coverings whenever they leave their homes and w wer masks whenen sociall distatancis not possssible. in south dakota, the centers for disease cocontrol anand preventn is i investigatingng the one ofe plants port processing in world, where the number of workers testing positive for covid-19 surged to over 730. the smithfield plant is in sioux falls is now the biggest single coronavirus hotspot in the united states. the mayor of sioux falls has ordered residents to shelter-in-place after republican governor kristi noem refused to issue statewide stay -- remain at home order. a health center suspended 10 nurses who refused orders to treat covid-19 masks andithout n95

other personal protective equipment. in michigan wherere protesters defified a ban on gatheringsgs o protesest at the state capital, republicans have introduced bills to strip democratic governor g gretchenn whitmer ofr power to order resididents to maintain social distance. she hasas promised to veteto the legislation. in washington,n, state, boeing says it will begin bringing 27,000 workers back to factories to resume production of airplanes. it is the first large-scale attempt by u.s.s. manufactutureo resume operations. the small business admiministration said thursday t has exhausted a $349 billion emergency loan fund. the paycheck protection program will no longer accept new applications unless congress approves additional funding. treasury secretary steven mnuchin is seeking an additional $250 billion for the program. democrats want to expand any new relief measure to include $100 billion for health care

providers and $150 billion for state, local, and tribal governments. banking g giant usaaaa, which ss former mililitary membmbers and their famililies, said t thursdt willll no longerer seize thehe stimulus chehecks of p people wh negative account balances. usaaaa's rereversal camame aftee americanan prospect reported ona disabled veteran whose family had $3400 in cares act payments rerouted by the bank to pay an outstanding debt. propopublica reports landlorordn georgia, oklahoma, texas, and florida have flouted a ban on evictions passed by congress last month as part of the coronavirus relief bill. investigigative reporterers foud scores of incidents where landlords removed tenants from federally-backed rental units without consequence. propublica says the true number of evictions is likely far higher because there's no nationwidede database of evictin filings. in new york, governor andrew cuomo refused thursday to commit

to providing emergency relief to millions of undocumented immigrants living in new york after california announced one-time payments of up to $ $10 per immigrant household. >> when you are broke, it would be irresponsible to do these things. i do hope and believe the federal government should have a more inclusive policy. >> [indiscernible] >> welell, we are looking at abt we have real financial problems right now. amy: philip alston, the u.n. special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, said thursday the united states needs to take dramatic action to prevent tens of millions of middle class americans from falling into poverty. he added -- "low-income and poor people face far higher risks from the coronavirus due to chronic neglect and discrimination, and a muddled, corporate-driven, federal response has failed them." the for-profit health insurance

giant unitedhealth group reported profits grew by over $160 million during the first quarter of 2020, as demand for non-essential medical treatment plummeted while coronavirus hospitalizations surged. unitededhealth reported a 3.4% year-over-year increase in quarterly earnings to $5 billion. former health insurance executive wendell potter tweeted in response -- "the earnings were so good, the company said it still expects to make as much in total profits this year as they predicted in december when no one could predict the massive loss of life and jobs caused by the coronavirus. in other words, they're thriving during a pandemic." a report by two grassroots workers rights organizations suggest coronavirus cases i in e u.s. amazon warehouses will likely exponentially increase in the coming days as the corporation refuses to shut down some of its facilities, even

when workers test positive for covid 19. more than half of amazon's 110 wawarehouse facilities in the country have root of it cases of coronavirus. meanwhile, amazon ceo jeff bezos has told shahareholders he now wants to test all employees for covid-19, despite the economic crisis triggered by the pandemic come amazon stock continues to climb, lifting this is personal fortune e to n nearly $140 bill. amazon has shut down all of its warehouses in france after a court ruled tuesday the company needs to reaeassess the safefetf its workers during the pandemic. china has revisesed the death tl from covid-19 in wuhan upward by 50%, saying nearly 3,900 people have died since the novel coronavirus first emerged in the city of 11 million people late last year. the revised dedeath toll camames china reportrted its econonomy shrank 6.8% in the first three

months of 2020, , ending nearly0 years of uninterrupted economy growth. in brazil, far-right president jair bolsonaro abruptly fired health minister luiz henrique mandetta thursday after mandetta repeatedly urged brazilians to practice social distancing measures. bolsonaro is a staunch ally of president donald trump who has dismissed covid-19 as a "fantasy" and a "little flu." bolsonaro has repeatedly ignored stay-at-home orders issued by brazilian governors, joining political rallies and shaking hands with constituents. at his final press briefing thursday, mandetta warned the coronavirus will continue to claim m lives. >> don't think wewe're goioing o escape sharp r rise in cases off this diseasese. the healalth system is not you prepared for a surge of cases. amy: nearly nine out of 10 beds in rio de janeiro's public

emergency facilities are already full, even though coronavirus cases aren't expected to peak until may or june. in guatemala, al jazeera reports rural and indigenous communities are increasingly afraid of the potentialllly devastating impacs coronavirus coululd have on ther people as they question whether the country's already troubled and fragile health system is able to adequately respond to the coronavirus outbreak. in south america, hundreds of venezuelan migrants attempting to return home after losing their jobs in neighboring countries say they are being housed in squalid and crowded quarantine facilities where they're afraid coronavirus could rapidly spread. in chile, as the country remains in a nationwide coronavirus lockdown, , anti-goverernment ad anti-austerity protesters are continuing the m movement from inside theirir homes using socil media. each friday night, quarantined chileans stand in their gardens or balconies banging pots demanding the release of people arrested during recent mass protests.

nigegeria's national human righs commission says security forces have killed at least 18 people while enforcing social distancing measures aimed at stopping the spread of the coronavirus. that's more than the 13 deaths so far attributed to covid-19 acacross nigeria. the commission documented over a -- 100 incidents of human rights violations in 24 of nigeria's 36 ststates. in puerto rico, protesters in cars rallied wednesday outside the island's government-funded, public televevision station wip, denouncing what they called propaganda produced by governor wanda vazquez about the coronavirus pandemic. protesters also demanded more covid-19 testing on the island. elsewhere, emergency medical workers held a protest that ended in front of the governor's mansion, demanding they be included in the government's economic coronavirus relief package. the united nations warns the coronanavirus pandememic could e catastrophic for children around

the woworld, with h 1.5 billllin affected by countrywide school closures, millions losing access to school meal programs, and widespread disruptions to maternal and newborn care. this is u.n. secretary-general antonia guterres. will force poor families to cut back on essentials andd food e expenditures, particulary affecting children, pregnant wowomen, and b breast-feeding mothers. popolio vaccinatioion campaignse been sususpended. haveization campaignsns stopped inin at least 23 coununtries. the seself services become overwhelmed, sick children are less able to get care. with the global recession in place, there could be hundreds of thousands of additional child deaths in 2020. lila fenwick, who in 1956 became the first black woman to graduate from harvard law school, has died from covid-19. she became a student at harvard in 1954 following the supreme court's historic ruling in brown v. board of education, joining

the cohort as part of only a handful of women and the only black woman. she was 87 years old. renowned chilean author luis sepulveda, who in the 1980's fled the military dictatorship of augusto pinochet, has died from covid-19. sepulveda is celebrated for his literary work depicting life in south america. he was 70 yearars old. price news reports michigan's former governor rick snyder new about toxic lelevels of lead in flint water supply as early as 2014 -- some 16 months before he claimemed to have learned of the toxic lead contamination in a testimony to congress. usinglso found they were -- michigan has admitted the switch climbeded 12 laps but a s investigation found the true toll might be far highgher.

and the state of alaska has put surgical abortions on a list of medical procedures that could be banned during the coronavivirus outbreak, claiming abortions are not essential and that the measures will conserve personal protective equipment for health care workers. the alaska chapter of planned parenthood has called the nenew rule shameful and an attempt by local officials to exploit a public health crisis to restrict abortion access. and those are some of the headlines. this is s democracacy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. when we e come b back, we contie our conversation with world-d-renowned political dissidenent, linguguist, and aur noam chomsky and get his response to president trump's cut to u.s. supppport for the world healalth organization. you will also talk about conditions in gaza a and the rie of authoriritarianisism around e world and d the progressive response. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "five f four & three" by te

influeuential saxoxophonist lee konitz, , who died in a new yoyk hospspital at the age e of 92 fm complicationons related to covid-1919. thisis is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quararante report. i'm amy y goodman. the death rate from the pandemic continues to accelerate with worldwide confirmed deaths topping 145,000. in the united states, deaths surged to another recordrd high thursday, nearly doubling to surpass the previous recorord st 4591. day before at u.s. residents died d over a single 24 hohour pereriod. today,y, we continue my converersation with noam chomsk, the world-renowned political dissident, linguist, and author of more ththan 100 books. he's a laureatete professor in e department of linguistics at the university of arizona tucson and professor emeritus at massachusetts institute e of technology where he taught for

more than half a century. professor chomsky joined us from his home in tucson, arizona, where he is sheltering in place with his wife, valeria. we spoke just after president donald trump foreshadowed this week's announcement that he would cut off u.s. support for the world health organization. this is trump addressing reporters last week. >> is t the time to frereeze fug to the who during a pandemic? pres. trump: maybe not. i'i'm not sayingng i'm going too it, bubut we will look at it. i said we're going to look at it. we're going to look at it. amy: can you talk about what he is t threatenining to do right ? first they reject the who tests thatat would have been critical and now saying they're going too defundnd the world health organization. well, this is typical behavior of autocrats and dictators. ,henen you make colossssal erros

which are killing thousands of people, find somebebody else to blame. is,in the united states, it unfortunately, the case for well over a century, century and a half, that it is always easy to blame the yellow peril. we have seen this all through my life -- in fact, way before. so blame the world health organization. blame china. claim that the world health organization has insidious relations with china, probably working for them. and that sells to a population that has been deeply indoctrinated for long time. way back to the chinese exclusion act of the 19th century. just a those yellow barbarians are coming over to destroy us. that is almost instinctive. and it is backed up by the echo

chamber. limbaugh, science is one of the four corners of deceit along with the media, i think it one of the others. at the four corners of deceit. you keepep driving that into people's heads, they say, why should we believe anything? why shshould we believe e the n? it is just f fake news. they are all tryining to destroy our savior, our president, the greatest resident t ever. remember asougugh to h hitler'sstening to spspeeches over r the radio, nuremberg rallies. i cocould not understand the words, but thehe tone and the reaction to the crowdwd, the adoring crowd, was very clelear

and very frightening. we knonow what it led to. it comes to mind at once when you listen to trump's ravings in the crowd. i don't suggest he is anything itler had an h ideology not only massacring the slavs,0 million conquering much of the world, but also an internal ideology. the state under control of the nazi party should control every aspect of life, should even control the business community. that is not the world we are in. in fact, it is almost the opposite. the business controlling the government. as far as trump is concerned, the only detectable ideology is pure narcissism, me, that is the

ideology. as long as i am smart enough to masters,ing the real pour money into the pockets of the very wealthy and the corporate sector, they will let you get away with her antics. it is pretty striking to see what happened at the davis conference this january. that is the meeting of the people who are called the masters of the universe. the ceos of the e major corporations come the big media stars, and so on. they get together in davis once a year, congratulate each other on how wonderful they are and put on a hose of dedicated humanists, totally devoted t to the welflfare of the people of e world. your fate in our hands because we're are such good guys. trump came along and gave the keynote address. they don't like trump.

his vulgarity is incompatible with the image they're trying to humanism, cultivated but they w widely applauded him, wordy applauded every because they know that he does recognizize which pockets you he to fill with dollars and how to do it. as long as he does ththat, as lg asas he served his major constituenency, they w will letm get away with the antics. inin fact, likee it t because he mobilizes a crowd that will back his legisislative achievemements. the main one is the tax scam thatat pours money into o the hs of the corporate coffers and harms everyone else. the deregulation is great forr business. theyey love it. ththey can desestroy the envirot

anand harm people as much h as y want. very harmful to the population. you cut back on pollution --straints, auto emotion emission r regulatations, what happens? people die of pollutionon, mercy poisoning, the waters are poisoned. in the e world is facing disasa. you are acceleratingng the disastster. they said even in the february 10 budget, while cutting back on protection against diseases in the midst of a raging pandemic increases funding for fossil fuel production, which is going to destroy us all. money for a lot more his famous wall. but that is the world we are living in. here, not everywhere. as i said, asian countries have been acting sensibly.

new zealand actually seems to have killed it also. taiwan is doing very well. in europe, germany has made the lowest death rate in the world. norway as wewell. therere are ways to react in our ways to try to destroy eeverything. and what presidedent trump is leading g with the support of te murdoch echo chamber, fox news, and others -- amazingly, this conjuring act is working. hand, you raise your hand "i'm the chosen one, i'm your savior, i'm going to rebuild america and make it great again for you because i am the servant, the loyal servant of the working class." meanwhile, with the other hand, or stabbing them all in the back. to carry this off is inactive

political genius. you have to recognize serious talent is involved whether intuititive for r conscious plag . it is devastating. we have seen it before. we s see it now in dictators, autocrats, sociopaths who happen to get into leadership positions. it is now happening in n the richehest, most i important couy of the world in history. amy: so you have a situation in the united states where the economy has been brought to a stance will because of -- standstill because of the absolute catastrophe of this pandemic that people have to isolate -- although, isolation is a luxury for so many esessential workers that have to come out into this pandemic and face enormous threat to their own lives. if you can talk about whether you see this p pandemic perhaps

threatening global capitalism overall or s shoring it up, and how the trillions of dodollars that are being put into these stimulus packages are goioing to orpmply intensify inequality are acactually going to help people at the bottom? >> that is a choice, not an inevitability. i mean, thehe corporatete sectos working hard to plan for future of the kind you are describing. whethertion is organizations will be able to impose enough pressure to make sure this doesn't happen. and there are ways. what youcorporate -- just describeded, corporatations right now hididing their copiesf asking to be -- for

benefits f from the publicic to overcome the results of theieir criminal behavioior. what have they been doing for the last years? profits have been going skyhyhi. they have been indulging in a an orgy of stock buybacks, which thedevices to increrease wealth for the rich shareholders and for management -- while undermining ththe productive capacity of thee enterprise.e. but a a huge scale, setting ther offices somewhere in the little room in ireland so they don't have to pay taxes, using tax havens. this is no small change. this is tetens of trtrillions of

dollars robbing the taxpayer. does that have to be the case? take the current giveaway to corporations. it should be accompanied by -a term welities - are familiar with from the imf. they should be required to ensure that there will be no more use of tax havens. there will be no more stock buybacks period. if they don't do that, with a firm guarantee, no money from the public. is that utopian? not at all. that was the law and the law was enforced -- - up until ronald reagan, who turned on the spigot to rob as much as he would like. milton friedman and other luminaries i in the background telling him, that is liberty. liberty means " "rock the public

massively by things like tax havens and stock buybacks." so there''s nothing utopian abat these conditions. let's go back to a period of pretty much regimenented cacapitalism which develeloped e roosevelt was carried through, the 1970's, began to erode with reagan and just ended. there can be further conditionality's. working people should be placed ---- part of management should e representatives of workers. is that impossible? not in other countries. germany, for example. there should be a requirement that they guarantee a living wage. not just minimum wage, a living wage. that is a conditionality that can be impose. we can move further and recognize -- notice this is all pre-trump. trump is taking a failing legal

system -- lethal system and turning it into a monstrosity, but the roots were before him. just think back to the reason why the pandemic occurred in the first place. drug companies are following capitalist logic. they don't want to do anything. the neoliberal hammer says the government can't do anything the way you did in the past. you are caught in a vice. thing comes along trump -- then comes along trump and makes it worse. with roots of the crisis are pre-trump, thehe same with the health care system. everyone knows -- they should know the basic f facts. it is an internatitional scanda. twice the cost of comparablee countries, some of the worst outcomes. the costs were recently

estimated by a study in the lancet, one of the world's leading g medical journals. they estimated the a annual cost to americans are close to half $1 trillion and 68,0,000 lives lost. that is not so small. amy: world-renowned political dissident, lynynn west, anand ar noam chomsky. when w we come back, he will discuss conditions in gaza during the pandedemic and the re of authoritarianism around the world and the progressisive response. stay with us.. ♪ [ [music break]

amy: performing the "quarantine edition" of his new song "rene"" with abobout 30 other musisicias who o joined him from their hoh. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amamy goodman.

as we retururn to part two ofofr converersation with noam chomsk, world renown linguist, political dissident, and author, i asked him about gaza, one of the most densely populated places on earth, where at least 13 cases of covid-19 have been reported. the world health organization reports there are just 87 ventilators for gaza's 2 million residents. nearly 300 casases and two d des hahave been confnfirmed in the t bank. thisis is professor r chomsky. if you can talk for a moment globally about what is happening and an issue that has been close to your heart for decades, and that is the occupied territories . gaza and the west bank. what it means for a place like gaza, called by the u.n. people around the world a kind of open-air prison of almost 2 million people, what the

pandemic could mean there? >> it is honest impossible to think about. -- it is almost impossible e to think about. gaza is 2 million people who were living in a a prison, open-air prison u under conststt attack. israel, which is the occupying power, recognized around the world except by israel -- israel is imposing, has been impmposing very harsh sanctions ever since the p palestinians made the mistake of carrying o out the first free election in the arab world and electing the wrong andle, the united states israel came down on them like a ton of bricks. explained bycy was person in charge of the .ithdrawalal of israeli troops

frankly, we're putting the people of gaza on a diet. just enough to keep them alive. meaning, would not look good if they all died. but not anything more than that. not a piece of chocolate or a toy for a child. that is out. just enough to stay alive.. if youou have a serious health problem, then maybe you can inly to go to the hospital east jerusalem. maybe after a couple of weeks, will be allowed to go. maybe a child is allowed to go, but his mother is not allowed to come. there are now a couple of cases in gaza. if that extends, it is a totalal disaster. international institutions have 2020, gaza that by

will probably become barely .ivable the place is a disaster. it will getjor worse. for supportfununding systems for the palestinians in gaza and the west bank. killed the funding. palestinian hospitals killed the funding. he had a reason. they were not praising him enough. they were not respectful of the god, therefore, we will strangle ththem even when they are barely surviving under a harsh and brutal regime. toidentally, , this extends palestinians in israel as well. human rights activists in israel pointed out recently, their

articles about it inn haaretz, that israel finally began t to t testing areas-by only in jewish areas, not in the areas witith palestiniaian popopulation. to make sure the intended results would follow, they announced it only in hebrew, not in arabic. so palestinians would not even know. ..at is within israel in the occupied territories, far worse. inin the truck hammer came in saying we are nonot even going o giveve you in you because you ae not respspectful enough of me. describenow how to this thing. i can find words work. amy: noam chomsky, what do you think is required.

in an international response to stop the rise of authoritarianism, in response to this pandemic? for example, in the philippines were the authoritarian leader, trump ally dutere talks about killing people. the massive crackdown without support of the people of india, narendraon people with modi, president trump was in india as the pandemic was taking off,f, never sayingg a word abot it, packing a stadium of 100,000 people. hungary who isin now ruling by decree. take to turn that around to be a prorogressive respsponse? >> well,l, actually, what t is happening -- to the extent you can find some cohoherent policyn the m madness in the white hous,

one thing does emerge with considerable clarity. namely, an effffort to construct an international of the most reactionary states and oppressive states led by the gangster in n the whitite house. i cans taking shape -- run through itit, but since you istioned india, modi, who , isu nationalist extremist -- can systematically moving to democracyindian secular and to crush the muslim population, what is happening in is horrifying. it was bad enough before, now getting much worse. ,ame with the muslim population huge population in india. is almosostlockdown

-- you canan almost describe its genocidal. modi g gave i think a four hour warning saying total lockdown. that is over one billion people. some of them have nowhere to go. people in the informal economy, which is a huge number of people , are just cast out. you've got to walk back to her village, which may 1000 miles away. die on the roadside. this is a huge catastropophe in the making. right on top of the strong efforts to imposee the ultra doctrines that are at the core of modi's thinking and background. what is happening in quite apart

from this indian -- in fact, south asia in general, is going to become unlivable pretty soon if current climate policies persist. less summer, the dutch last summer, the temperature went up to two degrees centigrade. it is increasing. hundreds of millions of people in india that don't have access to water. it is going to get much worse. could lead to a nuclear war between the two powers that basically rely on the same water reresources, whihich are declilg under global warming -- pakistan and india. the horror story that is developing is, again, indescribabable. you u can't find worords for it. and some people are cheering andt it, like donald trump

hihis friend bololsonaro in bral and a couple of other sociopaths. but how do you c counter a reactionary international? by developing a progressive international. and there are steps to that. they don't get much publicity, but ii think this coming decembr there will be a formal anannouncement of what has beenn prococess for some time. yunus verify because, the founder -- yunus verify customer the founder of the progressive movement in europe, very important, he and bernie sanders came out with a declaration calling for a progressive international to combat, we hope overcome, the reactionary internatioional based in the whe house. if youou look at the level of

states, it looks like extremely unequal competitition. but states are not t the only things that exist. you look att thehe level of peo, it is not i impossible. it is possible to construct a progressive intnternational basd on people, ranging from the organized political groups that have been liberating that have gotten a huge shot in the arm from the sanders campaign, raranging g from them toto selfp mutual aid, seself-helelp organizations that are arising in communinities all over r the world and the most imimpoveririd areas of brazil, for example. andd even this astonishing g fat that i menentioned that the murderous crime gangs are taking responsibility for bringing some of decent protection

against the p pandemic c in the favelas, miserable slums in rio -- all of this is happening on the popular level. ifit expands and devevelops, pepeople don'tt just give upup n despair but were to change t the world as thehey have done in the past under much worse conditions, if they do that, there is a chance for progressive international. and notice, bear in mind there also s strikingg cases of inteternationalism, progressive internationalism at the state level. take a look at the european union. the rich countries in europe like germany have recently given us a lesson in just what the union means most of right? germany is managing pretty well. they probably have the lowest death rate of the world in

organized society. right next door in northern italy is suffering miserably. these germrmany giving them any aid? nono. in fact, germany even block the ,ffort to develop euro bonds bonds in europe that can be used thelleviate the suffering countries under the worst conditions. but fortunately for italy, and look across the atlantic for aid to the superpower on the western hemisphere, cuba. cuba is once agagain come as before, exhibiting extraordinary internationalism, sending doctors to italy. germany won't do it, but cuba can. china is providing materially. so these are steps toward

progressive internationalism at the state level. amy: world-renowned political dissident, linguist, and author. laureate professor in the department of linguistics at the university of arizona and professor emeritus at massachusetts institute of technology, where he taught for more t than half a centutury. noam chomsky joint as last week from his home inin tucson, arizona, or he is sheltering in place with his s wife valeria. gogo to democracynow.org to see partrt one of our r conversatio. when we come back, and new policy at new york's public hospitals r requires medical workers who c call in s sick to produce a doctor's note. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "lean on meme" by bill withers, who died last month at the age of 81 from heart complications. we were showing during that dancing aroundes the world to givive strength to each other, themselves, and their patients. this is democracy now!, democrcracynow.org, , the quarae report. i'm amy goodman. we end today's show herere in nw york citity, where the death tol frfrom the cororonavirirus has d 11,0,000. every night at 7:00 p.m., new yorkers take to their balconies, fire escapes, and windows to cheer for the medical workers on the frontlines of this crisis.

but inside the hospitals, medical staff are continuing to fight for their basic rights and protections while on the job. after a weeks-long effort demanding more personal protective equipment, new york city health workers now have a new challenge ahead of them -- a new policy at the city's public hospitals that requires medical workers who call in sick produce a doctor's note. the directive was sent out friday by health & hospitals corporation, which runs 11 public hospitals and has lost at least five nurses to covid-19. the memo, which was first reported on by news outlet the city, reads in part -- "in some places we have also identified very high rates of call outs and absences that do not appear to be consistent with patterns of covid infection." medical workers say the policy puts an unnecessary and dangerous burden on already overworked and at-risk staffers who are showing up everyry day o

treat the sick. this afternoon, nurses from jacobi medical center in the bronx will rally outside the hospital. we are joined now by er pediatric nurse sean petty, who helped organize today's protest. he is a member of board of directors of the new york state nurses association. it is great to have you back with us. can you talk about this latest memo and the conditions you are facing in your hospital? of couourse, work with n nursesl over the city. >> yeaeah. i guessss i just t want to fifirst of a all say that,t, yo, it is hard t to describe the roller coaoaster we have been on over the last month. i think w we are just reachchina point in thehe last week where we're able to breathe a little bit of a sigh of relief. it seems like the e covid cases are slowiwing into ouour emergey

rooms. we are becoming morere successfl at excavating patients and keeping patients aliveve. give able at jacoby to transfers from other hospitals that have been overburdened. we're j just breathing a sigh of rerelief. it is given n us a moment to pae and think about just how traumatic and devastating this last mononth hasas been f for or lives. we have lost coworkers, lost family members, lost their loved ones. our families and our communities have gone through probably one of the most traumatic months of our lives. we have gotten sick by the thousands. so just as we are able to take a breath and think aboutt alall of this and prococess it, getting this kind of treatatment

from administrators in our hospital system who sit safely behind desks and who look at , that is a major act.honorabable disrespectful amy: let me get somome facts.s. the guardian reports "the number of health care workers who have tested positive for the coronavirus probably far higher than the reported tally of 9200 was not u.s. official saying they have no comprehensive way to count those who lose their lives trying to save others. the cdc release the infection tally tuesday and said, 27 health worker deaths have been recorded b based on a small numr of test result reports. official stress the cat was drawn from just 16% of the nations covid 19 cases. the true numbers of health care infections and deaths arare certainly far higher."

c cough,at home, have a a sore throat, pick up for a few days. you have to get a doctor''s not? >> yeah, fofor every y single te we decide to stay h home for whatever we are expereriencing. whether we note covid 19 symptoms can last for over a month and can come on at t all. we notote in e exposed and workg in these challenging conditions exacerbate already pre-existing conditions -- whetherr it t is migraine headaches, diabetes, other health condititions. wewe know that people just needa mental h health day. are in ahat people whole range of health conditions. we know thousands of us have been exposed. we have -- health care workers of the lease to test a group of people in this -- amy: this is a critical point. if you can what you're talking about. they are saying you need a doctor's note but if you are at

work and you d don't feel well, can n you demand a t test? >> we currently y as of last w k can finally getet testingng is healthth care woworkers. but for ththe month prior to o , we have been d denied ththose t. the thoususands- ofof health carere workers, the% of our members who have been old who have been exposed t to this cocoronavirus fofor the papast h prior toto this week, we e -- we hahave not b been able to get teststed. who isve no idea actually covid-posositive and wo is n not. their actctual repoported numbe, whatever they'y're looking at on their spreadsheets, have to be massively unundercounted. so the i idea they can l look aa how many anand d determine people are calling outut sick versus the amount t of people tt isy think are infected absurd. amy: they have been encouraging you, do not c come into work if you are showing symptoms.

we already know it s seems youor most contagious in the two days before you start showing symptoms. so for god sakes if you are showing symptoms and you're going to be up close e with patients treatating them -- fromat hahas been a proboblem the beginning. everytything a p policy that has been implementeded by the federl gogovernmentnt of the state, the city, has been n based onon shortages not based on science. you have a a situatioion where s policy is based on shortages, not based on science. on t the one hand d we havave or syststem telliling us, you knowe need to make sure e you are actutually sick.k. you need a doctotor's n note. you need to overbrburdened d an already y overburdened heaealthe system for unnecessaryry paperwork.k. you need to seek out a d docto's note. ifif you can't get one over the phone, go out of thehe wororld d expoposure self, be exexposed by otother p people, and obtain ths unnecessary paperwork.

in a context where we have ofeady y been expososed and soe the mostst profound ways. amy:y: so you're protesting tody outside jacobi in the bronx? >> we have tried to go the official rououtes. we have e been talking to highgh-levelel officials at they for the last week, expressing our concerns, telling them exactly how we feel about this and exactly what this means to nurses who have given everything to fight this virus, who have given their entire physical and emotional lives to figight this virus over the lasast montnth. whwhat this is to us. withxactly what is w wrong their accountingng of ththe situation.n. anand they have still refefusedo budge. we talked to themm practically every day for the last five days and they still have not listen to us. we havave to spepeak out in a me loud -- amy: sean, i would to quickly ask about an issue that mayor de

blasio raised and many otherers, the horror of the hundreds of people daily who are dying at home. so many of them undocumented immigrants. deblasioio said something like 0 to 300 people a day when the avaverage before was somethihing like. . 2525 even afraid to go to hospitals because they might meetet ice or something like th. you're in the possible e -- pubc hospital system, t the hospitall system of last resort, often first resort. >> it is the most t to cope ease of infrastruructure in this coununtry. wewe have the larargest pubublic health c care system left after decades of public health systems being eroded. we're t the onlyy health h care system thahat guarantees health care f for undococumented immigranants. to conontinue these policies s t will exaxacerbate our staffifing crisis, wiwill demoralize our

nurses, if we'e're going to o sp the wakeh care system m in of this crisis, our sacrifice neneeds to b be resespected a ae need to be able toto recruit and retain a robust health care stafaff after this c crisis is . amy: we have to leave it there. i want to thank you for being with us, sean petty, registered nurse in the pediatric emergency room of a public hospital in t e bronx. member of board of directors of the new york state nurses association. i want to end with this tweet from ayanna pressley who wrote " when did your replacement inhaler today, told me generic is sold out with a waitlist so my only option is one that costs $175. my co-pay for the other is $10. i can afford the increase, but millions want to be able to. literally what folks need to breathe, live is political." that does it for our show. you can sign up for our daily digest every day, get the quarantine report in were email.

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live for, then? ? to go to work? muusic [mumusic playining, dog howowli]