04/20/20 04/20/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from m new york, the epicenteter of the pandemic, ths is demococracy now! >> want to put cuffffs on me, ii call for my y wife. she e came out a and pretttty mh de-escalate in the sitituation. even before she cacame, he was likeke inches from my face, basically, yelelling i should cl him sergeant, , i should call hm sir, a and with nono mask on. he had no gloves on. i could feel hisis saliva onon y lilips.

it was a a crazy encncounter. a andr. armen h henderson, africacan-americanan doctor in i was hanandcuffed outside his hoe while preparing for a volunteer shift to help protect homeless people from the spread of covid-19. the e police encounter has s spd widedespread outrage was n not miami's policece chief has now teststed positive fofor covid-1d isis in self-isolation. dr. henderson has taken a test and is waiting for results and accountability. then as demand for grocery delivery source with millions of americans staying home, gig economyy workers for c companins like instacart havave become frontline workers. >> i thihink at fifirst when t e adrenalinene was stillll there,e were essentitial. we were prideful. now as we get more intnto it, tt is wearing off and it is seeming more like expendable. amy: we will speak with matthew telles with the gig workers collective.

all that and more, coming up. welcome to demococracy nowow!, democrcracynow.org, the ququarae report. i'm amy y goodman.n. over 40,0,000 people in the u.s. have now died of covid-19, with over three quarters of a million confirmed cases of the virus. globally, there are over 2.4 million confirmed cases and over 165,000 knowown fatalities.. true numbers of deaths and infections, both in the united states and around the world, are unknown due toto lack of testin, issues around reporting and tracking data, and an unknown number of asymptomatic cases. at least 7000 of those deaths have been linked to nursing homes across the united states, including long-term care facilities for veterans. tens of thousands of residents

and workers have contracted the infection. at the cobble hill health center in brooklyn, at least 55 people have died. nursing care workers at some homes have stopped coming in to work and many report a dire shortage in protective equipment. president trump and state governors continue to clash over the weekend over plans to roll back lockdowns and other protective measures as some states have already begun easing restrictions. texas is reopening state parks today and later this week will allow retailers to open for delivery. in florida, people descended on newly reopened beached in several counties friday, with images showing beach goers flouting social distancing guidelines. but many governors say they cannot reopen their states without sufficient testing. trump said sunday he would ininvoke the defenense proroducn acact to order the production of more testing swabs, but administration officials

continued to claim there is sufficient testing capability around the country. trump displacing the responsibility for testing on governors. pres. trump: you must remember the governrnors wantnted too hae total control over the opening of their states, but now they want to have us, the federal government, do the testing. again, testing is local. you can't have it both ways. testing is a local thing. it is very important. it is great, but it is a local thing. amy: maryland republican governor larry hogogan pushed bk on trump's statements on cnn sunday.. >> to try to o push this off to say the governors have led to of testing and they should just get to work on testing, somehow we are not doing our job, is absolutely false. every governor in america has been pushing and fighting and clawing to get more test. amy: meanwhile, new reports reveal the extent of the trump administration's inaction in the earlier stages of ththe

coronavirus outbreak. a report published in the times of israel revealed that u.s. intelligence informed nato and israeli authorities of the risk of the outbreak as early as november. the white house reportedly did not deem the intelligence report "of interest." thousands of anti-quarantine protesters conontinued to defy sosocial distancing orders to prototest a around the united ss over thehe weekend. prprotest took place in texas,s, indiana coming new hymns are coming nevada, utah, wisconsin, washington, colorado. washington, 25 hundred people defied a ban on large public gatherings, hundreds more ignored stay-at-home orders to protest at the colorado state capitol in denver. protest took place in san diego. one of the far-right activists organizing the protest online his so-called gun rights activist been door and his two brothers, who run the group minnesota gun rights. they have attacked the national

rifle association is too soft on gun rights and has set up facebook pages to organize protests in several states with names like "wisconsinites against excessive quarantine." meanwhile, last week's anti-quarantine protest in lansing, michigan, was organized by the michigan conservative coalition, which is founded by two prominent trump supporters, and was promoted by the michigan freedom fund, whose founder greg mcneilly is linked to the family of education secretary betsy devos. in a series of tweets friday afternoon, president trump issued an online call to liberate minnesota, michigan, virginia -- all states were protesters targeted democratic governors lastst week. congressional democrats and the trumump administratition say thy cocould reacach a deal today ona -- on $370 billion to issue more loans to small businesses suffering from the devastating economic crash. the package would also include $100 billion for hospitals and testing but reportedly does not

include increased funding for local governments, hazard pay for frontline workers, or a freeze on rent and housing payments. the $350 billion for the paycheck protection program in the first coronavirus relief package passed last month ran out of money less than two weeks after it was launched as many small businesses say they did not get funds -- or even a response to their applications -- as much larger and more profitable businesses successfully obtained loans. the restaurant chains potbelly sandwich shop received $10 million, while ruth's chris steakhouse got $20 million. shake shack sasaid sunday it is returning the $10 million loan it received from the program. meanwhile, observers warn the first $2.2 trillion coronavirus relief package is being spent with very limited oversight as the treasury's inspector general post remains unconfirmed by the

senate and the two panels set up to oversee the funds are understaffeded. dozens of imimmigrant prisonerst the privately-owned otay mesa detention center near san diego began a hunger strike this weekend over mounting concerns about their safety during the covid-19 pandemic. otay mesa now has the largest coronavirus outbreak of any immigration jail in the united states. last week, reports emerged of otay mesa guards pepper spraying a group of women in one of the holding units for refusing to sign a contract reportedly protecting corecivivic fromm liability if immigrants became sick in exchange foror face mas. this is a phone call between an activist with the immigration rights group pueblos sin fronteras and a woman detained at otay mesa held in the unit that was pepper sprayed. >> they are throwing pepper spray ad as. they do not respect us. we are humans not animals. help. they want us to sign documents.

they want to charge usus for teachers used d to make the mas. amamy: in morere immigration ne, dozens of f people held a rally outstside an immigigrant youth detention facility in chicago saturday demananding children in their custody be rereleased. the e heartlanand alliance faciy houses nearly y 70 children separarated from their p parentn the u.s.-mexicico border and asf lastst week confirmed d some 37 children h have testeded positie for covivid-19. in recent days images have emerged of children inside displaying signs at the facility's windows that read "help." calls cocontinue to moununt fore releasee of prisisoners as cases explode at gels arouound the country. in florida, a person lococked themselves to two concrete barrels in froront of ron desantis, protesting his refusal to release incarcerated people during the coronavirus pandemic. in ohio, over 2400 prisoners at the marion correctional institution have tested positive for covid-19.

meanwhile, president trump's former personal attorney and fixer michael cohen is being released from prison to reserve the remainder of his three-year sentence under house arrest. some 21 staff and prisoners at the otisville prison in upstate new york have tested positive for covid-19 the facility is not considered a coronavirus hotspot. in europe, italyly recorded itss lowewest daily death toll in a weweek as leaderers weigh wheter they will start significantly lifting g restrictionsns in two weeks when the current lockdown order expires. ititaly has recorded the higight number of deaths after the u.s., at over 23,000. france and spain also o continud to show w some signs o of progr, eveven as they continunue to sur devastating daily losses. france reported close to 400 deaths sunday, but hospital admissions have been trending downwards. spain registered its biggest daily drop in fatalities in almost a month with 410 new deaths.

germany has allowed some small businesses to reopen starting today. meanwhile, british p prime minister boris johnson -- who os rerecovering from his own battle with c covid-19 -- is coming unr increasing scrutiny for his early handling of the crisis after a report by "the sunday times" said johnson skipped key government meetings in february and march about the growing threat. the johnson government also suggested early on they might adopt a "herd immunity" strategy to combat the disease. british health care workers say they still lack critical personal protective equipment as they struggle to contain the virurus. in greece, flames tore thrhrouga massive refufugee camp on n chis island, destroying the shelters of hundreds of residents. the fire followed a protest over the dedeath of an iriraqi asylum seeker, who camp dwellers suspect succumbed to covid-19, though officials say she tested negative for the disease and had been sent back to the camp from the hospital. around 5000ousess

people, though it was only designed to accommodate 1000. in israel, thousands of demonstrators staged a protest in tel aviv against prime minister benjamin netanyahu, calling out the government's approach to tackling the public health crisis, which includes tracking cell phones. protesters, who wore masks and stood at least two meters apart from one anonother, urged benny gantz's blue and whitete party t to joioin in a power-sharing del with n netanyahuhu. netanyahu is u under criminal indictment in three corruption cases. the world health organization is warning the coronavirus may be on the verge of ravaging the african continent, causing a possible 10 million severe cases in the coming months. a worst-case scenario report by the u.n. says 3.3 million people in africa could die from covid-19 and 1.2 billion could become infected. publicic hospitals a across 41 countries through urgently have fewer than 2000 ventilators and 10 countries have no ventilators at all. this is s the who's director-g-general. >> in the past week, there''s

beenen a 51% increrease in the number of repoported cases. in my own continent africa a and 60% increase of reported deaeat. with the current challenge of obtaining testing kits, it is likely that the real numumbers e higher than reported. amy: in afghanistan, at least 40 ememployees of the presidential palace have teststed positive fr covid-19, as president ashraf ghani moved into s self-isolati. it's not known whether he himself has contracted the infection. afghanistan n has reporteded ard 1000 c cases of f covid-19 and t least 30 d deaths, though the country has only tested some 7000 people. some analysts say that if the disease is not effectively contained, the death could be as high as 110,000 people, surpassing the estimated civilian death toll of the nearly 18 year-old war.. -- 18 your warar. brazazilian prpresident t jair bolsonaro continues to flout

widespread guidelines for lilimiting t the spreaead of the coronavivirus, appearing at a packed anti-quarantine rally i n brasiliaia. bolsonaro cacan be seen repeatay coughing into a crowd of protesesters as he addreressed e rally, without a mask, where some are calling for return to military rule. brazil has over 38,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and over 2400 deaths. meanwhile, peru reported over 15,000 cases of coronavirus on sunday, the second-highest count in latin ameririca after brazil. in i india, mumbai health officials say they will administer hydroxychloroquine to thousands of residents to test the drug's potential as a preventative treatment for the coronavirus. the anti-malarial drug repeatedly touted by trump will reportedly be tested in dharavi, one of asia's largest slums, as well as in worli, the mumbai neighborhood hardest hit by the virus. critics are e calling out t thee to test the e unproven andnd potentially dangerous drug on

some of mumbai's poorest residents. in other news from mumumbai, at least 200 hehealthcare professionals haveve tested positive for c covid-19. indidia has reportrted around 10 confirmed caseses and 500 dedea, but true numbers are likely much higher. in bangladesh, an estimated 100,000 people defied lockdown orders to attend the fununeral f a politician and islamic preacher, sparking fears of a new outbreak. around 2500 cases and 90 deaths have been confirmed in bangladesh. korea, the total fell to single digits. south korean health authorities say they are seeing an incncreae number of patients who exexperienceced relapses. in canada, a gunman killed at least 16 people in the province of nova scotia sunday in the country's worst mass shooting. the shooter, identified as 51-year-old gabriel wortman, was

also killed. the motive f for the attack, whh took plalace ovever 12 houours r several locacations, is not yet known.n. ththe shooter was dressed as a police officer and disguised his car toto look like a police cruiser. in environmental news, the trump administration has rolled back regulations on emissions of toxic memercury and otother popollutants from coalal- and oil-fired power plants. the new rule changes how the environmental protection agency will run cost-benefit analyses for power plants -- the perceived health benefits of cutting pollution will be reduced, while the economic costs of curbing pollution will be increased. mercury is a highly toxic metal that causes brain damage and birth defects. and in climate news, a newew sty byby columbia university's earth ininstitute finds the westerern united states s and northern mexico a are entering into a a mega-drought worse than any in over 1000 yeyears. the report in the journal

"science" finds greenhouse gas emissions from human activity are playing a key role in driving unprecedented dry conditions in southwestern north amererica. and those arare some of ththe headadlines. this is dedemocracy y now, democracacynow.org, the quararae reportrt. i'm amy gogoodman. when wee come back, , we contine our discussssion with an african-american doctor who waws hhandcuffed by miami police as e was headed off to help homeless people. he was standing in front of his home. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "the prayer" perform together at the concert saturday night that was held by global citizen, honoring the worlrld health o organization. that was celine d dion and - -- this is democracy now!,, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amamy goodman. wewe are broadcasting from the epicenter of the pandemic, new york city. we arere continuing our conversation with dr. armen henderson, an n african americin doctoror in miami,i, florida,, e first spspoke with lastst week shortly y after hehe was handcud ououtside e his home whwhile prg for a a volunteerr shift to help protect homeless people from the spread of covid-19. surveillance video from m dr. hendersoson's house shshows him wearing a mask and loading aa vn

of supplies when a miaiami polie patrol car pulls up outside his home was not moments later, the police officer has the doctor in handcuffs.s. dr. hendersoson says the officer detained him after accusing him of littering and d demandingng s identificatition, whichh hendern did nonot have on him. ththe officer was not wearing a mask or gloves. dr. hendederson told us "i could feel his s saliva on myy lilips" dr. henderson n had to yell to s wife inside their home to present identification before he wawas released d by the officero hass not been n publicly identifified. dr. hehenderson told demococracy now! thehe officer has a history of ususe of fororce and complalaints. the miami polilice chief has ordered an invesestigation. since we s spoke witith dr. hendersoson last weeeek on the police chief has tested positive for covid-19 and is in self-isolalation. dr. henderson is waitining for results of hihis test and accountabibility. the encouounter sparked wididesd

outragage and comes as afrirican-amererican menen repot fearars of increreased racacial profilingg when they're follolog the e cdc's suggestioion that pe wear masks in n public. what if you wewear a mask whwhie black? dr. armemen hendederson is an internal medicicine physician ad assistant professssor at university miami, organizer with drdream defenders.. in part two of our conveversatin that we continunue right t now,i asked him to describe his incident. >> he said i should call him sir or sergeanant when i'm m talkino him. and when my wifefe came out and actually said "why do yoyou have , my husband in n handcuffs?" te officer basically said, "well, because he has an attitude with me." and i was just like, "oh, ok." inin my head, i said t that. and, y you know, my wife b basiy was abable to sasay, "ok. wewell, i can geget my id." she got it. and he basicalally let me go.. amy: have you heard of other

african americans being harassed by police officers, with the african americans wearing masks? do you think the mask was part of his reason why he attacked you, part t of the reason why he detatained youou and handcufuff? >> potentialally. i don'n't know.. you know, i don't really know what his motives are, as i stated earlier. and it's apparenent on the vide, is that hehe rode e down the stt very, very slow and then turned back around to turn down my streetet to approaoach me. soso it could haveve been the m. itit could havave been thehe fat i was black.k. it c could have beenen both. anand so, i i know for a f factt it likely was not t due to the fact that i was s -- that he sad i was, you know, littering. amy: tell us again. tell us again. we're looking at the video as you're speaking. and he slowly comes up. he gets out of his car.

and what did he say to you? >> he basically -- well, first of all, in t the car, yoyou knoe basisically was tryingng to fige out or asking me where -- what i was doing there, why w was i h . and d i live in n a predominanty cuban neighborhood. my family is probably -- well, it is the only black family that lives on the block.. so, you know, i ththink that tht -- you know, s so, i mean, i dot knknow, you know? he j just -- he e was saying a , and d his body language was just very aggressive. and when h he got out of t the , i was more focusused on trying o dedeescalate the situatition, tg to walk away and gatather myself so thahat, you know, i i wouldnt respond in a a diffeferent way n i actually did. amy: when he took you and handcuffed you, , he's not wearg

gloves. he is not wearining a mask. yoyou had a mask on.n. did you say anything to him about him speaking in your face and keeping some distance? >> no, i d didn't.t. i mean, at that point, you know, he alreadydy escalated it to a point t -- i mean, i was alreaey in h handcuffs, you know? so whahat more can i say at that point? i was justst focusing on keeping my m mouth shut t and hopiping y wife would c come out, like as soon as s possiblele. amy: so, what dodo you understad has happened to him at this point? it's now a a few dayays later, e five days later. what is the miami police chief doing? have y you been formrmally apologized to? and whatat are you demanding? >> so the e miami polilice department has not called me to apologize. i do think that he should be held accountable for his actions. he violated a bunch of protocols, not only as a sergrgeant, bubut also a as a pe ofofficer. i think that t they're supposedo

be wearing, you know, bracelets that say that they've been tested. he was s supposed to havave a mk on. you know, , he probably shouldlt have stopped me e in the first plplace. so i just want him held accountable e for his actions.s. want an apology as well. amy: dr. armen henderson, now let's talk about what you were doing at that van, what you were loading in and out of the van. i want to talk about your work with unhoused people. you're a physician. you're an assistant professor of medicine at university of miami. talk about the homeless population in miami. >> rigight. so the homeless population in miami is -- it's's a large populatition. and babasically, because we live in miamimi and we are at the hem of climate change, we have a crisis situatition every year during hurricane season, which is june through november. and so, you know, what we've seen in the past is that not only just with homeless people,

but also with vulnerable populations, thosese who are working-class, lowow-income, lie in povoverty, and d particularln the black neighborhoods througughout miami-dade e count, we'v've seen t that there's aa disparate response when it comes toto crisis sisituations, like during hurriricane season. and so duduring hururricane irme found that, , you know, fema and the e government were sayiying e thing on tv, but in realality, people on the ground weren't being fed, they weren't getting water. their electricity wawas taking weeks to come back on. and people who depended on these things to actually live -- oxygen and, you know, , dialysis ---- were not getting the ththis ththat they y needed. and so, it really took a coalition of organizations to step in and actually be -- and actually, you knowow, to take te place of o or to step p in where government was not. and so usually we activate duringng hurricane seasoson. but during the pandemic, we

actually decided to activate, as well. and during t this time, we actually d decided to focus on unhousused people bebecause we w that when you're asking people to sheltlter in place, houousels have ---- they can't put tents outside because police are harassing them. so not only are police harasassg me outside of my house, but they're also harassing homeless peopople. they donon't let them m put up tents. and, you know, w we're not allod to f feed homeless people on t e street, etc.c. so we've been n going out as an act of civil disobedience to feed the homeless,s, to provide them with socks and toiletries and d sanitizer and masks, becae duringng a pubublic health criss like this, the h homeless population should be the population t that you pay the mt attentntion toto. and the county organizations that arere supposesed to prorotd provide for these organizations just are not doing enough and much of anything at t all. amy: talk about people who don't have houses, their access to water. the first thing we know, the

best prevention is washing your hands repeatedly. >> right, yeah. so, , you know, , you would thtk that i in america everybody has access to clean water. but what we're going to show, basically, when we go down there on friday -- and i'm going to have other media there, at a press conferencece -- we'r're gg to talk to individuals who live on the s street about the typepf things that they're facing duringng this pandemic, particularlyly having to use the restroom outside, not beining ae toto wash their hands. now, thehe county and the cityts provided a wash station fofor 20 individualals, but when you gogo ththat wash station, the water smellsls like sewawage. you know, , the porta-potties -- the two porta-potties they provided for 300 individuals living in downtown miami had poop all the way up to t the toiletet seat, you k know? and it's just like, what conditions are you subjecting

pepeople to live in in ameririco are citizens a and who arere hu, hohonestly? and so we really y have been trying to figurere out the bestt way to putut pressssure on t thy and the county and elected officials that get paid to actually take care of this population, and alsoso to test them to show t that the virus is present in this population as well. and ththis is alsoso the popopun that's goioing to cycle ththrout the jails,s, you know, becausese police are stitill harassing pepeople. they'r're still locking g peoplp and putting them in jails. anand so these are also peopoplo arare going to cycle in n and of sheltersrs. i don't t know if you u saw in n francisco, the entirire sheleltr hahad to evacucuate because somf the people w who were sheltered there basically had coronavirus. they had an outbreak like that. and so, you know, it's going to be realllly interesting to see w this whole thing unfolds knowing

ththe city and the county's relationship with jails, knowing the e police's tenuous rerelationship with h houseleses people, and the fact that they are allowed -- it's like a fefederal mandate that thehey ae allolowed to break d down peopls tents and to a arrest them on te street based on a fefederal rulg that basicallyly was overturnedn 2018. amy: dr. henderson, can you talk about the response of people who don't have houses when you go up to them to say you'd like to test them? and what are the kinds of tests that y you're using? >> so in the beginning, , we wee using the nasal swab, which is the pcr tests. and individuals want to be tested, you know? a lot of people who live on the streets in unsheltered fafacilities in miami-dade coun, they have symptoms, you know? and,d, of course, it could be attributeded to otother things,

because they are in a very harsh -- they y do live in a h harsh environment. but on the same token, they know that a pandemic is g going on, d they want toto be attendeded tot like eveveryone else.. and so, you know, we've just beenen trying to figure out the best w way to go about testiting them.. but they've been very amenable to the testing, you knknow? they basically, you know, want -- they want to be tested, and they're open to o it. and people have walklked up to e and sasaid, "you know w what? i wantnt to be tested." the proboblem is that the e tess tatake too l long to c come bac. and that's w why, starting this week, , we're e actually goingnd withth another test that's going to be e rapid. it's g going to gigive them thte results in 15 minutes. and we're rolling out that test actually starting today. amy:y: and, dr. henderson, how d you get involved with dream defenders and doing thisis kindf work? >> yeah.h. so, you know, ironically, dream defenderers was stararted in 202 after r the death of trayvon mamartin.

and indidividuals throughout miami-i-dade countnty and also,u know, tatallahassee, most of thm at famu, basically took over the courthouse and stayed there for 30 days until charges were brought against t the person who kikilled trayvonon martin. and so i wawas seeing this unund while i i was in medicical scho, feeling like, look, like i chose the e wrong profession, like, ad i i wanted to be involved. i just didn't know how. and so w when i found d out thai matched in miami, florida, in which dream m defenders isis ba, i got involved with them as s sn as i basically toucheded down of the e airplane. and since e then, yoyou know, ie been invololved in a bunch of campaigns. momost recently, we sued the county over the jail facilities and the amouount of people that are e housed at this one particular jaiail in miami-dade county.. but i'i've been ininvolved in a nunumber of campaigngns throught my time withth dream defenders, and it's been n very e enlighteg and d also refreshing g to knowt

there are young people out there that actually care about humans, in general, ababout poverty, abt fifighting capitalism, etc. and so recently, , you know, wee been involved with homeless people, but wewe're in the procs of tryining to start a trarauma recocovery center, particulalary arouound violence that hapappenn liberty cicity and miamimi-dade county, inin general. and so, yeah, we've been involved in a bunch of campaigns. and it's been great working with the young people at dream defenders, for sure. amy: i wanted to ask you about fisher island, that's not far from where you are in miami -- >> oh, yeah. amy: the richest zip code, that has bought coronavirus antibody tests for the entire island population, for all its millioionaire residents, average income i think $2.5 million, making the antibody -- the antibody exams are available to all the 800 families, even though less than 1% of florida

has been tested. now, thesese are antibody tests. i think the avererage agage is r 60 there. a number of well-known corporate executives, everyone from oprah to the head of hasbro, has had places there. what are some of the figures? it takes -- you have to pay a a quarter ofip of a million dollars, average income $2.5 million. you can get there by helicopter or by boat. explain this island. now, you're an assistant professor of medicine at the university of miami, and the island said that they are working with the university of miami in getting these antibody tests out to everyone, even though i it's extremelely diffit to get the test ananywhere else. >> yeah. well, i first want to talk about the fact t that overtown -- you know, basically,y, the disparity

in overtown and fisher island is so great that literally the life exexpectancy of peopople who l n overtownwn is 15 yeaears less, r more, in comparison to people ththat live on fisheher island.. and so i'i'm going to s serve pe that actually live in overtown, which is a predominantly african-american neighborhood. and it j just speaks to o the ft that in overtown, it's the most vulnerable population. and yet these people who live on fisher island, whihich is literalllly like two miles away, cacan get access t to these tet, knowing that the people that liveve in overtown, ththeir livs may depepend on whether or not they're able to identify if they have the v virus and theirir acs to care.e. and so it just speaks to the hypocrisisy of the s system in general, that if you can pay enough money to get access to things -- and be it anything --

then you get it. and if you donon't, then you jut don't get it. and so, yeah, i mean, university of miami is s probably w working with them.m. they'r're also -- i guess, thehe sasame people that thehey obtain ththose tests from are t the sae individualals that i'm tryiningo obtain the tesest from to test as well to test homeless individuals. so, i guess -- amy: now, we're talking the antibody test, not the test to see whether you're covivid-19-positivive now, r ri? >> y yeah. well, if we're speaking about the same r rapid test thatat yot wiwithin 15 minutes, then n tha- amy: i don't think it's that. i think it's the actual antigen test t to see if you h have had, the that is much morore difficut one to get.. >> oh, ok. yeah, i mean, that's p probablya way more expensive test. the test that we even have access to are the swabs, which take four to 1 10 days to o gete results backck. and as of f today, basically,, we're e rolling ouout another rt wherere, you knonow, it's withi5 minutes. it's a blood test. but yeyeah, evenen with that on, it's notot -- amy: right, it's a blood test. >> yeah, that says, you know, throughout youour entire -- youu

know, throughout t the entire te that you'rere alilive, have you developed anantibodies to this specific v virus. so, yeah, i i mean, that's interesting.g. and it speaks s to the disparirs that exist within every system, but particularly within medicine. anand it's part of the reaeason, you knowow, people whoho live in overtown, because of their income, becacause of their socioecoconomic status, thatat y basically dodon't get access t o sisimilar things. but it also speaks to the history as well. you know, it is s not just becae african americans have diabetes or they y just d don't make eno. it is s literalllly, you know, government, lolocal city and ste governments that have come togegether to babasically pass s that make places inhabitable, in geneneral. so particularly in overtown, you know, , it was a a burgeoning bk

community,y, like the harlem of ththe south, and m most millions lived d there in f florida. and so the g government decidedo build d 95, i-95, directly throh the neigighborhoodod, and no o - to get to mimiami beach,h, and o one who wawas driving from upste flororida to miami beaeach could even visit thosese businesses, d soso they all lost revenenue. they c closed down. people moved out. and the reresult that t you hav, you know, people who have drug addiction, people who o have serious s mental illnenesses, ad those that live e in povertyty. and so, yeahah, it's imporortano talk about the history of it as well. amy: finally, dr. henderson, i wanted t to get your m medical respononse to president trump ad his approach to this pandemic. he's now officially a resident of florida, right? mar-a-lago. and also his ally, governor ron desantis, who refused to impose, at the beginning, any shelter at home as spring break was unfolding and we were looking at the pictures of the thousands of

people crowded on the beaches. now he has said that world wide wrestling is an essential act and has opened up world wide wrestling to continue in florida, has been a fierce defender of president trump. can you talk about both responses and what it means for the people of overtown and for you as a doctor? >> rightht. i mean, , so, the e people thate see actually succumbing to the virus and having t the worstst morbidity and mortality are those that are p poor, that aree homeless, that are working-class, those that live on the -- - that run the transit systems, those that are e in supermarkets, etc. so whehen you say y -- whenn president trtrump or ron d desas -- they're basically the same person -- when they say these things that theyey're going to open up the cityty and continues

business as usual, then what you're saying isis that yoyou ry don't care a about the p poor people, the workrking-classs inindividuals. you don't care about their healalth. anand so, you u know, honestly,i was one, early on -- you know, in the community emergency center -- community emergency operations center that we run, the coalition of organizations, we have an epidemiologist who works with us and also a public health expert who follows the numbers, particularly for florida and miami-dade county. and so earlyly on, we e were seg that not only werere the numberf cases lolow, but also o the numr of deaths were low as well. and, youou know, peoplple have speculateded about a numumber of rereasons of w why that is.. but the reality is, is that it actually benefefits our governor bebecause he's sayaying, "oh, ,k at our lowow numbers.. like y yeah, we have a b bunch f caseses, but o our deaths are l" and so t they use e that to jusy opening up econonomies earlier, knowing ththat individuals are

dying at a higher rate than whwhat's been n seen. and so, yeah, it's just aa complete disregard foror poor ad working-class peoplele, particulararly thosese who arere african americans in p places le overtown, liberty city, but also all across florida.. so, yeyeah, i meanan, it's polis as usual for our governor. and he's goioing to parrotot whatever dononald trump says. and i can go on record saying that bececause even beforere desantis w was even chososen asr governoror, you know, i was s oo say y that it's obvious that hes not going toto care ababout poor people. i mean, this i is a guy who hada commerercial with h his kids building a wall as advertisement for his governorship. you know, "build that wall!" and, of course, peopople thought it was funnyny, but itit's like, "wow!! like this isis the timime that e

living in." and he's fulfilled every promise around making sure that people knew thahat he was trump jr. amy: dr. armrmen henderson, handcuffed outside his home while prepeparing for a volunter shiftt to help protect homeless peoplele from the e spread o ofd 1919. he is ststill waiting for an apology from the miami popolice depapartment. dr. . hendersoson is an internal medicine, assistant professor anan organanizer with dream defenders. to see parart one, go to democracynow.org. when we come back, we talk with a member of the gig workers collective about how instacart workers went on strike t to demd appropopriate safety measures ad hazard pay. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: "cosmonauts" by fiona apple. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. we are broadcasting from epicenter of the pandemic, new york city. as president trump estate governors s clashehed over plano roll back lockdowns and other protective measures, new figures show more than 22 million americans have filed unemployment claims since mid-march. many are still waiting to receive the financial lifeliline the government promised in the $2 trillion relief package last month. delays may be even longer for the self-employed and gig-economy workers who are not normally eligible for unemployment benefits but are covered in the relief package. this comes as grocery stores have become onone of the froront lines of thehe coronavirusus pandemic, with store workers and gig economy shoppers often working without protection, as

demand for groceries soars and millions of americans stay home. last week, i spoke with a persrsonal shopperer who formery worked for the delivery app instacart about the risks grocery store and delivery workers face. instacart workers went on strike in march to demand the company implement appropriate safety measures and give them hazard pay. matthew telles is a member of the gig workers collective, which organized the strike. i askeded him to ststart by explaining thehe history of ininstacarart. >> instacart is one of the startupsps frorom about sevevenr eight yeyears ago, little after uberer w was created, came out f that group of ththe first batch and realally smamall to start t. i starteted in late 202015, andt was amamazing. i had d a previous carareer thai had to leave behind becacause oa woworkplacace injury and d was g to usese instatacart as likeke d ofof just a stopgap until i foud my next venture, andnd fell in loveve with itit. it paid grgreat. itit gave me accccess to allll e

amazing builildings downtown, le the e top of thehe sears tower,l the tunnelels. like, someone who o loves histo, it was amazing. and pretty - -- a couple m monts after i started, aroround 2016, eaearly 2016, inststacart wawano start compmpeting with amamazono had just kinind of purchaseded e foodods, and implemented whaha's known in the industrtry as something called scale hackiking oror growth hackining, where thy grow at all costs just to beat their nearest competitor to mamarket. and the way that they do that ts they s start cutting the pay for all of their frontline employees, likike myseself, thee shopper who'o's out in the stor. the firsrst huge move that t thy tried d to do backck when theres ononly abobout 70,000 total shos in the country, not even in canada yetet, instacacart made n announcecement that t they were going to r remove tippining froe platatform, which at thahat poi, for meme personalllly in chicag, made up abouout 18% avaverage fr what i earned every day. so w we kind o of banded togeth. we used our large facebook groups to kind of jujust find te loududest voices a and band d tr

and fight back. and, y you know, we got them to reinstate tipping g after threatening g to walalk off. anand ever since then, we fefeel like thehey've been retaliatings they've grown more. last count, they had 20000,000 shoppepers, but they have jujust brought on almlmost like 100,000 more in the lastst two weeks, as people -- amy: n now, can i interrupt you? when you say "shoppers," they bring on shoppers -- >> yeah. amy: expxplain how thehe system works. someone goes online and puts in an order for food, and thehen wt happens at your r end? >> s so on my end, that t will e grououped in an offeringng in my areaea. it's s called "on d demand." itit's a way for instacart to gt out fromom under, like, employot protecections, with ab 5 inn calilifornia. so therere's just a bunch o of orders disisplayed foror you, ad you have to grgrab them before someone else d does. so right now sincece there's so much desperaration out there, a lot of p people trying to make ends meet, they go very quickly, and yoyou just got to o be fast. and you don't t know the address

you're deliverering toto, what'n the ororder. yoyou just blindly grab b it and hohope that it p pays -- amy: wherere do you grab it fro? >> f from the app on our smartphones. most peoplple will be e sittinga parking lot of a groceryry store that thehey prefefer to shop a . so they will try andnd shop at ththat s store aftfter gettingne list of avavailable batctches, d they'll select it andnd claim i. and d then no onone else c can m it. and ththen you start shoppppingt order inin the grocecery store,s you would for r yourself. you wait in a checkout linine, s you wowould for yoyourself. there's no, , like, special privivileges for i instacartrt contractors. and then you d deliver with your own vehicle to the customer's doorstep, hopefully, and you swipe "delivered," and you move on to your nexext one. more batches become available, and you get to choose from that list. amy: and what kind of protective gear are people given? > well, a as of just a couple days ago, none. justst this morning, as i was checking the variousus facebebok groups across the cocountry, i i

have seen that some of the hand sanitizers that instacart ordedered are e starting to arr. we have some reports that a lot of them are damaged, though, so they're leaking and not making it t to the e people who o orded themem. yoyou can't order themem right w on their website. and we haven't seen any of the safefety kitits they created actually arrive yet. i actually have a preorder out for one just to see if it ever arrives. at this point, after four-plus years of fighting instacart, i don't believe anything they say until i can see it, touch it and actutually experience it.. so i don't even know if those exist. instacart pr is telling a lot of the media that, you know, they're doing all these great things. and they're just empty words to a lot of people like me. amy: so -- >> you know, we -- sorry, go ahead. amy: you talked about tipping and how it was removed, now it's put back. can you u talk about what't's happening now, how people use tipping to make sure that, you

know, they can somehow get an order not a month from now? and what actually happens to those tips? >> yeah. so therere's s obviously a a hue histstory with tipping in instacart. but thisis is actualally a probm that was uncovered or picked u p by cnn rececently about tipp baiting. this hasas been anan ongoing ise with instacart for yeaears, whe, you know, certain fafacebook groups of likeke couponersrs and other r people, they pass likeke lifefe hacks that t have actuall real-w-world ramificications for humans. and, you knonow, there's somethg going on right now whehere peope will put theheir tip high on an ororder, which we see e the tip ahahead of timime. so we willll, you know, , "oh, they're going to pay meme a $100 tip p to get thehem, you know, 0 itemems at a a grocery stotore. thatat's worth my timime. i'll take e it." but you go to the e store, you shop the order, you get mamaybe half of it, you deliliver itit,d then, you knowow, a half-houour after delivery, you'll see thatt the tip was removeved. soso one of f two things i is gg on.

it's either tip baiting or ananother r instacart bug in thr systems that basasically hanande all the e financiaial side of fw we're p paid. we've had them admit to a tip-stealingng bug on n at leaeo or t three occasions, and probay seveveral more thahat they'll nr admit toto. so it is really y hard to o tell withth no tranansparency w withe compmpany. it's alall througugh blackboxox algoriththms. and d really, yoyou know, , we t got t to kind of f feel what's g on b by crowdsourcrcing ininforn via facecebook and twitter. amy: i i wanted to ask you aboua statement made by the instacart founder and ceo, apoorva mehta, who announced the company would bring on 300,000 additional shoppers to o meet increased demand amidst t the pandemic. mehta said workers are being provided with health and safety supplies, issued a statement that said -- "we are also offering additional support for shoppers who may be affected by covid-19. all in-store shoppers nationwide now have access to sick pay, an accrued benefit that can be used as paid time off if you're

absent from work due to illness or injury. additionally, any full-service or in-store shopper can receive up to 14 days of extended pay if you're diagnosed with covid-19 or placed in individual mandatory isolation or quarantine." again,n, the statemement of theo of instacacart. your response, matththew telles? >> i''m lilike shaking with h re right t now. i'veve said it before.e. if i was the governor ofof any state, i i would put a a hiring freezeze on all ofof these appss immediately y until they p prove ththose words s you just read t, because that's not the real-world applilication. ininstacarart announced they''re hiring 3 300,000 people, 27,000f them to your epipicenter in new york and anonother 50,000 to cacalifornia, which is on like a complete lockdown. these new shoppers are the ones who are recently o out of workr. and d everyone deseserves a livg wage.. anand it breaks mymy heart to se

these new shoppepers out in thte storores becausese i'm m still n the e stores with h my personal business thahat i was able to create ovever the e last couplpf years wiwith a different c comp. and my bigiggest issssue right w is allll these new insnstacart shopoppers that are unprotectedn the storeses with their entire families a lot of times. they're realllly harassing thee grocery y store workers a lolotf times. we have a lot of reports of that, and i've seen that with hy own eyes. we're seeing g issues where, you know, ththere's issues at deliveryry. there's issues w with safety.. we have rereports s of instacart asking a s simple one-questition hiringng process of f "have yoyn convicted ofof a felelony in the lalast seven yeaears?" ifif you answewer no, you arare imimmediately activated d and cd go shop ororders using l like ge pay. so last week andnd two weeeeks , people w were just g getting activavated and on-boardeded immediatelely. they sent an emailil to their customer base saying, basicalll, "hey, , we know you got laid of. you want to work for instacart as a shopperer?"

anand everyone signened up. anand they bragged abobout that. i have the e email. it's gross. and so they jusust activated the new w shoppers witithout backgrd checksks. there's even r reports of, d don miami,i, they're hiring underage people, 16, 17 years old. and they were having issues atat checkout because they didn''t even havave their paymenent cars yet oror any identificication, d googogle pay was failingng. so t they wewere paying for inststacart orders with h theirn money. and that's always been n a probm to get instacart to o reimburse you for ththat. so we are just t trying to gegea bunch h of infnformation out the to thehese new shoppppers. wewe'rere not here e to policic. but t like, , if no one's gogoio train them, someone has to. and, y you know, we'll do what e can n in the storeres or ansnswe quesestions in f facebook grouo, but patience is wearing kind of thin. and, you k know, it's definitely vevery emotitional when yoyou'ra grocery store trying to stay safe, and now you're trying to trtraverse, you know, hohordes f ininstacart shopoppers at costcd trying to avoioid the elderly folks inin the store who are tryingng to protect t themsesel,

while e also trying to avovoid e other grououp of people who aree like in n denialal. soso the job has become e very,y stressful. it's not fofor everyone. and i don't think eighght out of the 10 peoeople whwho have justn lalaid off should be looking at instacarart for employoyment. it's jujust not worth it. amy: and what do you say to customers of instacart? some people haveve just discoved it for the first time during this pandemic. what k kind of leverage do you think customers have to ensure that the gig workers, the people who work, the shoppers, are justly dealt with? >> customers actctually do havea lot t of leverage.e. instacart will alwlways tell the media anand customers thatat pee likeke myself and the groups tht i i work with and organizeze ara vocal minority. anand that's just defefinitely t the case. a lot of peoeople are e speakin. we're g getting w way less pushk from joining our actions as of late becauause this is a veryy seriouous issue. and people are s starting g to realize that groceries, yourur fofood, your health, your sasaf,

are also very important. because all l it takes is s one infected delivery peperson to te dodown youour entire family and anyone that you might be k kindf linknked up wiwith. but t instacart custstomers, especiallyly new ones, look at e deep histotory of what we'e've n involved in overer the l last y. 4.5 it's all avaiailable inin a quick gogoogle s search. just looook up instacacart and t "news," " and yoyou'll be e ablo read allll about thehe different thingsgs that instacacart's kinf done over r the years, a all ofe kindnd of lies thehey've been ct in, all ofof this stuff. basically, theheir pr ststateme, there's jujust the same thining every y six momonths. so youou can go back and read tm all,l, and t they're all just te same statementnt. and they're a all holollow. nono action has s ever been n tn from them. so just t do your researarch. anand then once you've learned about instacart -- don't take my word for it. listenen to journalists and experts. look for a alternatives. you u know, there are stilill se grgrocery stores out t there tht aren''t tied t to instacart,t, t have t their own in-n-house dely still. it''s a good-payining job. there's also other apps outt there e that a are much more ethihical. me, personally, i was s able to link up and work clolosely with

the e founders of f an app calld dumpling out o of seattltle that letsts me set my own ratates. anand that could be as low ass free. i i get to choosose who i give e deliveryry to, w whether i it be eldederly people o or immunocompromimised -- whichch n the company, dumpling, is goingg to s subsidize, whicich i have't asasked for yetet because i'm of the lucky few that hasas more wk than i can really, you know, hahandle right n now, because pe are nonot using g instacart t or amazon.. amazon just put a a freeze on nw custstomers becaususe they can't hahandle i it. riright now we'rere seeing g lis business m model kind of blolowp under the stress of demamand. and us veteteran shoppers always knewew that was going g to hapa, and we've beeeen blowing the whistle anand calling foul o ona lot ofof thesese differentnt has that these companies utilize, and loopholes. and because ofof that,t, i hav't had to market with dumpling oror anything.. people are just coming t to me. it's free marketiting. and i i have - -- my dayays are packed. from 9:00 a.m. to 8:30 p.m., i'm driving all over. it's awesome. amy: matthew, if you could endnd

by just t talking abouout the gg workers s collective? not jujust instacart, but talk about what overall people are facing. and who is the population of gig workers that are doing this kind of shopping at this absolutely critical time, where, as one of your statements puts out of the gig workers collective, "instacart has turned this pandemic into a pr campaign, portraying itself the hero of families that are sheltered-in-place, isolated, or quarantined"? but who are the gig workers, in general, the other compapanies d the populationon of gig workers? > so gig workerers collective cacame about after years of just being a ragtagag group of people inin facebook and twitter ---- , vanessa, sarah.. and then people have comome and gone over r the years.s. you knknow, they either jujust t the gig industry a altogether or momoved on to otother things ort couldn't hahandle it or, , you , are still wiwith us. we h have dozens of peopople nol over the c country linked d up. i i don't even know whatat mostf

the people looook like. so we're just shshoppers. momost of us are peoeople that e still kikind of trying to rebuid from thehe last recession. i gradaduated right whwhen it h. so, you know, , i haven't had a good past decade, and i'm now finally in a position where i'm having a grereat decade. and itit's awesome. but, youou know, we'e're now kif trying t to streamline thehe prs so we can get the e message out even farther, asas -- becacause everyonene's going g to be inine gig inindustry eventntually,y, e dodon't dodo something. yoyou know, everyone just got ld off -- w what? like eightht in 10 workers or something,g, about to. and we're prorobably going to be inin a depression. so everyone is going to be inin the gig economy.y. you know, it''s not just goingno be t the systemicacally imimpovd minoritieses, immigrgrants. they s start with h them, , us - mexican myself. and now we''re seeining, you kn, more of the mimiddle class b beg laid o off again, just like last time. they're g going to start floodig these apps andnd aren't going to have enonough informatioion to o them safafely or adedequately. so we're jusust trying to o gete woword o out because we know tht

we'rere not going t to be able o prevent pepeople f from lookingr incomeme rightht now. and if t they have to risk t th, they need toto be protected with information and what to lookok t for because ththese companieies- uber, lylyft, doordashsh, grubh, caviar, shipt -- doordash h is e of the worstst ones -- and instacacart, the kining of just horrrrendous b business dedecis- will take advantagage of t them. you know, theyey call us e essel workers.s. from watching g you guguys all today, it t seems s more likik'e exexpendablele. i guaranantee yoyou there's some mememos bebehind closesed doorst say, youou know, "when they die, we'll just t replacace them."." and it's heartbreaking. but from t that, we see e so muh good coming out ofof it with helping each other. amy:y: expendable e or essssent, matttthew? > i think, , at first, when e adrenaline w was still there, we were essential. we werere pridefulul. and d now, as wewe get more ini, that is wearing off and it's seeming more like expendable,

teeles.thew democracy now! is working with as few people onsite as possible. the majority of our amazing team is working from home. democracy now! is looking . then

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