05/04/20 05/04/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: frorom new york city, thehe epicenter of thehe pandemimic, s is democracy now! >> there was a young man that i know was still going to work even though he said he had been sick for two weeks. i don't know why tyson did not detect that. the people who were sick were still going to work. this only made things worse. later i realized a lot of people at that plant were infected. but man who worked there died. amy: at least 20 workers at meat

processing plants have died from covid-19. around 5000 have tested positive. though many do not have access to tests, the president trump invoked an executive order to bar local governments from closing meat plants. we will hear from me workers about conditions during the pandemic and speak with the ceo of the league of united latin american citizens, or iowa, which is supported -- or lulac. meaeatless may monday's. >> we hahave been advocacating r workers rights s and meatpacking facilities for many years. we knew when this virus arrived, because of t those conditions, e were going to have a major issue . amy: as meatpacking workers face increasingly dire conditions, we will also look at how senate majority leader mitch mcconnell is demanding congress protect

corporations from liability for workers who get sick with the coronavirus. as the united states represents close to one third of confirmed cases, we will speak with emergency room p physician d dr. richard levitan, who volunteered in new york at the height of the covid 19 sururge, shocked by wht he saw. he said we could be doingg more to keep patients on ventilators and alive. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracacynow.org, ththe quarae report. i'm amy goodman. there arare now ovover 3.5 milln confirmed cases of the coronavirus around thehe world, wiwith nearly one quarter of a million repoported deaths. the united statetes makes up cle to o one third of coconfirmed cs come and a quarter o of the knon deaths even though it represents less than 5% of the world's population. president trump has projected the u.s. death toll from covid-19 may top 100,000.

revising statements he made in recent weeks, puputting the projected n number as low as 50,000. the official u.s. death toll is approaching 68,000, but many researchers believe the e actual number is far higher. on friday, over 292900 people dd -- a new daiaily high in the united states. here in new york, a nursing home has reported a staggering 98 resident deaths linked to the coronavirus. until friday, the official number of coronavirus deaths reported by new york for the facility was 13. the center said it had to order a refrigerator truck to store dead bodies because overburdened funeral homes had been taking days t to pick them up. in wasashington, d d.c., prerest trumump and secretetary of state mike pompeo are continuingo crcriticize china's handndling f the coronavirus outbreak claiming the virirus originatedn a chinesese lab.

on sunday, pompeo appeared on "abc this week." >> there is enormous evidence that is where this began. we said from the beginning this was a virus that originated in wuhan, china. we took a lot of grief from that but i think the whole world can see now. remember, china has a history of infecting the world and history of running substandard laboratories. amy: the world health organization and the us intelligence community has refuted this theory, saying the coronavirus was not man-made and originated from animal-to-human transmission. a recent department of homelanad security report alalso blames te chinese government for intetentionally coconcealing the severity of the e coronavirus whilile stockpiling imported supplies and reducing its exports. meanwhile, the white house has blocked dr. anthony fauci from testifying before a house committee this week. trump is also moving to oust the inspector general at the department of health and human services, christi grimm. she recently detailed how hospitals were facing severe shortageges of medical supupplis and tests.

u.s. editors are returning to work in washington, d.c., after senate majority leaders mitch mcconnell insisted on resuming in-person business, despite the objections of some lawmakers. the house of representatives is not returning to d.c. this week. washington, d.c., is considered a coronavirus hotspot. minority leader chuck schumer blasted the republican agenda for precipitating lawmakers' return, tweeting -- "senate republicans should be laser focused on the health and economic crises caused by covid-19, not confirming right-wing judges or protecting big business from legal liability." for the first time ever, the supreme court will hear two cases by phone. all of the justices will be on a conference call with the lawyers in the two cases. the public will be able e to listen to o the arguments life r the e first time ever r -- liver the first time ever.

in new york city, cell phone video has gone viral showing police officers aggressively pinning a black man to the ground as they arrested him and attackingntly a passerby, also blackck draggig , him on the street, punching him, and kneeling on his neck during what was supposed to be a social distancing enforcemenent action. the witness who took the video said p police fafalsely acaccuse first man and a woman of violating social distancing rules before going after the passerby. at least some of the officers involved in the attack were not wearing protective face masks, as required in new york when social distancing is not possible. over 1000 new york police officers were dispatched over the weekend to enforce social distancing rules. photos emerged on social media over the weekend of crowded parks and other public spaces as new yorkers left their homes to take advantage of the warmer weather.

in immigration news, the san diego union-tribune reports two guards at the privately-owned otay mesa detention center have filed two lawsuits against civic, alleging the private for-profit prison corporation doesn't take the necessary measures to protect their health amid the covid-19 pandemic and create an environment that was too dangerous for them to do their jobs. otay mesa has one of the largest coronavirus outbreaks of any jail in the united states. as of last week,k, over 160 prprisoners have tested positive for covid-19. over half of u.s. states have relaxed or are to loosen social distancing and other restrictions, but some businesses are pushing back. in georgia, more than 120 atlanta restaurants have refused to open, saying it is not safe to do so despite georgia governor brian kemp' is s liftig of the state shelter in placac order.

in europe, spain continues to ease restrictions, allowing adults to go outside for exercise as its daily death toll hit its lowest number in over six weeks sunday with just over 160 deaths. the total reportrted death tolls overer 25,000. spain is letting people go outside in shifts based on their demographic groups to ensure social distancing measures can be respected. italy reported its lowest daily death toll sunday since the start of its lockdown, the longest lockdown of any country so f far. meanwhile, in britain, the lockdown continues. over 28,000 people have died from the coronavirus according to official reports, making it the european country with the second most known deaths just behind italy. russia reported over 10,000 new cases on sunday -- its fourth record single-day increase in a row. russia is now reporting over

134,000 cacas and 130000 deaths. in afghanistan, health officials warn the new coronavirus could be spreading at an alarming rate after a small study suggested about a third of residents in the capital kabul could be infected. so far, afghanistan has not been among countries most severely affefected by the virus. at least 2700 cases and 85 deaths have been confirmed but the true numbers are expected to be much higher as testing has remained limited. this comes as a new report by save the children finds that over 7 million children in afghanistan are at risk of hunger. millions were already facing food shortages, but the coronavirus caused food shortages to store -- soar and two stripped many day laborers of their livelihoods. save the children said -- "we are deeply concerned that this pandemic will lead to a perfect storm of hunger,r, disee anand death in afghanistan unles the world takes action now."

india has extended its nationwide lockdown affecting 1.3 billion people for another two weeks after reporting a record rate of new coronavirus cases. on friday, india rolled out a contact tracing app that uses bluetooth and location services to track people's movements. use of the app will be mandatory for all public and private sector workers. the internet freedom foundation warns the app is a privacy minefield that could become a permanent surveillance tool even after the pandemic recedes. in pakistan, medical workers have ended a hunger strike after the government agreed to ensure that each worker has access to personal protective equipment. the government also promomised o investigate the death of a nurse who deveveloped covid-1919 symps after trtreating coronavirus patients. dozens of starving rohiningya refugees landed on the southern coast of bangladesh sunday as fears grow for hundreds more left stranded at sea for weeks after bangladeshi authoritities cut off port access during the

coronavirus pandemic. in april, more than 60 rohingya died aboard a boat with hundreds of refugees on board, after authorities in malaysia and thailand denied them entry, citing coronavirus fears. the united nations is calling on governments to allow rohingya fleeing persecution in burma to dock, as weather forecasters warn a tropical cyclone may form over the bay of bengal this week. in south africa, police clashed with healthcare workers in johannesburg friday as they held a protest demanding better worker conditions, including adequate personal protective equipment while treating covid-19 patients. this is a nurse from the soweto township. >> you have not come to the nursing profession. are you waiting until there is death of our communities to ?tart to respond actively

t took place across the united states and around the worlrld friday for may day despe the pandemic. essesential workers from amazon, instacart, whole foods, walmart, target, and fedex held a mass stririke to demand better health and safety conditions and with hazard pay. in washington, d.c., the people's bailout motorcade rolled through the city. around the country, nurses at well over 100 hospitals held socially distanced protests, demanding personal protective equipment and to draw attention to healthcare workers who have died while fighting the coronavirus. in fredericksburg, pennsylvania, over 30 cars circled the bell & evans poultry processing plant to demand they shut down the facility until worker protections can be guaranteed. at least two covid-19 deaths and dozens of infections have been linked to the plant. here in new york city, protesters took part in a car caravan to call for worker protections and economic protections.

the caravan passed in front of new york governor andrew cuomo's manhattan office and the penthouse apartment of amazon ceo jeff bezos. in times square, demonstrators laid out body bags to represent victims of covid-19. this is perla liberato, an activist with make the road new york. >> people are struggling right now. people are not able to pay rent. a lot of people are not working. undocumented folks don't have an opportunity to get money to be able to survive this pandemic. we want to make sure the rent is canceled until we know what is going to happen next. amy: meaeanwhile, in san francisco, two unhoused activists briefly took over a vacant house before being forced to leave friday after police threatened to remove them by force. activists with reclaim san francisco protested the heavy police presence in front of the house, which i is said to be an investment property that has been sitting empty for years.

at least one person at the protest was arrested. this is couper orona speaking frfrom inside the house before being forcrced to leavave. >> we are san francicisco. we are supposed to take care of each other. we are not doing that. we are so far away from anything that is reality to us. it makes me feel lost. i feel alone. i feel scared and alone. thatat is nonot fair. without i am still help. amy: decedent extended interview before the pandemic, go to -- to see the extended interview beforere the protest, go to democracynow.org. the occupation was one of several actions that took place across san francisco friday for may day, including a "cancel rent" car caravan. north and south korean troops briefly exchanged gunfire sunday acrossss the demilitarized zonee separating the two koreas. it was the first skirmish at the dmz since north korean troops fired on a defector in 2017.

this came days after north korean leader kim jong-un appeared publicly friday for the first time in almost three weeks, touring a newly-completed fertilizer factory near pyongyang. kim'm's appearance followewed ws of speculation about his health and put an end to rumors he was gravely ill after surgery. canada is bannnning military-ste assault firearms, including the ar-15, two weeks after a gunman in nova scotia kilille22 p peope during a 12-hour rampage -- the worst mass shooting in canadian history. this is prime ministerer justin trudeau speaking friday. >> we are closing the market for military grarade assault weapons in canada. andre banning 1500 models variance of these firearms by way of regulations. these weapons were designed for one purpose and one purpose only, to kill the largest number of people i in the shortest amot

of time. amy: "families deserve more than thoughts and prayers," said prime minister justin trudeau as he announced the new measures. the venezuelelan government is claiming it has foiled a coup attempt after 10 armed men landed in a boat in a port city near caracas. venezuelan authorities killed eight of the men who they described as mercenary terrorists. two men were captured. a former u.s. green beret claimed the attack was part of a wider attempt to overthrow the venezuelan government. in other news from venezuela, 46 prisoners have died in a riot that began after prisoners reportedly attempted to esescape an overcrowded prison. amnesty y international is callg for an investigation into the deaths andnd prison authoritie'' "lethal response" to the unrest. in kenya, over 1800 families have lost their homes in recent days as heavy rains trigger massive flooding in western kenya. rains have been pounding the region for weeks, killing over 100 people in floods and

landslides. this is a displaced resident. >> it has been flooding for three days now. i think the government is not even aware, but now we are telling them. you're asking if there are any plans to assist us. here to boats are assist us. valentina blackhorse, a prominent figure in navajo nation as the winner of multiple pageants, has died at the age of 28 from covid-19. valentina blackhorse was a beloved community leader who promoted navajo culture and education. her sister says she hahad hopedo enter politics in the future. valentina whilile caring for her blackhorse may have e contracted -- the virus while caring for her partner, robby jones, a detetention officer for the navo department of corrections' who says he e could have been exposd at work. she died just one day after her coronavirus test came back positive. navajo nation has been hit hard by the pandemic, reporting over

cases of covid-19 and at least 2000 70 deataths. and today marks the 50th anniversary of the kent state shootings. on may 4, 1970, national guardsmemen opened fire on hundreds of unarmed students at an antiwar rally at kent state university in ohio, killing four students and wounding nine others. kent state is holding a virtual commemoration today on their website. this is democracy now!w!, democracynyn.org, the e quarante report. when we combat, we will speak with the ceo of lulac, latino organization standing up for meatpackers. over 5000 have testeted positit, at leaeast 20 are dead. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: crosby, stills, nash & & young's, "ohio." a song about the day, 50 years ago, on may 4, 1970, when national guardsmen opened fire on hundreds of unarmed students at an anti-war rally at kent state university in ohio, killing four students and wounding nine others.. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the quarantine report. i'm amy goodman. we beginin today's show l lookit the coronavirus outbreak in meatpacking plants a across the ununited states. as u.s. beef, pork, and poultry processing plants face a public health crisis and growing number of infected workers, last weweek president trump signed an executive order barring governments from closing meat plants. the order declares meat plants as critical infrastructure.

at least 20 meatpapacking workes have died from covid-19 and more than 5000 have fallen ill from the disease. that number is expected to be far higher due to a lack of testing. in sioux falls, south dakota, at least 1000 people have tested positive for the virus at one smithfield pork plant, accounting for more than half the confirmed cases in the entire state. at least six workers at a jbs beef packing plant in greeley, colorado, have died from covid-19, despite this, , the plant reoped last week after a short clclosue without testing all l its worke. and the tyson columbus junction processing plant in iowa reopened in late april d despite the deaths of two workrkers from covid-19. a meat worker fromom the tyson plant spoke to democracy now! about conditions there during the pandemic. she is an immigrant from guanajuato, mexico, and asked to remain anonymous out of fear of

retaliation. >> there was a young man that i know was still going to work even though he said he had been sick for two weeks. i don't know why tyson did not detect that. the people who were sick were still going to work. this only made things worse. later i realized a lot of people at that plant were infected. a man who had worked there died. there were a lot of people in critical condition at the hospital. i am not sure if they are still there because, truthfully, i have not left my house or spoken anyone recently so i am not sure what the status of their health is. but i know many people were the hospital in critical condition and they are alleople who o work at tyson. amamy: president trump's execute order to keep meat plalants running has sparked outrage over what it meant for workers being forced to work in unsafe conditions. on friday, dozens of bell & evans workers and activists

circled the poultry company's lebanon county, pennsylvania, poultry processing plant in a funeral caravan after two covid-19 deaths and dozens o of infections connected to the plant. the protesters demanded an immediate shutdown of the plant and full pay forll workers until it can implement a plan to keep workers safe, including personal protective equipment, paid sick time, and social distancing policies. >> bell & evans has gone radio silent while their workers die. that is unacceptable. we demand bell & evansns to tell us how many workers are infected and how many workers have died. we need to know how many other workers have been infected by the failures of this company. amy: over the weekend, the league of united latin american citizens, lulac, joined a coalition of iowa farmers, activists, workers, elected officials, and community groups to announce the meaeaess may monday's campaign.

today, lulac, which is more than 60,000 members worldwide, is joining to host our virtual town hall -- joining univision to host a virtual town hall on food worker safety with democratic presidential candidate joe biden and members of congress. we are joined by a guest in washington, d.c., is sindy benavides, ceo of the league of united latin american citizens, lulac. in des moines, iowa, we're joined by alejandro, a local organizer whose immediate and extended family members work in meatpacking plants across iowa, south dakota, and nebraska, including in smithfield, tyson, and other meat plants. alejandra has asked us to use his first name only out of concern for retaliation against his family. we welcome you both to democracy now! sindy benavides come it we begin with you, ceo of lulac. i watched her news conference on friday were your joining with this coalition of groups calling for meatless may monday's, kind

of boycott of these meat corporations. this as president trump has invoked the defense production act, signing an executive order saying governments cannot close down these hotspots where in some cases, one meatpacking plant alone there are over 700 coronavirus-positiveve workers. can you talk about lulac's position and what you understand about the meatpacking industry in this country y and who the memeatpackers arare? y you soof all, thanknk much, amy, for having me on. as many of you may know, lulac coco the league of united latin americanan citens,s, ithe o oldt and largest national latino civil rights organization. we are about 91 years young, 91 years strong, and still going for 91 years where we've been protececting and defendiding the latino community in the united states, puerto rico, and washington, d.c. today unfortunately we find

ourselves to protetecting and defending our community, partrticularly are meatpackers. what we're seeing on the ground and how we are made up is we have members who are volunteers fofor lulac in over 37 states, washington, d.c., and puertoo rico. and some of those numbers have been to work i in meatpacking planants and/or are relativess f folks that worork in meatpacackg plants. this is why over a month ago, we started receiving complaints of individuals who were hearing that, unfortunately, their colleagues were getting sick and this was not being reported by that particular industry or facility. so we got involved. over a m month ago, we sent a letter to osha to ask for questions. to t thiss d day, we havee not d back. wewe have not gotten a response. we also o know our lulac members direcectors, the state

have been working closely with ouour community and iowa and alo traveling to neieighboring stats to understand the conditions of the workers. and stst to give youou an idea n columbus junction,n, iowaa,, the haveve already been multiple deaths of people working. what we're seeing more than that is when presidident trump enactd the e defense production act, wt he is asking our commumunity too is to march ininto slaugererhous and puput their lives on thehe . a lack ofis doing is acknknowledgment andnd completey avoiding and annulling a persrson's right t to work in ae place. we know more than 20,000 individuals have bebeen impacac, hahave cases o of covid-19, andd there e are over 20 deaths that have occurred. hohowever, we feel these eststis are highly underercounted. wewe think it is at least doubl, ifif not triple, those numbers.

what w we're hearing f from the workers and from t their famamis is thahat in many instances, the workers are being turned away yy the clinics and hospipitals in e communitity, and they're h havio drive over an hour and a half or two hours simply to get tested. and d on top, pay for the testsn order to know if they actually do have covid cases. amy: alejandra, if you could describe y your family, what thy face, the plalants they work in? quotote definitely. thank you for having me, amy. in e surrououing area herin iowa, there are countltless food processing plants. we are seeing these issues are across the board. this is an industrywide practice. that is why we are seeing this pop up all over the state, essentially. as you mentioned, i have family

working across the board, across the state, and into other states in the industry. it is very scary for my family, my immediate family, my extended family. i have cousins who now have tested positive because of these plants. my sister and her husband have tested positive here just recently because of these plants. again, just incredibly scared. this has beeeen consistent - --n prior toto the epidemic, that these have not been n safe w wok conditions. very fast lines. these are workerers that are standing o on their feet for hours. overworked, workrking extended hohours in a day and w working n for the weekends.. thr are very hard workersd that are dedicated to provider for their families. at the only reason that they aren't there right now, why these companies, many of them have a lot less work is right now is because they are scared.

they want to do the work. i have been talking to families, to workers almost every day for the last couple of weeks and they have been telling me they want to work but they want to be able to do it safely. just even two weeks ago is when they finally started introducing masks, not that they are very protective, but they started introducing masks. just two weeeeks ago even n thoh we have knknown what t has been going on for months.s. it is very clear these companies , that theyey did not take the safety precautions andnd essentially, that a a system i n place that doeoesn't prioritize the safety o of workers -- - whh is largelyly w why we are seeinl of this. johni want to read what tyson, the billionaire chair of the board of tyson foods recently warned in a full-page ad in several newspapers as well as on the company's website -- "there will be limited supply of our products available in grocery stores until we are able to reopen our facilities that

are currently closed. the food supply chain is breaking." it was not days later that the trumpident does president invoking the defense production government, noo governor could shut down a plant. but is it the coronavirus that is breaking the food supply or is it these corporations that did not early on provide the ppe, the protective gear, that woworkers neededed, the social diststancing required? alejandro, i want to put that question to you. also if you can talk about right now w as we are broadcasting, univision is having a special where they are bringing on different workers, like one of your colleagues, yet another daughter or son of workers in the plans. if you could talk about your organization. you speak english. you are kind of a translator for

your families who are working and getting sick in the plants. >> definitely. what the tyson's headad said in regards to the federal l -- food chain, that is what a lot of u us are seeing.. i'm concerned aboutut being able to see -- fefeet americans or te workers. but ifif that is truly whatheyey prioritized and what they were prioritizing w was ensuring that we h have a fooood supply y cha, essentntially, then they w woule makingng sure that the wororkers were able to do o their jobs sasafely, and they are doining . it is kind of sad to see even other leaders blaming the workers, the immigrants, for what i igoing on whenen it is vy clear because ththey did not tae thee safety precautions, because of t the culture where they are encouraging people to come in or not letting g them go home when they are sick, it is because of these long existing praractices-

and the structure, the dynamicic between leaderership and workers where workers don't have a voice. that largely feeds into why come as you mentioneded, the children ofof the workers, you know, i ws saying a a lot of p people in my similar situatioion, which is my cocousins, my siblings, my formr classmates from high schooool, e were just screaming out t the void. were afraid for our parents. but there really was not much tatalk. there wasn't any noise. in order to create a group or we were a able to come together, te families, , the community, different allies to statart bringing a awareness, addrdressg what is going on, talalking to workers and really identifying what they need. i'm not here to speak on behalf of and tell you what they need, i'm just here toto say that thte workrkers need a voice. these executivive orders,s, thee different ththings that say y mh

mcconnell l and other leaeaderse touting, are essentiallyly just finding new ways to limit t that voice. these workers don't have protections. these companies are not being held accountable. they're not even taking responsibility, soso that makest even harder to be accountable. and having a situation where workers can't even take legal action were the communities can't rally around and d force governments to take this seriously. amy: and we're going to talk about that issue of corporate responsibility, the senate majority leader mitch mcconnell holding up stimulus package until he can get inserted into it that corporations are not responsible for what happens during covid. bebefore we e do that, and also speak with rob b wiseman, head f public citizen, let's turn again to the tyson processing plant worker in columbus junction, iowa, who spoke to democracy now! but ask we not use her n ne

becaususe i fear o of retalilia. she saidid this is her message o tyson and other meat industry corporations. like if they treated people with more respect, more love, to be considerate of us, the people who are working there out of necessity. we are not there for them to destroy our lives were our bodies. they need to be more conscious of taking care of people. it is because of the people that they are able to do what they do. why not take care of people? why not make sure we don't get hurt? i have never liked this, that they don't pay any attention to people's well-being. they should be more humane.e. don't just think about money, but think about the w workers tt are helping the company make money. amy: in an interview with buzzfeed news, a smithfield foods s spokesperson blamemed te south dakota plant's "large immigrant populationon" for the rapipid spread of the coronavir. the spokesperson explained -- "living circumstances in certain cultures are different than they

are with your traditional american family." i want to go back to sindy benavides to respond to thiss, the ceo o of lulac. > thank y you, amy. first t and f foremosost, i can certain understand the paiain or community is feeling and thehe fear. alejandro talked about there are so many in our comomnity who have reachched out t to lulac, n is only their r first name or aa differt t name for feaea of retaliatioion. we also know that many of them are bebeing told internally that if they're not at work, they will not get paid or worse, that ththey couldld get fireded, even some of the same companies are toutining externally that they'e willing to pay theirir workers additional money or give them bonuses. so which one is it? is it them telliling the workers they will l get fired and/or not get paid if thehey get sick or s it really what is bebeen publicized externally?

i can tell you when we look at this pararticularr indusustry, u haveve to realally look at it fm the very begininning to endnd. yes, many y of the workers comme together to get to o the plants. mama of them, like many amerericans, have multigenerational homes where you may haveve the parents come the children, and/or the grandpararents in the same housusehold. i know this is nonot only true o latinonos, but many immigrant ad americanan families across this country. some of these facilities, even more thahan a month agoo when ty started seseeing the cases pop , did not take the urgent steps to mamake sure that the workers wee protected, making sure that they had protection gear in place. i i just want t americans to stp for a minute, for all of us w wo go to the grocery storanand for the one hour or two hours we are wearining that face mask,k, it o

uncocoortable. can yoyou just imagine workers o are working eight to 10 to 12 plus hours? we know it because they're been seven incidents of covid cases that our workers are being asked to w work even longer shifts or work additional shifts.. we know t this from differentnt members across the country. in fact, our state director, her father who has worked in this industry for over 30 years, reported he is having to work and pick up shiftfts on voluntarily -- unvoluntarily at times. we are asking the companies to put safety measures in place, to make sure that there are a longer break so you don't have a line of people waiting at the restroom close together. we are asking them to put safeguards from a plastic in between workers, and a make sure that they and fact are following cdc and osha guidelines in terms of social distancing.

we know in various facility across the country, there are workers that may speak more than 40 different languages. it is not enough to put a poster up on a wall that says "please practice social distancing six feet apart." if you don't explain it, if you don't have the educational awareness about what social distancing is -- in fact, making sure the shifts are staggered and that their breaks are staggered. oftentimes, where people sit to eat, they are eating bubbled elbow. or they are working, they are elbowed elbow. oftentimes not having the ventilation that is required for them to be in a safe place. inwe hear of the companies the different cases that have occurred, again, are asked is very simple. please make sure that the workers are in a safe place where they don't feel like they are walking or marching into a slaughterhouse and their life is on the line.

what we are asking is if you had your child or your parents or your sibling working in that same line, would you not want them to have the safety conditions so that they don't feel afraid to walk into work won't comehat they down with the covid case and potentially die? you're asking for basic protections, protections that work come that help community to keep the line flowing to make sure that all americans are able to enjoy meat and pork and poultry. we stand with the workers. we want to make sure that all workers acacross america, particularly our workers who are facing high cases of covid cases due to the lack of safety, are protected. with that, amy, i will tell you that this is a difficult situation. we understand there is political games at play here. we understand there is an election coming. at the bottom line is, the slow

reaction by the federal government, the slow reaction by corporations, and the lack of action have placed people's lives on the line and we have already had multiple deaths. amy: w we want t to thank youu o much for being with us and we are not leaving the story here. sindy benavides, ceo of the lulac. alejandro's immediate and extended family works in meatpackcking plants. when we come back, we are to speak with a guest who will talk about this d demand by the senae majority leader, mitchch mcconnl , to absolve corporations of any responsibility during the pandemic.. we will speak with public .itizen's head robert weissman stay with us.. ♪ [music break]

amy: "no disiscrimination" by ty allen and afafrica 70.

who createdrummer the beat of fob. he died last week at the age of 79. this is democracy now!, democracynynow.org, the quarante report. i'm amy goodman. the u.s.ckers around ,ace dark conditions republican lawmakers are ramping up their defense of corporate interest in the companies were workers are falling ill post of the senate reconvenes today. mitch mcconnell is demanding congress use the next aimless bill to protect corporations from liability from workers who get sick with the coronavirus. this is mitch mcconnell speaking on fox news. >> we have brave health care workers battling this virus, entrepreneurs who will reopen their economy. all of them deserve, in my view, the strong protections from the opportunistic lawsuits that are being planned all over america. all over america.

sharpeningrs are pencils to come after the health care providers and businesses arguing that somehow a decision they made with regard to reopening adversely affected the health of someone else. amy: democrats have said they will oppose mcconnell's push for widespread corporate immunity. for more, we're joined by rob weissman, president of public citizen. thank you so much for joining us. we have been talking a about the meatpackers. this extends beyond the meat plants. can you talk about what mitch mcconnell is demanding? is he actually holding the stimulus package up to insert this in? >> mitch mcconnell is talking about trying to have total immunity for big corporations, fofor really anything reremotely connected to the coronavirus crisis. he is reconvening the senanate today, he says, foror the purpoe of granting immunity to big

corporations that he says won't let the next to melisissa/relief bill go through unless it includeses provisions to protect big corporatitions from lawsuit. this is not just about -- itit s especially the protectingg employers from lawsuits for endangering their workers come also abobout lawsuitits protectg compmpanies from endangegering r works.s. it probably means protectcting corporations from lawswsuits ovr environment pollution, maybe even violations of civil rights law, t their wage lalaw, and mo. .his is a lolong-term agenda mitch h mcconnell sees an opportunity with the coronavirus to capitalize.e. he is trtrying to get brought immunity for corporations for all kinds of wrongdoinghat they might commit during the period of the crisis. amy: so talk about exactly what this would mean. when a corporation stays open, like one of these meatpacking plants where they are not provided -- the workers are not provided with the proper protective gear, they often from

month have not had tests, but if they don't come to work, they will be fired. so their livelihoods are at stake. they have no recourse? mcconnellhahat is whatt would like. in fact, for workers -- - workes don't have much h recourse anywy for dangerous at the woworkplac. ifif you are injured or become l at the workplace, were entitled to workers compensnsation. so you get paid for your time off, some porortion, and compensation for youour health care andnd any injnjury you may suffer, but you cannot sue companies in court normally. the only time e you consume a company in court for an injury or exposure to an illneness is when they engage in egregious misconduct, r reckless endangerment of ththe workers. so m mcconnell said he wants to protect the company's from lawsuits. he mostly meanans he wants to protect ouour right to engage in

egregious misconduduct. onone going on right now missoui is slightly didifferent invololg meatpapacking workerers. the workers are not suing for money damages. there suing for injunctive relief to force smithfifield meatpacking plant to adopt the seible, minimal standadards neneeded to protect w workers wo are going to be rerequired to go to work, to give them the protective equipment they need, to makake sure there is adequate sanitation, atat they geget adequate sickly, that there is testing, and that there is sufficient distancing at t the production line. ththat is a a lawsuit that is te primary one that the companies anand mitch mcconnell are focusg on. it doesn't even ask for any money. it only asks smithfield to protect its workers. orderrump's executive gives these plants -- does it give them legal immunity? mother jones had this piece

assange hours before publishing her bloomberg story, reporter jennifer jacobs asked trump what steps he would take to bolster the food supply under strain from covid-19. his answer focused on the meat industry, in particular tyson foods. he told us he will do an executive order to help tysonn foods wiwith the liabilityty problem. rob weissman? >> trump did issue an executive order talklking about the centnl importrtant of meat proroduction doesn't importance of meat production to ththe food supply. its s not conferer c communityt. trump cannot do that underer existing law on his own. it does say comompaes should come if they y are sued, invoke executive order a and say, sese, the president says we have to stay opepen. in fact, smithfield is doing that now in the m missouri case. but it does not give them immumunity. themem to get in we did he, they need a law passed by congress and that is whahat mitch mcconnl is trying to do. rob weissman, thank you for

being with us, presisident off public citizen. .e turn now to our lasast segegt we look at the effort to save more livives as the e coronavirs pandemic continues to rage across the united states and around the world. even as prpresident trump presss states to begin n reopening, he predicted sunday that t the u.s. death toll from the pandemic could reach 100,000 -- a number far higher than his earlier estimate of 60,000 lives lost. we are joined now by dr. richard levitan, who is an emergency physician who is usually based in littleton, new hampshire. but he came down to new york to volunteer at one of the public hospitals, bellevue hospital where my dad used to work in manhattan, for 10 days at the height of the covid-19 surge in april. he was shocked by whwhat he saw. he wrote about what he learned in a "new york times" op-ed headlined "the infection that's silently killing coronavirus patients." in it, he writes -- "i realized that we are not detecting the deadly pneumonia the virus causes early enough

and that we could be doing more to keep patients off ventilators -- and alive." drlelevitan meme if you could tell us exactly how you do that. welcome. >> thank you for having me. for the last 30 years in medicine, we have used a fifth vital sign. the standard bible signs our heart rate blood pressure, temperature, respiratory rate. wewe have added a fit one. that fifth one is public symmetry. it measures the saturation of oxygen in the blood. what i nototiced while workikinn new york is these patitients cae oxygen a lovingly low saturations but they did not feel short of breath. amy: explain this oximeter. interestingly, the inventor of , ingenious and

indispensable medical device as many are describing it, just died and his death was just announced. >> yeah. with health carect system at all in the last 30 years, you h had a small probebe plplaced on your fininger. in the hospital, those probes connect to our monitors but there also now fingertip versions of this. these devices are very inexpensive and they are widely available. they were present already on every ambulance, in every hospital and every doctor's office. actually, every nursing home. they exist widely. this device gives y you two numbers. it gives you heart rate a and ad oxygen saturatioion. what is remarkable about this is the cause of death in covid, overwhelmingly, is pneumonia.

pneumonia triggers hospitalization and often requirements for mechanical ventilation, and then all of these problems in sue aftfter te lungs get severerely injured. a measureoximeter is of identifying how well the lungs are working. i believe can be basically an early warning system in terms of to know who has covid pneueumonia. amy: desescribe what doctors all over the country and nurses are saying in hospitals. something they really have not seen before, where someone will be on their cell phone, they will be talking to the doctors and nurses, and then suddenenly crash. explain that. and then talk also about your concern about people being put on ventilators, at this point, something like 85% % of people have been on ventilators die? >> the rate of death on ventilators varies dramaticacal.

unfortunately, the public hahas ththe peeption that everybody who gets put on a ventilator dies. it really depends on how sick you are on presentation. if you are eldlderly, if you're lungs are terribly involved, you mortality being put on a venentilator is high. among young people, actually, the death rarate on ventilatatos much l lower. i don't wantnt the public to be scared that if their loved one winds up on a ventilator, that necessarily means a deathth sentence. but it is a bad thing when people get covid pneumonia and they present l late. in terms of their presentation, we see all the time in e emergey medicinene that when people e c, when they drowned, anything that affects oxygen goioing to ththe brain, when that happens quickly, patients pass out or they havave seizures. the remarkable thing about these patients are they come in with

proximity readings, oxygenen saturationon readingngs, have normal, as low as 50%. we normally have and oxygen saturation betweween 94 and 100. so these people are there with these incredibly low readidings and their brain isis working fie and they're on their cell phone. what they have done is an adaptatation to the s slope oxyn caused by the pneumonia is they have silentlyy increased their breaththing rate over days. and d the only, in when they get eithther short of breath h or a fever, but thatt happens late in the process. subjective shortneness of breath is not something that ee patients appreciate because this disease basically silently advances until they get seriously ill. amy: you are saying when peoplpe are told to not go into the emergency y room before you have that shortness of breath i'm adjusting at home, can be a real problem, that people are h holdg up to the enwhwhen it could be

too o late? >> well, looking baback on my on experiencece with covid, beforei went to neww york and i was evaluating patients in the hospital and we were sending out covid tests, i followed with the cdc guidancece was. i told patients,s, let us know f you get short of breath. there are in fact posters from the cdc that say "do not go to the hospital if you have a couoh or shortness of breatath. only go to the hospital if you have trouble breathing, you are unable to be awoken, or you turn blue." well, in hindsight, what i now appreciate is that a very, very small number of patients have subjective shortness of breath. whenen they y do get short of breath, they are really ill. so the pubublic messaging needso chanange. the e public needs to know that earlier diagnonosis, ididentification that you have covid, and t then monitoring wih one of these little devices can

warn you about the need to return and be hospitalized. and if you come in earlier,r, we can do mucuch better treating or pneumonia, identifying how much inflammation there is, getting drugs into you, and other things. amy: dr. richard levitan, are incredibly brave to come from yorkrural area to new where you grew up to say you want to offer your services. we know ththe kind after youou yourself -- you put yourself in, the dangerous situation and 70 doctors and nurses and staffers at hospitals, the peoplele who clean up our in that kind of situation every day. and yeyet when you came to new york to offer your services, can you describe what happened when you found a plalace to ststay, r brother's apartment, what thee building did? i got kicked out of my brother's apartment when i found out i was working at bellllevue. let me just say the peoeople in

nenew york city, t the frontline health carwoworkers, m my friens emergenency medical department's around the city, they were in t this figight for weekeks before i aivived. they are still in this fight now. i spenent 10 dayss. the heroes here are the people who are in this for the long haul. amy: but i just want to point out here we are based in new york city, the epicenter of the pandemic. the building, the co-op that your brother is in, they kick a a doctorause you're who ca i in and wewere workikint bellllevue this pandemic, this virus h has scared a lot of people. as it turns s out, yeah, that is inhat landed me in a storyry "the new york k times." what e ended up happenining in y course of tod's was this amazing transformation of carere that over time, we learned that a lot of patients with severe covid-19 pneumonia could be

managed without ventilators. and th r realizatition let me to recontact j jim dwyer at "the nw york timeses and the first artie about me. he subsequently y produced a incrededible article along with robert stein who had an incredible video discussing what doctors wished they had known a month ago. what it ended up doing w was kid of explainining how d dramatitiy practice has changed. this is a grgreat messssage fore publicic to understanand. two out of three patients who we now see with covid pneumonia we can and it's without ventilators. amy: we e will linink to jimwyer 's p peace andnd your peace. dr. levitatan, thank y foror cocoming to nenew york to help . dr. . richard levitan is an emergency physician in littleton, new hampshire. volunteerered at bellevue hospil in new york for 10 days at the

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