07/22/20 07/22/20 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from m new york, this is democracy now!w! >> south africa, and virtually every courser, maybe a warning about will h happen in the westf dutch rest of africa. >> it is something that is challenging human life, something that can kill. amy: covid-19 infections are skyrocketing in south africa, now fifth in the world for

coronavirus cases, with an already fragile hospital system. we'll look at whether this signals a dark turn for the african continent, which has so far avoided the worst of the pandemic, , and at new vaccine trials in south africa. we will speak with the head of the africa centers for disease control and prevention. the impacact on latinx and farmworkersrs have a particularly hard-hit. all as farmworkers s are makinga big sacrificed to be able to feed our families s and havea place to live. amy: we e will speak with dr. had of the-bautista, ucla center for the study of latino health and culture and author of a new report shows latinx californians aged 50 to 64 have died at more than five times the rate of white people of the same age. all that and more, coming up.

welcome toto democracy now!, democracynow.o.org, the e quarae repoport. i'm amy goodman. the united statates recorded moe than 1000 covid-1919 deaths on tuesday, the highest figure in nearly two months. on tuesday, president trump held his first televised briefing on the pandemic since april. after months of downplaying the coronavirus and claiming it was dying out, trump admitted the crisis will continue to worsen. pres. trump: it will probably come unfortunate, get worse before it gets better. something i don't like saying about things, but that is the way it is. that is s what we haveve. itits all over the world.. amy: trump did not invite doctors s anthony faucuci or deh birx o of the white e house coronavirus tasksk force to spek at the briefing. he did not have any scientists at the briefing. trump falsely claimed the united states has a lower fatality rate than "almost everywhere else in the world."

but the united states actually has the world's 10th highest rate of reported deaths and by far the most total deaths and infections. it has a quarter of the jets in the world as well as infections. the u.s. death toll has now topped 142,000 and nearly 4 million americans have been infected, though both numbers are believed to be undercounts. in california, losos angeles isn the brink of shutting down again as coronavirus cases continue to soar. this comes as calalifornia has ovovertaken new york as the stae with the most coronavirus cases with just over 409,000 confirmed cases. the death toll in n new york, however, is four times that of california. on tuesday, the centers for disease control and prevention revealed the actual number of coronavirus infections nationwide may be 24 times higher than the public count. this comes as the trump administration is opposing more federal funding for covid-19 testing.

the white house has refused to spend up to $8 billion already allocated for testing even though many states and cities face severe testing shortages. in california, thehe coronavirus death toll at san quentin state prison has now reached 12. more than 2000 men held at the prison have tested positive in one of the nation's worst outbreaks. in texas, more than 500 women jailed at a federal medical prison in fort worth have tested positive for coronavirus, including national security agency whistleblower reality winner. in international news, human rights watch is reporting at least 14 prisoners have died in egypt's overcrowded prisons from covid-19 complications. in brazil, the coronavirus death toll has surpassed 80,000. two more government ministers in brazil have tested positive. in addition to the president jair bolsonaro.

in bolivia, police have recovered 400 bodies in recent days from streets, cars, and homes. most of the people are believed to have died from covid-19. in the occupied west bank, israeli authorities have demolished a coronavirus testing center in the city of hebron. inin iran, the h health ministsy reported 229 new deaths on tuesday -- the highest daily tototal since the pandemic bega. and the gulf state oomoman in inituting near tot ckdown, includinninightl curfrfewand a travel ban meanwhe,e, the number of u.s. military personnel infected with covid-19 has topped 20,000 raising growing concerns in japan, south korea, germany, and other countries housing u.s. mimitary bases, as well as in the warzones of iraq, afghanistan, and syria. in okinawa, japan, more than 140 marines have tested positive. "the new york times" reports the infectioion rate in the seservis has tripipled over t p past six weeks. in immigration news, president trump has signed a memorandum

ordering the commerce department to exclude millions of undocucumented people in the 200 census that will be used to determine the number of u.s. house seats each state receives when voting district lines are redrawn next year. the unprecedented move reverses a longstanding policy of counting everyone regardless of their immigration status, and is being denounced as an attempt to preserve white republican political power. civil and voting rights groups have already vowed to challenge the move. this is ben monterroso, an advocate with the voting rights grgroup poder lalatinx. >> not only unconstitutional, it is illegal and it is immoral. it is one more time the president is s showing his true has..of the racism that he our community needs to be cocounted and will be counted fr the good of our country and for the good of our commumunity.

amy: immigrant families and allies in boston have been camping outside the massachusetts date house since friday demanding state legislators include a provision in racial justice bill that would grant undocumented people the right to get a driver's license. in p portland, oregon, federal agents tear-gassed protesters on tuesday night, the 55th day of demonstrations in the city against racismsm and police brutality. over the past week, unidentified federal officers have been attacking anti-racist protesters and even s snatching activists f ththe streets inin unmarkeked v. on tuesday, the u.s. department of homeland security's customs and border protection arm confirmed it had deployed officers from three paramilitary-style units to portland. meanwhile, a leaked dhs memo reveals the agency is now conducting domestic surveillance targeting potential threats to federal buildings as well as local statues and monuments. in washington, white house press secretary claimed president trump had the legal right to deploy federal agents into portland and other cities.

>> what you're referring to is gives dhs thet ability to deputize officers in any department or agency, like ice, secret service. amy: president trump has threatened to deploy federal agents to other cities including chicago, new york, philadelphia, detroit, baltitimore, anand oak. in other protest news, a detroit police officer, daniel debono, has been charged with multiple counts of felony assauault for shooting rubber bullets at three journalists who were covering a black lives matter protest on may 31. if convicted, he faces up to four years in prison. in new york, a at least seven people have been arrested after dozens of police officerers in riot g gear pushed out the remaining occupants of a peaceful encampment outside city hall. the raid occurred early this morning. protesters with the occupy city hall movement had been camped out for over a month calling on

the city to cut $1 billion from the nypd's $6 billion budget and reinvest the money into social programs. nearly a dozen unhoused people thet the night outside department of social services commissioner, demanding the city provide permanent housing to unhoused people during the pandemic. the democratic-controlled house has approved a $740 billion military spending package -- a $2 billion increase from the previous year. a group of anti-war democrats had pushed for a 10% pentagon budget cut but 139 house democrats joined with republicans to defeat the measure. over 100 house democrats also joined with republicans to reject a proposal to accelerate the withdrawal of u.s. troops from afghanistan. congressmember ilhan omar, who had submitted the proposal, tweeted -- "20 years later, congress is still not willing to support withdrawing our troops from afghanistan. endless wars continue to take lives and disable so many. it is long past time to end this war."

in other news from capitol hill, the senate has rejected a bipartisan effort to limit the transfer of military gear including tear gas, grenade launchers, and weaponized drones to local police departments. the united states has abruptly ordered china to close its consulate e in houston within 72 hours. within hours of the order, smoke could be seen from the consulate's courtyard where it appears chinese consulate workers were burning documents. a spokesperson for china's foreign ministry called the closing of the consulate illegal under international order. withinunilateral closure a short period of time is an unprecedented escalation of its recent actions against china. amy: the state department said the move to close the chinese consulate was needed to "protect american intellectual property." on tuesday, the justice department indicted two chinese residents, accusing them of

stealing trade secrets from u.s. firms including information about a possibib coronavirirus vavaccine. the fbi has arrested the republican speaker of ohio's house of representatives, larry householder, in connection with a $60 million bribery scheme. householder is accused of helping pass a $1.1 billion bailout of two nuclear plants after his political operation received $60 million from plantner of the firstenergy solutions. the company is not facing charges and is not named in the indictment. four others were arrested on tuesday, including the former chair of the ohio republican party, an aidede to househeholdr and two lobbyists. in chicago, at least 15 people were wounded tuesday night in a mass shooting outside a funeral for a man who wawas killed in a shooting just last week. passengers in an suv reportedly began shooting at funeral atattendees as the vehicicle dre . a group of funer a attendees thenen reportedly started shootg back, causing the vehicle to

crash. the occupants fled. at least six people who were hit are inin critical conditioion. in news from africa, the trial of former susudanese president omar al-bashir began on tuesday. he is facing charges stemming from his role in a 1989 coup that brought him to power. in london, the acccclaimed fashn designer vivienne westwood locked herself inside a giant yellow bird cage outside a london court tuesday to protest the ongoing jailing of wikileaks founder julian assange and his possible extradition to the united states. >> i am julian assange. i am the canary in the cage. he has been trapped, taken out of t the sun, and shoved in a cage. the problem is, they want to send him to america for a sentence of 175 years and stick for a a concrete block

jail. and this could happen to every journalist. amy: on tuesday, president trump weighed in on the arrest of jeffrey epstein associate ghislaine maxwell, who is facing child sex trafficking charges. trump was asked about her arrest during his coronavirus briefing. pres. trump: i have not been following it too much. i wish her well, frankly. i have met her numerous times over the years, especially since i lived in palm beach and i guess they lived in palm beach. i wish h her well. amamy: in n news from capitol h, democratic leaders are calling for republican c congressmember ted yoho to o be sanctioned aftr he was overheard calling congresswoman alexandria ocasio-cortez an f-ing b-word on the steps of the capitol. his remarks were overheard by a reporter for the hill. abc reports it's been nearly a century since a member of congress was censured for using "unparliamentary language." ocasio-cortez responded to yoho by writing on twitter "'bitches get stuff done." and those are some of the

headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, , the quarante report. i am amy goodman in new york, with my coco-host juan g gzalez reporting from his home in new brunswick,k, newersey. hi, jujuan. juanan: welcome to all ofof our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: we turn now t to south africa, where skyrocketing covid-19 infections haveve made the country fifth in the world for coronavirus cases, overwhelming an already fragile hospital system and signaling a dangerous turn for the african continent, which has so far avoided the worst of the pandemic. south africa recorded nearly 382,000 cases as of wednesday, a number that is certain to be an underestimate. so far, the death rate in south africa has remained low even as case numbers soar with 5368 -- with nearly reported 5400 fatalities, b but south african president cyril ramaphosa said the number of deaths could reach 50,000. the virus poses a particular threat to poor south africans who are less able to socially distance and access adequate

medical care. half of south africans live in poverty and one third of south africans are unemployed. at least 3 million have e lost their jobs due to the pandemic. in response to thehe rising numbers, the president has banned alcohol sales, mandated mask wearing, and imposed a curfew. south africa took aggressive action to curb the virus in march, implementing a shutdown, but rolled back restrictions facing an economic crisis. this comes as a university of oxford vaccine trial has shown promising results, but researchers say the study will face a challenge in south africa, where scientists are trying to sign 2000 people up for a vaccine trial while the numbers surge. this is the head of the trial in south africa speaking to cnnnn. >> we field, not becaususe the vaccine does not work from protecting people but because the exposure is so tremendous. this is realally going to --

amy: for more, we go to o cape town, south africa, where we're joined by south african human rights lawyer and d hiv/aids and social justice activist fatima hassan. she is founder and director of health justice initiative, an organization focusused on public health, law, and equity. she previoiously served as specl adviser to sououth africa's forr minister of health. her recent op-ed in "the daily maverick" is headlined "a covid-19 vaccine: when 'solidarity' meets nationalist profiteering." welcome to democracy now! it is great to have you with us. why don't you start out by talking about the scope of the crisis the pandemic in south africa, and particularly what is happening around this oxford vaccine trial that needs something like 2000 volunteers but finding those who are covid-free is very difficult. >> firirst, thank you for having me on the show. it is great to be on. i think the first issue with the trial is that what is

significant t is the president d e gogovernmentnt agreed to offer solidarity and participate in the trial, which is being led by oxford university to south africa univeversity. the difficululty i is, one, tryg to secure sufficicient number of volunteers for the trial.. as you correctly point out, wiwithin a climate where the numbers ofofeople living g with covid are increasing and we also estimate that is a significant undercount because our testing strategy has been hampered by the lack of f availalable testig kits, so the criteria for testing has changed and affececd the amomounts interesting t thae momoment. the second issue with the trial, which actually is -- involves quite significantly a pharmaceutical company called astrazeneca. the issue around astrazeneca's relationship with oxford, the relationship of the south african government in a

contractual relatitionship including the university and clinical participants and other parts of the world -- brazil as well, is unclear. we are calling for transparency because on the one hanand, if we're going to participate in a trial that i is trying t to ense ifiuitable access to a vaccine it is successful, then certainly, there has to be a framework or equitable access can actually be achieved. we certainly don't want to be in situation like we were during the hiv/aids crisis where wealthier countries are able to access a vaccine or some countries are able to access lifesaving vaccination and treatments and others are not. i want to ask you specifically about this issue, you mentioned trials in brazil as well. is there sitituation alrlready ofeloping where the testing

vaccines is occurring in t the ththird world but the inititial beneficiaries a many vaccines will be in the advananced, developedd countries? >> certainly, there is a concern that there are countries that have volunteered to participate in the trial, including in the global south. but the terms of the conditions for what access would mean if the trial is successful is uncertain and unclear. i think what is concerning is that people are labeling it the oxford trial but we know there is deep involvement of astrazeneca and the terms and conditions between oxford university and astrazeneca is not available. you must remember this is only one of a possible 126 vaccine candidate. about 20 to 22 are in the second phase of clinical testing. a handful of candidates will go to phase three.

the participation of the global south in one of two of these trials is significant because we need to participate, offer solidarity, find a solution to this crisis. thater, the chances are like hiv/aids, like a lot of life-saving medication and treatment, we're going to be last in line unless we can guarantetee and ensure that the vaccine is freely available, equitably available to people in all parts of the world. there is a campaign in the u.s. called for the vaccine. the head of the au has supported the people's vaccine. what we're sayining is all of these are e really beautiful and lolovely words and statements, t they don't create any enforceable e guarantees. lilike with hiviv/aids, what thy realize is i if you rely y on te benevovolence anand charity of s particular industry that is investing millions and millions of dollars i in the developmentf

a vaccine, than that won't guarantee a access for the globl soututh. terms of the situation in south afrfrica's up wiwith the pananmic, you havaved does your country is used to perform response for third world country. can you talk about the situation right there in n south africa? >> i think the situation is worsening. our health system in my view, but the public healtlth service and the private e health service .. taking significant strain sometimes workers are getting sisick, getting exposed repeatey to covid. our interest, they don't have sufficient interest of ppe due to global hoarding. we don't have sufficient supplies. the reliance on our mystical cubbies that insist on holding their patents or only given partial licenseses to other cubbies that could produce those

testing kits. so the sitituation is one where where people are g getting infected. isbelieve the death count underestimated. a lot of people are dying alone at home without a covid t test. peoplele are still struggling to get test server gets. ---- certificates. you're dealing with the e public hehealth crisis in the middle oa global pandemic whwhere inequaly is soaring as a result of covid and as a result of socioeconomic efeffects -- what we have in soh africa at the moment is increasing joblessness with increasing covid infections. the people who are most atatisk are low income workers who are reopen, who have to rely on public transport, , to o to work, have to serve people who want to have the luxururiesf a normal society. i think it is out inequality reckonining moment, all of south

africa in democracy and inequality a and v violence is actually c coming to the for. the interaction between covid and morbidities that are playing out is the interaction between covid and the comorbidities of people living with hiv, people cer, it t istb,, can significant. that is another reason why our health care system is takeken a strain. what is important and i should popoint out is unlike hiv/aids, our governmenent's initial response and up until today has been rooted in science e and evevidence. but that science and e evidences a first wororld signs and evidence. it is designed foror countries where e people can stay-at-homoe and cacan work from home where they have secured employment. it is designed for countntries where ththere is sufficient benefits. ifif you''re unable to go o to . it is designed for countries

that can socially distanance, whwhere you don't have thohousas that areal settlements densely populated. it is designed for countries where there is running water for every single person in that country, where there is secure food supplieies. like we said earlier, i think the faultlines of inequality in south africa is coming to the for and the crisis of our health system -- as you recall because of apartheid, jewellike health care system that is basically based onon race and class s whee the rich can afforord really high-quauality private h healthe and the poor have to rely on high-quality but inconsistent access to healthth care service. we already havave multitiple provinces that are really t takg strain. neglected provinces where the houses have collapsed, the national government will probably have to step in and take over the running of those -- john amy: fatima hassan ,

thanank you for being g with us south afrirican human rights , lawyer and hiv/aids and social justice activist. founder and director of health justice initiative, a south africa-based organization focused on public health, law and equity. previously served as special adviser to south africa's former miminister of health barbarara hogan. we will ensure peace in "the daily mamaverick" headlined "a covid-19 vaccine: when 'solidarity' meets nationalist profiteering." when we come bacack, his booootd ahead of africa center for disease e control. ♪ [music break]

amy: "stand together," africacn anthem of solidarity against covid-19. it features a wide swath of african musicians from around the continent, incncluding nigeria, tanzania, south africa, cameroon, angolala, ethiopia, ad morocco. this i is [captioning made possible by democracacy now!] democracy now!w!, the quarantine report. as covid-19 cases skyrocket in south africa, the world health organization warned this week that the spike in infections could signal an impending acceleration of the coronavirus across africa. this is mike ryan, exexecutive director of health emergencies speaking monday. >> i think whahat we're starting to see is a continued acceleration of transmission in a number of countries in sub-saharan africa. i think that has to be taken very, very fiercely. south africa, and fortunately a

precursor. it may be a a warning for r what will h happen in t the rest of e world. external helpeed and support. amy: countries a across the country -- across south africa area also seeing a spike in numbers. al jazeerara reports that casesn kenya have increased by 31% in the past week. numbers are up by 50%, madagagascar. 69%, namibia. cocountries such as rwrwanda implementing striningent public health policies to prevent the spread. the dedeath rate in africa has also been low. for more on covid-19 in africa, we go to addis ababa where we're joined by dr. john nkengasong, director of the africa centers for disease control and prevention. in they with the cdc united states. it is great to have you with us. thank you for taking the time to

speak to us. explain the issue in africa right now. we have seen it as so far being spared from, well, with the united states is going through but is that a matter of lack of testing or are the numbers do you believe truly low on infections and death? >> thank you for having me on your show, first of all. we have always been very clear the pandemic in africica was a delayed panandemic, thahat the continent was not spared. rather b because of the aggrgree memeasures t that were putut ine very earlyly on to do strongly - different countries and strong coronation approach fromom the african union andhe presisident have to africa that blunt the pandemic. thiss always clear pandemic was going to gather

momentum. here we hahave the situation. i will call it ththe second phae wherere countries arare beginnio sesee dramamatic increases i ine number of cases. examplple a south afafrica you t mentioned. should be carefulhehe way we look at the numbers. we still have over 40 countries with less than 10,000 cases. constituted is about t 750,000 c cases [indiscernible] , in terms. nkengasong of the prior extremes of health ofofficials in south africa, o r health t threats and pandemics r epidemics like ebobola and hiv-aids, what hasas the public health infrastructure as a result been more prepared this time around for covid?

>> somehow, yes. leone,u look at sierrrra liberia, guiuinea,herere tre were heavily hit by the ebola outbreak in 2014, you see after aat period they develop program that is extremely important for contact tracingng. ,hthat has helped thosee countrs especially in what we call the phase i response when -- absolutely no doubt about that. the awareness of the threat of disease is heightened because of ebola and hiv. if you look at south africa, i know the sale -- the situation is changing dramatically but we should always remember the initial response was very critical, otherwise we would be at a million or more than a million cases in south africa.

that experience that africa is used to fighting hiv, tuberculosis, malaria, ebola is very important. we should remember this is a different virurus. this is different from ebola, the transmission is different. it is affecting eveverybody at e same time. it is not restricted like ebola was in drc or west africa and very differerent from hihiv. i think we arere learning. the continent is adapting strategies. we are learning this is a very different enemy we havave to fight. juan::octor, what about thee issue of tting accessibibility for covid-19? what has it been like? are e ere particicular countries that are more ahead in this area and what do you see as s what needs s to bdodone? question. very good the continent has c come a lolog way. let't's be very clear. wewe are extremely challllengedh issues of testing,g, not because the cocontinent does not know hw to test tt just because we d did not hahave the reagents specific

for covid. if you recall in february, justtwo countries had the capacity to test for covid on ththe continent. we ramped up quickly. a large number of f countries in senegal and south africa and within three w weeks, you know february through march, we were ab to ramp up quickly the ththree countries. today asas a continenent, we hae tetested about 7 7 million or connected aboutut 7 million covd tests. if y you comomparehahat with two three months ago, half a million test. the testing -- we are not yet there. as a continent of 1.3 billion people, we should be testing about 12 million -- - conducting about 12 million covid tests a month. i think we still have a long way to go in order toto catch up and be were we have to be. testing remains a challenge. the appropriate testing is important. the so-called chain reaction

based testing is good but it is very tedious and requires a long turnaround time. the type of f tests we need are the point test thahat we can easily put into the communitieis and do the testing followed by contact tracing and takaking cae of t those infected. that is whwhat we have lauaunchn initiative that is on the ability to test, trace, andd treat. i think we're slowly catching up on the goal of testing 10 million pepeople. we have conducted about 7 million tests. i think we slowly catching up on testing, but again, it h has ben a serious challenge for us. i would askkengasong, about the importance of the world and the united states being pulled out by president trump. that leads to my second question about global cooperation and how

important that is. right now we have had the united states joining with britain and canada saying russian hackers are stealing vaccine information and now you have the indictment of two chinese people in the united states who president hackedays has also vaccine information. but what are we talking about this -- why are we talking about this? source so wey open come up with the vaccine that works for everyone? both of those issues, who and vaccine, global cooperation? >> let me start with the corprporation first. if you look at the strategy that onfrica h has p f forward, it s the need for strong corporations come the n need for strongng collaboration, the need fofor strorong ordinatation and communication. fourc's that guide

us. continent recognizes the global victory against covid has to be guided by globall solidaririty because this is a global crisi in no cocountry wiwill be consid fr of country if any country in the world is considedered -- still has covid infectctions. the continent of africa of 1.3 bibillion cannot be excluded in the equation in this discussion of eliminating covid in the world. we strongly adhere to the coordination and collaboration to seek solutions. this is a war of s survival fofr the world. wewe have seen the d damage that covid h has on our lifestyles ad economics and the number of deathshshat covid has cosost us. this is not a fight any single

individual or region of the worlrld. with respect to the who, the world has always been a safer global health problelems have been solvlved adequately oy if we have strong leadership. no doubt about i it. crisis, , the fight began to tururn only when n the. lalaunched the initiative againt 2002-2003 post the contininent of africa -- benefid from that effort. the continent is extremely appreciative. who in corporations, established has been 02 and it

game c changer. probably a good example of how we should ordinate effort to fight agagainst covid-19, whichs the greatest challenge the world is having and the last 100 years. strong unitedhoho and states leadership is the key ingredient for us to come out of this extremely devasting crisis. juan: doctotor nkengasong, in terms of the issssue of global solilidarity, for years now we have seen key feature of international trarade agreements whwhere the pharmamautical companies and herr corporations push thehe importance of intellectual proroperty protections for obviously, for patents, espially forr medicinene. dodo you believe given this cris that there should be a suspension of this race to control a pararticular vaccine d in essence makake it available

generically fromom the start t t this epidemic with possibly five or 10 years down the line companies than trying to benefit once the world situation has stabiled? >> that is a a very impmportant questition. africa centershe for disease control and the commission issued a statement in regard just a few weeks ago, to be specific, june 22, were rereconvened a continental conference on covid vaccine. that meeting was chaired by the president of sououth africa and the chair of the african union commission excellency. the sense of that meaning was clclear, we haveve to discuss is related to electoral property, discuss issues related to access to vacaccine, vavariabs for

continent of 1.3.3 billion peop. exexactly i that communique, we touch on the d declaration which spspeaks to this intntellectual property you just mentioned. i think you're always reminded whenat happened in 1996 the hiv drugs were available and it took us about seven years, up to 2002, before it became accessible to the continent of africa. i think that situation if it plays ouout now,w, we can see a future of the continent will be completely undeveloped. for an, we are calling globalal solidarity to m make se just speaking about t access too vaccine in developing world and in africa is just not a nice way to say n not just a free word to say, but it is a reality. we are developing our own , vaccine strategy

where access and development for the continent. amy: nkengasong dr. nkengasong, i would ask you about covid transmission and war. in our headlights we just read about u.s. soldiers around the world, particularly in japan, an outbreak of covid-19, what this means for local populations. you have talked about that connection going back to the spanish flu and how this can be dealt with. war, conflict, and pandemic. strongink there is that reaction between war or r crisis and disease outbrereak orr pandemic, the e ability to conol thatat. there e is no o chance the spanh flflu in 1918 happened just aftr the second world war -- sorry come after the first w world w . so i think it is very clear these are interrelated. i amam very concerned that a a

,ontinent with so many hotspots where you have conflicts consider later will be affected byby the covid-19 pandemic and will become extremely challenging to fight the war against covid in those regionon. you begin t to face a double war in a siningle region. we must put that intnto our strategy to make sure to root out covid when they f finally gt into thehe country r region. it is important that this is a time for us to silence the guns. silence the guns everywhere in africa so we can fight this common enemy. amy: dr. john nkengasong, director for africa centers for disease control and prevention. trained as overall adjust who used to work at t the centers fr disease control. only come back, as the pandemic surges across the unitited stat, we look at the impact on latinx

workers, meatpackers, farmrmworkers so hard hit. stay with us. ♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democrcracynow.org, the quarante rereport. i am payment goodmanan with juan gonzalalez. as states like california see a surge in coronavirus cases and hospitalizatations, the latinx -- in fact, california has surpassed new york in number of cases though it has a quarter of the deaths of new y york. ththlatinx community has been especially hard-hit. a new report shows latinx californians between the ages of 50 and 64 have died at more than five times the rate of white people of the same age. the report from the university of california, los angeles links the trend to the fact that that latinx workers make up the bulk of agricultural workers, who are high-risk essential workers. in a frontline pbs documentary that aired tuesday night, farmworker sinthia hernandez describes how she h has both cancer and diabetes which put her at a higher risk for complications if she were to

contract covid 19 and that the contractor she works foror requirires her to bring her r on mask. >> all us fafarmworkers are makg a big sacrififice out of necessy for hunger to be able t to feed our families and have a place to live. us who are workingg have so much debt and bills to payy that the money sometimes isn't even enough h to buy one mask because eachch one costs three dollars oror four dollars atat e store. disposable. amy: likewise, report from the centers for disease control found 87% of workers infected on the job at meet processing plants are people of color. because of the surge of cases in los angeles, it may soon face a second stay-at-home order. this comes as a los angeles apparel factory that employs mostly latinx workers to produce face masks has been shut down after health inspectors found "flagrant violations" of

infection-control orders. more than 300 workers tested positive for covid and four died. the company is run by dov charney, former ceo of american apparel who was ousted amid allegations of misusing funds and allowing sexual harassment. workers said the company failed to clearly inform them when people got sick, or enforce social distancing. for more, we are joined in los angegeles by dr. david hayes-bautista, distinguished professor of medicine and director of the center for the study of latino health and culture at the david geffen school of medicine at ucla. it is great to h have you with this, dr. hayes-bautista. can you start off by talking about l.a. apparel, 300 workers found positive, four died at this point. what do yoyou know w about that? then move onto farmworkers. >> both of them are related because these are struructural situations. what we e have noticed is asas n

the state was locked down early in march, people were told to workrk from home, take y your children out of schools come the children will l do their lessons at hom and to leave thousand only to purchasase groceries or the bare necesessities. what we discovered about a month and half in is that the essential workers not onlyy just the nurses and physicians -- who, by the way, are trained to go into dangerous situations, have ppe, trained to usese it -- but other workers s were also as in order for the high-ranking palace to shelter in place, starting with the farmworkers. they have to go out on thehe jo. they are working in large crews. some sleep in barracks. food,look at the chain of the drivers, stockers, checkout clerk would have possibly a

couple hundred people pass within any arms length of the checkout stand in for two months they were not even offered personal protectctive equipment. now we are seeing this in a more industrial such as the apparel companies who are, for a long ife, working at the bottom, you will come of the economic chain, paid little, really offered health insurance were in education about what is going on , and now we're seeing the affects of this. whatat we see at large-scale is latitino and people of color basically do the scut work that keeps the state going, the economy going, but get very little of the resources, very little pay or health insnsurance or access to care. in this particular pandemic is now exposing these inequities. ,, given. hayes-bautista the lalatino population of thehe unitited states is signinificany younger ththan either the e whie population or the

african-american population and that t this disease is especialy hits h hardd in terms of fertity at the elderly, you would expect -- fatality at the elderly, would expect lowower death r ras because so much of the populatition is young yet you ae finding at least, especially in thihisto o 65 age range, enormousus disparity iteterms of deataths among l latinos. how much do you sense is actually a as a result of workig condititions their wings objecd to or how mumuch is the undederg healthth conditions whether it s diabetetes or hypertension or other health condiditions that many latinos face? >> the older populations always have higher death rates promised anything compared to younger populations. what is importanant here, yes, younger latinos have a lower death rate but when we

look at youounger latinos, therefore to five times the death rate. clearly something is not right. this has a lot to do with working and living conditions. we havave outlined some. latinos even after obamacare consistently are twice as likely not to have health insurance. latinos for number of reasosons are faced with a huge doctor shortage, much less being able to find doctors that speak spanish. medical services have been provided in spanish in california for over 200 years. this is not suddenly a new problem. this has been a problem since 1848. if you remember the early days of the pandemic, hollywood was able to get access to tests almost illegally. the lakers got there tests immediately. those who had access to boutique

medicine got there tests. some of ththese can cost $2000 depending on where you're getting them i if you don't have health insurance and you heaear testing cost hundreds of thousands of dollars and you don't have access to medical services or one that you can communicate with, this creates a problem. early in the pandemic, the california department of health sent out and buys three note in spanish, god bless them, and that if you have the symptoms, talk to your doctor now stop but what if you don't have a doctor? so manany people were not t abl. thus they continue to work without the personal protective equipment. exposed to the coronavirus at a much higher rate than people able to shelter at home. not surprisingly, we started see mount andrates mai progressing to full-blown cases of covid disease. and now the mortality. that is the working part.

there is the domestic part. housing is expensive in california, note russian about it. those positions, occupations, industries that pay very little, don't provide health insurance usually come so in order to live, latinos tend to have more people per household. this has been a classic pattern. you will also have more multigenerational households. yes, the kids are e no longer in school and at the house, up the grandparents, but you also tend to have because of low wages and higher cost of housing, or ,ultiple wage earner households more adults are going to work because they need to because it is hard to live here which means even though the rest of the household may be sheltering, they are being exposed to coronavirus and bringing it back to the household. now we're seeing the result of all of these issues compounded -- the latino physician shortage is so great in california, the

rate at which all the medical schools rajoy latino physicians, it will take 500 years to make up the shortage for the year 2015. here signora gomez, high-temperature, dry cough, need to go see the doctor. come in. oh, have the symptoms? take a seat and the doctor will see you in 500 years. that is why we have a problem. amy: i want to go to the issue of the meatpackers. the jbs beef plant in greeley , colorado, the deadliest workplace covid-19 outbreak in colorado where at least 286 workers tested positive for covid-19 and six died. a billboard to remember those who died. this week jbs agreed to a $1.85 an hour wage increase after many of them walked of the job earlier this month. ufcw local 7 responded by calling on jbs to improve safety measures and end what it called its "work while sick culture."

that is s one company in one state. preventt trump tried to meatpacking plants from being closed. you have throughout states thousands and thousands and thousands of meatpackers being infected with covid-19, many dying. can you talk about this, dr. hayes-bautisista? >> yes, not only meatpackers come into production where you have to have a lot of workers standing in close contact either with one another or with clients -- we can say the same thing with grocery store checkout clerks -- without provividing te education, the personal protective equipment, health insurance, or sufficient ways for them to buy heaealth insurance, this is all a recipe for wiwick spread of the coronavirus and we are seeing it playut. you, doctor, i want to ask sesenate majority leader mitch mcconnell, every other word out of h his mouth the last few w ws has b been that a new

congressional bill to addddress the pandemic must include removal of liability for employers in terms of their workers getting sick. given the reality thahat osha,ae fefederal agencycy in charge of safety is virtualllly nonexistet get is as, do they visor for the democratats agree to remove liability from employers if they're not prproperly protecting theirr rkers? advisable, is it nott but if you remember, the f first cares act, the covid relief act, specifically e excluded any household in which at least one member was a noncitizen. we're not talking about undocumented, we're talking about noncitizens. a green card holder ththat has been herere 20 or 30 years and s not yet naturalized, the whole

household was penalized.d. they g got none of the benefits that everyone was worried about expiring for everybody else stop latino businesses got very little of the business support. here we have a populatition that gets very little from the sources of support and yetet n w evenen the legal route is being closed up if in fact employees are held n not liable -- and wondering how many of these employers, b by the way, even boththered to offer r health insurance and usually such employers do not. so it is pututting this entire population at risk. let me hasten to o point out, te 60 million latinos in the united dates two years ago created the largest economy. all of these obstacles, barriers come the name-calling, just think if we had actually invested the way we invested in the rest of the country. amy: dr. david hayes-bautista, your state of california has exceeded our state, surpassed new york in number of covid infections.

of course, we don't really know the number. it is considered a part undererestimate. cdc thinks it is something like 24 times higher. i can you explain what is going on, also what is happening on the border with people who are living on the border? you mentioned undocumented, but what about actually a document of people in this country having access to health care and the fact that the trump administration has not made use -- $7 billion to $8 billion allocated by congress for testing, for masks, and you have this incredible severe shortage of all of these things riright now and how that particularly affects t the latix cocommunity? >> this isis a case in point. if you remember the first days of the lockdown across the mid-march,rly march, early april, people raran to the grocery stores and there was a

run on certain products such as paper towels and toilet paper and people were fighghting in te andes over toilet paper paper towels. in california, one of the percent of the farm labor workforce is latino, 100% immigrant, and probably 60% to 80% undocumented. ,hat is interesting is early on farmworkers were considered essential employees -- in fact, they were given letters that would allow them? the travel to work without being stopped -- and yet they could also be deported at any moment. so between the deportations, between covid and everything else, if these farmworkers are not allowed at least the opportunity to live, who is going to grow the food? we thought we were fighting over paper towels and told the paper? suppose we are fighting over the last sack of potatoes in the store. that could happen if this labor

force -- we have criminalized it, put obstacles for access to care, then we wonder if we're going to have a food shortage. amy: language barriers come when it comes to covid-19? >> medicalal services -- we have the first smallpox vaccination in california03 inin spanishsh. we were part of spspain at the time. medical services have been provided in spanish for over 200 years. we came in as a violent will bilingual s state. latinos are the least likely to find a physician that speak spanish. the shortage is tremendous. it is not because this is a new issue. this is california. what we have done for 160 years is chosen to turn our back on this population and not allow access to investments we're

making in other populations for education or health care and they wonder why there's an issue. amy: dr. david hayes-bautista, thank you for being with us, distinguished professor of medicine and director of the center for the study of latino health and culture at the david geffen school of medicine e st

maintain your health deliciously. ready when you are. nhk world-japan. ♪ hello. and welcome to nhk "newsline." i'm keiko kitagawa in tokyo. thursday marks one year til the opening of tokyo 2020, which was postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. nhk has learned the organizing committee of the tokyo olympic and paralympic games is studying detailed measures to prevent infections.