COVID-19 infections rapidly spread across Bangladesh

Rohantha De Silva

COVID-19 is rapidly spreading across Bangladesh with deadly consequences for working people and rural toilers. On Thursday, the total number of official cases rose to 234,889 with nearly 2,700 new infections reported in the previous 24 hours and the number of people killed by the virus that day increasing by 48, to a total 3,083.

These figures, however, substantially underestimate the actual situation in Bangladesh where testing, as in the rest of South Asia, is very low. Up until July 23, just over 1 million tests had been conducted in a country with more than 168 million people—a testing rate of 0.65 percent. One positive case is recorded for every five tests carried out in Bangladesh.

COVID-19 pandemic relief services in Chandpur, Bangladesh [Source: Flickr]

This catastrophic situation is a direct result of the ruling Awami League-led government’s contempt for the lives of the masses and the woefully unprepared Bangladesh public health system, which has been run down by meagre financial allocations by successive governments, Awami League and Bangladesh National Party alike.

Under conditions where the country’s economy is heavily dependent on remittances from tens of thousands overseas Bangladeshi workers, reports emerged last month about medical facilities producing fake coronavirus test reports. These reports are sold to Bangladeshi workers attempting to return to their jobs in Europe or northeast Asia. In response, several countries have started imposing travel restrictions.

Italy recently found 65 positive cases among 1,600 Bangladeshis who reentered the country holding negative COVID-19 reports. On July 8, Italy forced 165 Bangladeshis on two Qatar Airway flights that landed in Rome to return to Bangladesh without testing them. Only 14 Bangladeshis with Italian passports and a pregnant woman were allowed into the country.

Italy, Japan, China, and South Korea, where substantial numbers of migrant Bangladeshi live, have now banned flights from Bangladesh. Currently more than 140,000 Bangladeshis live in Italy, which is one of the largest sources of remittances.

Bangladeshi migrants, who use Italy as a stepping stone into Europe and North America, are no longer allowed to visit the Schengen Area—the 26 European countries that allow people to travel freely across their borders.

In an attempt at damage control, the Awami League government arrested Mohammad Shahed, Dr. Sabrina Chowdhury and her husband for selling the fake test reports at $US60 per document. Shahed has two unlicensed hospitals in Dhaka; Chowdhury and her husband operate a Dhaka laboratory. The government has also made it mandatory for air passengers to have negative virus test reports issued by one of 16 approved laboratories.

While the government will no doubt find other scapegoats, the fake report rackets could not have occurred without political backing from the highest echelons of the administration. According to Transparency International, Bangladesh ranks 146 in 180 countries in the global corruption index.

The increase of COVID-19 infections across Bangladesh is impacting on those seeking to legally migrate to the West on student visas and family reunions. Tasneem Siddiqi, the chair of Dhaka-based Refugee and Migratory Movement Research Unit, recently told the Nikkei Asian Review that “about 90 percent of student migrants [will] stay back” and would likely to miss the next semester.

Bangladesh has around 12.5 million migrant workers overseas and in the 2019–2020 financial year sent a record $18.3 billion back home. Remittances and apparel exports have underpinned the average annual growth of 7 percent, the pandemic is drastically impacting on the economy. Exports, including garments, have shrunk by more than 25 percent to $34 billion in the 2019–2020 fiscal year.

The ruling Awami League this year has only allocated $3.4 billion or less than 1 percent of the GDP to the health sector. According to the World Bank, an estimated 67 percent of all medical costs are borne by households “through out-of-pocket payments” making it difficult for the poor to access proper healthcare.

Like their counterparts around the world, the Bangladeshi ruling elite are safeguarding their profit interests at the expense of the working class and rural toilers. The lives of the ordinary people are just disposable material to be used for the enrichment of big business.

In April, the World Bank warned that the virus will force some 50 million into poverty in Bangladesh. While the pandemic is heavily impacting on migrant workers and apparel sector employees, the informal sector is the hardest hit. Missing one day’s work can lead to skipping meals, cutting down on medicine or being forced to sell personal assets.

Mustafizur Rahman, a spokesman for the Centre for Policy Dialogue (CPD), a Bangladeshi think tank, told the media that COVID-19 meant “the number of jobless people has increased drastically and income has fallen significantly.” A CPD report in early June warned that the overall poverty has risen by 10 percent and could return to 40 percent.

According to the World Food Program, 25 percent of Bangladeshis are already facing food insecurity and 11 million suffer from chronic hunger. On top of COVID-19, Bangladeshis have been hit with devastating floods that have affected five million people, displacing hundreds of thousands of families and killing 119 people.

The disastrous impact of the pandemic in Bangladesh typifies the situation facing millions of workers, rural toilers and the poor across South Asia.

India is currently the worse affected with over 35,000 deaths and 1,580,000 cases, followed by Pakistan 5,924 deaths and 27,700 confirmed cases.

These figures, however, underestimate the real situation, according to University of York public health expert Professor Kamran Siddiqi. He told the BBC this week: “Many deaths are not reported within the vital registration system and the causes of deaths are incorrectly classified.”

All this is a graphic exposure of the political bankruptcy of the ruling classes in Bangladesh and across South Asia.

The coronavirus pandemic and the growing mental health crisis

Ben Oliver

The coronavirus pandemic and the ruling class’ negligent response to it is a traumatic event for world humanity. Studies show the pernicious impact the crisis is having on the mental health of billions. Drawing on research of past disasters and disease, psychologists predict that a mental health “shadow” pandemic will last for years after the disease has subsided.

This mental health pandemic has various causes and manifestations. As World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has said, “Social isolation, fear of contagion, and loss of family members is compounded by the distress caused by loss of income and often employment.”

World COVID-19 cases will soon eclipse 20 million and there have been more than 675,000 deaths to date. After lockdowns wreaked economic havoc for the ruling class, and forced workers and their families into poverty and hunger, corporations and governments are now seeking to drive workers back into unsafe workplaces.

Although resilience to disaster is natural, the pandemic isn’t like a wildfire or hurricane. Dealing with the insidious uncertainty of its spread is more like living with a domestic abuser or being deployed to a war zone. Being witness to brutal repression of protests compounds the distress.

In the United States, the spread of the virus has had an immediate effect on mental health. Calls to a Disaster Distress Hotline, run by the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, increased by 338 percent in March. In April, 42 percent of Americans reported feelings of hopelessness and calls to the hotline climbed 900 percent. One in 25 Americans had lost a close family member or friend. By June, a University of Chicago survey reported 40 percent of Americans had depressive symptoms, and in July, 56 percent reported at least one negative effect on their well-being.

Internationally, much research has already been conducted on the psychological impacts of the pandemic. In the United Kingdom, the Mental Health Foundation has been conducting a study since March on the psychological impacts of the pandemic. Half of the UK population has reported anxiety. Half of the Spanish population reported mild-to-severe psychological impacts, and more than half of the Chinese population reported moderate-to-severe psychological impact.

To begin to get a sense of the immensity of mental distress caused by the pandemic, half of the combined populations of China, Spain, the UK and the US is almost a billion people; nearly one-eighth the world’s population.

In the US, the “second surge” started to hit Southern states and California in June. In Louisiana, which has been especially hard-hit, the seven-day new case count is 15,870, 42.9 percent of residents have experienced symptoms of anxiety or depression, a 3.9-fold increase since last year. Feeding America predicts food insecurity among 52.5 percent of children in East Carroll Parish, Louisiana, the highest level nationally.

Physicians in Louisiana are observing new physical symptoms suggestive of the psychological burden: weight gain, high blood pressure, and high blood sugar. “A lot of folks who would come in with one or two problems now have 10,” said Dr. Chad Braden of Baton Rouge, speaking to the New Orleans Advocate.

The pandemic, mass unemployment and financial precarity are caustic to mental health and compound previous inequalities. As the UK study cited above states:

“The distribution of infections and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, the lockdown and associated measures, and the longer-term socioeconomic impact are likely to reproduce and intensify the financial inequalities that contribute towards the increased prevalence and unequal distribution of mental ill-health.”

In June, 44.7 percent of the unemployed in the UK worried about having enough money for food, and a quarter were suicidal, double the rate in the general population. In the US, 40 percent of households have had difficulty affording basic necessities in the past three months.

Just as the pandemic has led to a redistribution of wealth, the UK study shows a divergence in psychological impacts between those already at risk financially, socially, medically and psychologically and the rest of the population. People with previous psychiatric conditions have suffered the most. One-on-one therapy, peer support, volunteering and supported employment are impossible. The suicidality rate for this population is almost triple the rate in the general public. People with preexisting physical disabilities are also isolated from essential psychosocial support, and many live in high-risk residential facilities, as do the elderly, for whom loneliness and the fear of death have been exacerbated.

Women report greater psychological impacts owing to a disproportionate representation in affected industries, being the primary caregivers at home, and an increase in domestic abuse. In June, 43 percent of Americans with children reported feeling hopeless. Children are at particular risk for mental health impacts. According to the WHO, they have experienced an increase of restlessness and difficulty focusing, which may indicate a psychological impact. Children with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) may have more difficulty adjusting to lockdown, and children with autism may suffer from a change in habit and ritual.

The UK study found a spike in the numbers of single parents seeking support. Sixty-three percent are anxious or worried, 43 percent are lonely, and 28 percent are afraid. Many were reliant on insecure, casual employment and suffer from a loss of income and social isolation. The risk of postnatal and perinatal mental health problems has increased, these conditions are less likely to be identified, and care is more difficult to access. Concern is warranted for infants and toddlers of single parents, as these years are critical to social and cognitive development.

Various studies and surveys document a disproportionate mental health impact on youth globally. The population between the ages of 18 and 24 are more likely than any other age group to not cope well, with 22 percent reporting suicidality. Education has been cut, job prospects are greatly lessened, youth are isolated from their peers, and their lives are less structured. As one respondent to the UK study said, “It feels like their whole, like, their whole generation is being wasted.”

The pandemic has worsened the mental health of 83 percent of UK teens with a mental health history, and 60 percent of Americans between the ages of 18 and 22 report symptoms of depression. High risk factors for youth, include losing a parent, having an infected relative or acquaintance, lost family income, more time invested in social media, increased family conflict or violence and the “ubiquitous issues of death.” The distress that is affecting nearly everyone is particularly felt by young people. Three-quarters of mental health problems arise before the mid-20s, and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) peaks at ages 16–24. For teens, the disruption in their social environment could slow their cognitive and psychological maturation, posing life-long consequences.

Nowhere is mental anguish more acute than in the health care field. Anywhere the virus breaks containment, workers battle overwhelming influxes of patients for whom there are no proven treatments. They risk their lives with insufficient protective equipment and staffing, knowing first-hand the limitations of the system to care for them if they fall ill. Already experiencing a crisis of burnout, the New England Journal of Medicine describes “a surge of physical and emotional harm that amounts to a parallel pandemic” facing the US clinical workforce.

Three New York City health workers have been driven to take their lives. John Mondello, 23, a rookie emergency medical technician (EMT), died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on April 24. Lt. Matthew Keene, a veteran EMT, shot himself on June 19. Dr. Lorna Breen killed herself on April 26 while visiting family. The emergency room at New York-Presbyterian Allen Hospital, where Breen was a supervisor, became a “brutal battleground” during the surge.

The pandemic comes at a time soon after suicide became the 10th leading cause of death in the US, increasing 35 percent from 1999 to 2018. Drug overdoses in 2020 have increased by 13 percent over the previous year, one-tenth of the general UK population has reported suicidal thoughts. According to the Chicago Tribune, suicides in the US could increase by 20 per day. Models on the 2008 recession crisis predict a 1.6 percent increase in suicide for every 1 percent rise in the unemployment rate. At levels of 20 percent unemployment, 18,000 suicides can be predicted along with 22,000 drug overdoses. Adjusting for misclassified and undercounted workers, the true unemployment rate now is 27.4 percent.

Lessons from studies on the impact of past pandemics may predict the psychological impacts of COVID-19. Thirty percent of children whose families were quarantined during the H1N1 and Sars-CoV-1 pandemics developed PTSD. Anxiety and depressive symptoms among health care workers, and a high prevalence of psychiatric symptoms in the general public lasted for months and years after Sars-CoV-1. Income reduction was the highest predictive factor in the development of psychological disorders after the Sars-CoV-1 pandemic. The 1918 influenza increased first-time asylum admissions in Norway by 7.2-fold, and US influenza death rates “significantly and positively related to suicide.”

To address the burgeoning mental health crisis, more studies and intervention are needed. Clinicians are intervening, but armies of mental health workers must be rallied. In the US, experts have called for $38.5 billion in funding. The CARES Act set aside one-half of one one-hundredth that amount.

The May 6 UK study stated: “there will be no vaccine for these population mental health impacts.” One should add: “under capitalism.” To think that the prevailing conditions exacerbated by the negligent policies of the ruling class will improve, or even return to their prior state, would be naïve. The only corrective to the myriad social and economic factors critical to mental well-being is the organization of society to meet the needs of humanity.

The health care system in the US and globally, of which mental health treatment is an integral part, must be wrested from the control of the private health insurance industry, the pharmaceutical companies and the giant for-profit health care chains and placed under workers control. This requires the socialist reorganization of the entire economy under a workers government.

Grenfell Tower inquiry reveals more criminality by corporations involved in refurbishment

Charles Hixson

The main contractor on the “refurbishment” project that turned Grenfell Tower into a death trap ahead of the June 14, 2017 inferno completed their evidence to the Grenfell Tower Inquiry this week.

On July 20, Rydon contractor manager, Simon Lawrence, admitted the company used cheaper, more flammable Aluminum Composite Material (ACM) cladding rather than zinc-based materials, producing a cost savings of £419,627.

The following day, Lawrence was presented with a witness statement from David Gibson, head of capital investment at Kensington and Chelsea Tenants’ Management Organisation (KCTMO)—which managed the tower on behalf of the local Conservative council. He claimed Lawrence said the plastic-filled panels “would create no problem because the materials used were completely inert and would not burn at all. The meeting accepted his assurances in this regard and nothing came to my notice subsequently prior to the fire to question that these assurances were not accurate.”

Grenfell Tower destroyed following the blaze

Lawrence denied the claim, insisting, “I wouldn’t give technical assurances unless I had that information from the designers or specialists.”

Rydon was committed to cost cutting. Lawrence admitted using “Essex boy patter” in trying to persuade KCTMO to use cheaper face-fixed ACM. This was rejected because the cassette-form Reynosa PE (Polyethylene) had a smoother exterior look, which was more aesthetically acceptable. Ironically, the Reynoband had a worse fire-safety rating than the cheaper fixed version—a fact Lawrence said he was unaware of.

Lawrence’s final day of testimony on July 22 was dominated by evidence of Rydon’s contentious relations with Grenfell residents and subcontractors.

Residents alleged threats and harassment from Rydon employees and the KCTMO, including “builders swearing, use of abusive and sexually explicit conversations.” For his part, Lawrence described residents critical of the work as “persistent and aggressive,” labeling them “rebels.” He told the inquiry there were “several very vocal, dare I say aggressive residents.”

One named was Edward Daffarn, a co-leader of the Grenfell Action Group (GAG). GAG later predicted, eight months before the tragedy, that due to the neglect of their landlord the block could be catastrophically destroyed by fire.

In 2014, Daffarn complained to KCTMO that neighbours had reported “the TMO intend to ‘smash down the door’ of any tenant or leaseholder that fails to cooperate with the installation of new heating systems or windows.”

How Rydon viewed tenants is clear from an email revealed by the inquiry, from Lawrence to a contractor fitting window surrounds with combustible material. The surrounds would play a major role in the Grenfell inferno. Lawrence wrote, “We are under massive pressure from the rebel residents about our quality of work… so far their complaints are unfounded, but I need to ensure our finish is good quality, especially on the show areas.”

Lawrence did criticize what he described as “poor surveying and cheap, incompetent subcontractors.” Nevertheless, he gave the contract providing window surrounds to S D Plastering—a firm run by his own former manager at Rydon, Mark Dixon. Instead of packing the gaps around the windows with non-combustible fiber of Rockwood insulation, Dixon’s firm used combustible foam boards, which the inquiry concluded contributed to the fire. Lawrence admitted he failed to read the bill of works showing S D Plastering planned using Celotex panels. This did not meet the safer specification and breached building regulations.

Rydon project manager, Simon O’Connor, replaced Lawrence on the stand the next day. Despite working for the firm since 2002, Grenfell was O’Connor’s first job as project manager, and the only time he had worked with cladding.

An entire culture within corporations, built up over decades, which viewed “regulations” as impediments to reaping greater profits was evident in his testimony. Of building regulations, O’Connor was “aware that they were there, but not familiar of them in detail.” He was unaware cladding had caused fires, and of the existence of Approved Document B, the main Building Regulations document outlining safety requirements.

His grossly exaggerated CV stated he was “responsible for all operations on site,” including “co-ordinating design and management of subcontractors.” O’Connor told the inquiry, “No, I wouldn’t be qualified to co-ordinate design; I wouldn’t know where to begin.” He explained he hadn’t completed HNC Building Studies, also listed on the CV. Saying this was the first time he had viewed it along with the tender document, O’Connor concluded it “would’ve been [compiled by] someone like the bid writers or marketing team” at Rydon.

Although O’Connor arranged a monitoring programme for each subcontractor to be reviewed on a monthly or weekly basis, he said he “wouldn’t necessarily go to these.” He assumed all materials brought on site were safe, but left that responsibility to subcontractors, and had no system for them to report deliveries to Rydon.

O’Connor, who resigned in 2015 due to the “pressure of the project,” gave his evidence hidden behind a screen in accordance with the vulnerable witness protocol, to protect his mental health and well-being!

On Monday, Rydon site manager David Hughes was questioned about his approval of swapping the installation material used on the Tower. Hughes maintained he gave permission for Harley Facades to substitute Kingspan K15 insulation for the more usual Celotex RS5000 in December 2015 or January 2016. However, purchase orders and photographic evidence show that the Kingspan had already arrived in May and September 2015.

The manufacturer of Kingspan observed their product was used “without our knowledge, as part of a combination for which it was not designed, and which Kingspan would never recommend.”

Hughes claimed, “They are so similar to me, my knowledge and experience, that I didn’t see it as an issue. I’ve never heard insulation described in terms of combustible or non-combustible.”

Fire risk assessor Carl Stokes, who inspected Grenfell in 2016, reported, “Following discussion with representatives at Rydon... my understanding on leaving the tower after my inspection was that the actual cladding was compliant with the building regulations.” However, Hughes did identify possible problems with the smoke control aspect of the extract system during his May 2017 “end of defects” inspection two weeks before the tragedy and reported it to installer J.S. Wright.

Documents in the public domain indicate collusion between the board of the KCTMO and Stokes, who had been KCTMO’s fire risk assessor for seven years, over the suppression of the fact that Grenfell Tower had failed basic fire safety checks. Stokes was employed by the KCTMO on the recommendation of housing official Janice Wray who, according to reports, stated Stokes was “willing to challenge the fire brigade on our behalf if he considered their [safety] requirements to be excessive.”

On Tuesday, Stephen Blake, Rydon’s refurbishment director, answered questions regarding his long relationship with KCTMO, and in particular, his long “professional relationship” with its director of assets and regeneration, Peter Maddison.

The day before Rydon’s interview with KCTMO regarding the company’s Grenfell bid, Blake emailed Rydon’s legal representative: “At the Housing conference we had meetings with senior representatives from K+C... we have been informally advised that we are in pole position [to win the lucrative refurb contract]—ours to lose.”

Rydon won the Grenfell contract in 2014 because its cost-cutting bid was by far the cheapest. Its final bid was £9.2 million—with rival Durkan’s bidding £9.9m and another firm, Mulalley, £10.4 million.

The following day, the inquiry examined the design of window cavity barriers. The 2012 fire in the Taplow tower block on Camden’s Chalcots Estate had the same ACM cladding as Grenfell, and used the same cladding subcontractor, Harley Facades, with Rydon as principal contractor. Harley later produced a report on the fire, concluding that firebreaks in the window prevented flames spreading between flats. Blake himself was on the distribution list of the report, which included a picture of him pointing to the firebreaks. He admitted he never checked with Harley or the architects about barriers on Grenfell.

After many delays, the inquiry was halted on Thursday for a further five weeks to allow for summer holidays.

Despite everything said by Rydon and the other companies involved in the refurbishment—revealing criminality that resulted in Grenfell Tower being unsafe for human habitation—the Inquiry has granted immunity to all who testify so that statements they give to the inquiry cannot be used as evidence against them in a future prosecution.

To achieve justice, the Socialist Equality Party repeats its call for an end to all collaboration with this judicial fraud. Grenfell supporters should call for the inquiry to be terminated immediately. The demand must go out for those responsible for social murder to be arrested, charged and put on trial.

Reopening of schools in Germany puts the lives of children and educators at stake

Andrea Reissner

The education magazine news4teachers calls the reopening of schools in Germany after the summer holidays a “gigantic field trial with an uncertain outcome.” The resumption of classes are being staggered by federal states, beginning on August 3 in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and ending on September 14 in Baden-Württemberg. Eleven million children and about 800,000 teachers are affected.

The situation is highly dangerous. Since the easing of the coronavirus restrictions, the number of cases in Europe, and in Germany, is once again on the rise. “We are amid a rapidly developing pandemic,” warned the president of the public health body, the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), Lothar Wieler, at a press conference on Tuesday. On Thursday, the RKI reported 902 new infections in Germany, the highest number since mid-May.

In its July 29 daily situation report, the RKI described the development as “very worrying” and wrote, “A further worsening of the situation must be avoided at all costs. This can only be achieved if the entire population continues to be committed, for example, to consistently observing rules on [social] distancing and hygiene—also outdoors—by ventilating indoor spaces and, where necessary, by correctly wearing a face mask.”

An overwhelming majority of the population shares this concern and is behaving accordingly. According to a report by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment dated July 24, 2020, 92 percent of the population accept distancing regulation and the obligation to wear masks.

Not so the state governments. When schools are reopened, the RKI’s recommendations will be explicitly disregarded. For classrooms, the distancing rule of 1.5 metres and the obligation to wear masks will be thrown out. If at all, they only apply in corridors and partly also in the playground. The protective regulations that remain in force for businesses and public spaces do not apply in schools!

These provisions were agreed at a joint conference of the state education ministers. They differ from state to state only slightly, no matter which parties comprise the state government. In general, schools are returning to “regular operations.” The regulations for infection protection are very general, often non-binding, and in many places not realizable due to the miserable condition of school buildings and the lack of personnel.

The reaction of teachers and parents is a mixture of scorn and despair to feeble advice on social media, such as: “To further limit the occurrence of infection, hygiene rules such as regular hand washing and regular airing of the rooms must continue to be observed. Direct physical contact is to be avoided as far as possible.” (Berlin) Or, “Sufficient liquid soap dispensers and disposable towels are to be provided and refilled to an extent that enables pupils and staff to carry out regular hand hygiene without unreasonable waiting times.” (Hesse)

In some states, the formation of cohorts spanning different classes or age groups is planned, which should, “as far as possible,” remain amongst themselves. In most cases, these are merely recommendations, with responsibility for compliance left to the schools themselves.

All the models for opening schools state that the incidence of infection will be monitored and, if necessary, stricter measures will be taken. In other words, the state governments are deliberately allowing outbreaks of COVID-19 to occur in schools.

What is striking is that Thuringia, which is governed by the Left Party under state premier Bodo Ramelow in a coalition with the Social Democrats (SPD) and the Greens, is the most unscrupulous of all the states. It provides for a so-called phased model. In stage 1, which applies initially, it says, “In principle, schooling in 2020/2021 will take place with all participants within the school buildings without restrictions.”

Studies disprove reduced risk

The assertion that the risk of reopening schools is manageable contradicts current scientific studies, which show that schools pose considerable risks in the event of a new wave of infection.

For example, a study in South Korea found that older children and adolescents infected other household members as frequently as adults. Most infections occurred in households where a patient was between 10 and 19 years old. It follows that schools would become hotspots in the event of a wave of infection, as the SPD health expert Lauterbach admits.

In a highly regarded study, Berlin’s Technical University has determined that the aerosol concentration in a classroom, which is critical for transmission, is reached after two minutes when a single infected person in the room coughs. The result of the study is documented in this video.

The allegedly lower infectivity of children, which is often cited to justify opening up schools, is not proven. In its July 24 COVID-19 profile, the RKI warns, “In another study from Wuhan, child-aged index persons infected household members more often than adults. ... Studies on the viral load in children show no significant difference to adults.”

In Israel, the Ministry of Education randomly investigated the sources of 727 infections during the second wave in the country and found that almost 30 percent of these were attributable to educational institutions.

Policy Conclusions

Whether through negligence or malicious intent, the logic behind the reopening of schools is clear: the health and safety of children, parents and teachers is being put at risk in the interest of the economy. Children are being forced into schools under extremely risky conditions so that their parents can be available to work.

After decades of neglect and ruin of the school and education system, the pandemic is bringing to light more glaringly than ever what can no longer be hushed up: All the establishment parties are giving priority to the profit interests of companies over the social needs of the population. It is not a matter of misunderstanding or incompetence, but of tangible class interests. Profits can only be made if parents work. And for this to happen, children must be out of the way, no matter how. Working parents are faced with the choice of risking either their jobs or the health of their children.

There is massive resistance to this blackmail. Parents and educators also have many good suggestions and creative solutions to ensure safe teaching. There is no shortage of dedicated professionals who, with great personal commitment, do what they can to provide the best possible care and education for children in this difficult situation.

What is needed is a political perspective that unites all those involved and makes them effective.

Only a socialist perspective that places the school crisis in its social and international context can do this. The biggest problem is not the virus as such, but that it encounters conditions that block its effective control and favour its spread. These conditions are a result of capitalism, which is the cause of unemployment, misery, environmental destruction and, finally, dictatorship and war throughout the world.

The coronavirus crisis will not disappear on its own. The misery in education will continue, even if a vaccine becomes available at some point. It must be actively tackled by working people in their own interest. This task is urgent and cannot be postponed.

Trade union organisations, which once brought about certain improvements, are now failing across the board. The Education and Science Union (GEW) is an active accomplice to the irresponsible opening up of schools. It is miles away from organising effective resistance and from protecting the interests of teachers.

It is hopeless to rely on appeals to governments or individual politicians. They have created the current situation in the first place.

The Sozialistische Gleichheitspartei (Socialist Equality Party) advocates setting up action committees in educational institutions and residential areas that are independent of the trade unions and establishment parties. In this way, the resistance against unsafe school openings can be coordinated.

However, the problem cannot be solved within the education system alone. For example, the struggle must be expanded to guarantee continued pay during home childcare.

To put opposition on a broad basis, action committees should make contact with workers in companies whose management is exploiting the coronavirus crisis to push through mass redundancies. There is also much to be done in other areas, especially in the protection of immigrants, left-wingers and all others who are threatened by neo-fascists and far-right terrorists from the police and state apparatus.

The aim must be to get to the root of the problem and build a broad mass movement against capitalism.

As COVID-19 ravages Brazil, governments promote homicidal reopening of schools

Tomas Castanheira

Brazil set new COVID-19 records for a single day on Wednesday, reporting 70,869 new cases and 1,554 deaths. With this, the country simultaneously surpassed the milestones of 2.5 million cases and 90,000 total deaths from the disease.

These figures expose one of the worst scenarios of the global pandemic. Although in absolute numbers Brazil still lags behind the United States, Wednesday’s numbers surpassed those of any other country in the world.

In the midst of these catastrophic conditions, the Brazilian political establishment is promoting a campaign to reopen schools across the country as soon as possible, threatening to escalate the already soaring levels of COVID-19 infections.

Entrance of a public school in São Paulo [Credit: Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo]

The schools represent a key step for a total reactivation of the Brazilian economy, which demands that workers leave their children while they are at their jobs generating profits for the ruling elite.

The brutal irrationality of this proposal was recently expressed in a commercial produced by the Union of Private Educational Establishments of Rio de Janeiro (Sinepe-RJ). Attacking science and normalizing COVID deaths, it stated:

“Months have passed, we’ve learned to live with the virus. COVID will never totally leave, what ends is fear… We understood that science is the vaccine, studies have only caused confusion. Locking everyone up at home is not science. To confine is to ignore, to subtract life, to weaken, to mess with emotions. Children need to get back together, play, rebuild bonds, friendships, see their friends again.”

Although it was quickly taken off the air, after a rain of criticism by health experts, its conceptions are fully aligned with the discussions being held at the top level of the state. It is impossible not to associate them with the sociopathic positions defended by extreme-right President Jair Bolsonaro.

About a month ago, when he announced to millions of Brazilians that he had contracted the new coronavirus, Bolsonaro once again insisted that the entire population should contract the virus and called for the immediate reopening of schools.

At that moment, he was looking for a candidate for the Ministry of Education (MEC). Renato Feder, one of those interviewed, declared later to Estadão that the president’s central concern was to have someone capable of promoting a plan for the resumption of classes throughout the country.

The minister appointed by Bolsonaro, the evangelical preacher Milton Ribeiro, was promptly praised by national private education associations as a figure capable of advancing “the safe resumption of on-site academic activities.”

Schools are already reopening

The reopening of schools in Brazil is progressing in the same way as they were closed, without general planning, with local governments making arbitrary decisions.

However, if in the movement to close schools at the beginning of the pandemic, governors and mayors appeared as opponents of the homicidal policy of Bolsonaro, now in promoting the reopenings, they reveal the total inconsistency of their opposition.

Public school classroom in São Paulo [Credit: Secretaria da Educação do Estado de São Paulo]

Following the lead given by the Ministry of Education in early July, when it presented a national protocol for the resumption of classes, the state and municipal governments have approved their own protocols, which despite not setting dates, prepare the ground for reopenings at any time.

Eleven states, plus the Federal District, have already scheduled the reopening of their schools. The dates set are based on completely fabricated arguments of a supposed “stabilization” of the epidemic.

In São Paulo, the state most affected by the pandemic, an average of almost 2,000 deaths per week was commemorated by right-wing governor João Doria of the Brazilian Social Democratic Party (PSDB) as a “plateau” in the spread of the disease and the time for “normalization.” Since then, he has manipulated data and the criteria of his reopening plan to allow a return to school in early September.

A number of other governments are already pushing for the resumption of classes in private schools as a spearhead to open the way for public schools, which educate 80 percent of Brazilian students with much more precarious infrastructure.

The first capital to permit the reopening of private schools was Manaus, in Amazonas, on July 6. According to the Union of Private Educational Establishments of the State of Amazonas (Sinepe-AM), 70 percent of the units reopened, bringing about 88,000 students inside classrooms.

This week, the Amazonian governor Wilson Lima of the reactionary Christian Social Party moved up the date for the return of public schools throughout the state to August 10. The government’s irresponsibility with the pandemic was already graphically demonstrated in April, when the scenes of thousands being buried in mass graves in Manaus shocked the whole world.

UK government forced to enact new restrictions after pandemic let loose

Thomas Scripps

The Conservative government’s claims to have brought the pandemic under control—its main justification for ending the national lockdown over the last weeks—are in a state of utter collapse.

Amid a national surge of coronavirus cases and fatalities, Prime Minister Boris Johnson convened a press conference Friday. He announced that the lifting of the last remaining national lockdown restrictions—scheduled to begin today—were now being postponed. Wedding receptions of up to 30 people and indoor live performances; the opening of bowling allies, casinos, and skating rinks; and larger gatherings in sports venues and conference centres will be delayed for at least two weeks.

More measures were required to stop the spread of the disease, Johnson said, announcing that face coverings would be mandatory in cinemas, museum, galleries, and places of worship from August 8.

Speaking alongside Johnson, Chief Medical Officer for England, Sir Chris Whitty, declared that Office for National Statistics (ONS) data suggested, “we have probably reached near the limits or the limits of what we can do in terms of opening up society.” He added that this created “difficult trade-offs” and that “The idea that we can open up everything and keep the virus under control is clearly wrong… what we’re seeing is that we are at the outer edge of what we can do and therefore choices will need to be made.”

ONS figures indicate that the prevalence of the virus in the community is rising throughout the country for the first time since May. The number of infections per day in July shot up compared with June. Around 4,200 people are catching the virus each day in England, up 68 percent on the estimated 2,500 daily infections two weeks ago. This figure does not include care homes and hospitals and rates are thought to be twice as high in London, and still rising.

The government’s Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (SAGE) admitted yesterday that it “does not have confidence that R [Reproduction rate of the virus] is currently below 1 in England,” which would mean the virus is now spreading significantly.

The surge was clear in Friday’s infection and fatality figures. Along with 880 new infections—the highest spike for a month—120 deaths were reported. In just the five days to Friday, 367 have died of COVID-19, after the death rate declined to single figures as a result of the lockdown.

Johnson declared with unabashed hypocrisy, “we cannot be complacent,” and that it was time to “squeeze the brake pedal” on lifting restrictions “in order to keep that virus under control.”

In response to the resurgence of the virus, late Thursday evening and without any warning, the government was forced to impose new lockdown measures in a huge area of northern England. The areas selected contain some five million people—roughly equivalent to the entire population of Scotland.

The areas now under additional lockdown restrictions are Greater Manchester; Pendle, Hyndburn, Burnley, Rossendale, and Blackburn with Darwen in East Lancashire; Bradford, Calderdale and Kirklees in West Yorkshire and the city of Leicester, which saw the UK’s first local lockdown.

Sixteen local authorities in the region have seen dramatic increases in rates of infection in recent weeks.

Greater Manchester alone has a population of over 2.8 million and is spread over an area of nearly 500 square miles. It includes two cities—Manchester and Salford—and eight towns: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan. Another city included in the lockdown, Bradford, has a population of over 539,000.

In the seven days to July 20 and the seven days to July 27, the rate of coronavirus infections per 100,000 increased from 83 to 89 in Blackburn and Darwen, from 23 to 54 in Oldham, 45 to 48 in Bradford, 27 to 42 in Pendle and 15 to 41 in Trafford. Overall, the 19 local authorities affected by the new restrictions have recorded 1,536 new cases in the last week alone.

The northern England lockdown was rushed through in a way that could only undermine its effectiveness. At 9:16 p.m. on Thursday night, Health Secretary Matt Hancock announced in a tweet that people living the north England areas would no longer be allowed to meet other households indoors from midnight—giving millions of people less than three hours’ notice. After 11pm, less than an hour before the measures were due to come into effect, the government issued a statement saying that police forces would be given powers to prevent meetings between households either indoors or in private gardens.

On Friday morning, Hancock contradicted official guidance issued by the Department for Health and Social Care, which had asserted that visits by households in the restricted areas to households outside of the affected areas would be illegal. Hancock said this was against the guidance but not against the law.

The imposition of the lockdown was massively culturally insensitive. The north of England’s many Muslim communities are celebrating the religious festival of Eid, which began exactly as the lockdown was being imposed. Major celebrations were to be held this weekend, normally involving gatherings of friends and family. The restrictions were sprung on them with no consultation, leaving no time to make new arrangements, and with no plans to offer support.

The restrictions still leave open the possibility for significant continued transmission. While meetings in outdoor gardens are banned, pubs and restaurants remain open (people are only allowed to visit in their household groups). In Leicester, pubs and restaurants will reopen on Monday, along with cinemas and museums, as elements of an earlier local lockdown limited to the city are simultaneously lifted! Wales, just 50 miles away from parts of Greater Manchester, is reopening pubs, bars, restaurants, cafes, bowling alleys, auction houses and bingo halls from Monday.

Many other parts of the country are seeing a resurgence of infections. Yesterday, the Daily Mirror reported that at least 51 employees at an Iceland food distribution centre in Swindon, in the south of the England, have been infected. Three local firefighters have also contracted the disease, and cases have been reported at a Honda plant and Royal Mail delivery office in the town with a population of over 192,000. The rate of infection per 100,000 in Swindon has increased from nine, two weeks ago, to 29 more recently.

To seriously confront the pandemic and contain the spread of the virus would require reverting back to a national lockdown. But this would require opposing the profit interests of big business—which are the government’s only priority. Instead, Johnson’s reckless ending of the national lockdown around a month ago—after they had succeeded in slowing the spread of the virus and saving many lives—has resulted in a catastrophic coronavirus resurgence.

Even while forced to bring in new measures, Johnson was at pains to say he had not “cancelled summer” and “would encourage people to still think of staycation-ing in the UK.” Workers would still be pressured to return to the workplace from August 1, with employers having been given “more discretion over how employees can work safely, whether by continuing to work from home, or attending a COVID-secure workplace.” Plans to remove shielding guidance for 2.2 million highly vulnerable people this Saturday will also go ahead.

Asked by a journalist at Friday’s press conference, “Why are you lifting guidance from tomorrow, encouraging people to go back to work tomorrow and planning to reopen schools in September, when the virus is on the rise across the country?” Whitty responded that reopening schools was still an “absolute priority,” cynically invoking the “welfare of children.” Earlier that day, the Independent SAGE committee—a group of eminent scientists and academics critical of the government’s handling of the lockdown—pointed to the growing evidence that children are effective spreaders of coronavirus.

The crisis-ridden Tory government is able to endanger the entire population due to it being unopposed by the Labour Party. Downplaying the grave risks to the health of the population, Labour, who are staunch backers of the Tories back to work and re-opening of the economy agenda, merely complained that the government improve its PR skills. Labour leader Sir Kier Starmer praised the government’s “right decision,” only calling on the Tories to “improve communications” since “we are going to see more of these situations over the coming weeks and months.”

Labour Mayor of Greater Manchester Andy Burnham uncritically agreed with the plans for “modest measures to bring down the rate of new infections.” Sky News reported the comments of Lucy Powell, Labour MP for Manchester Central, who claimed she had not seen any “alarming data” beforehand that would suggest new restrictions were imminent. This under conditions in which it was common knowledge for weeks that there was a resurgence of cases in the region.

Six months since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global public health emergency

Benjamin Mateus

Just six months ago on Thursday, January 30, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus and the disease it caused, COVID-19, a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

As the Director-General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, noted then, “we don’t know what sorts of damage [it] could do if it were to spread in a country with a weaker health system. We must act now to help countries prepare for that possibility. For all these reasons, I am declaring a PHEIC over the global outbreak of the novel coronavirus. The main reason for this declaration is not because of what is happening in China but because of what is happening in other countries. Our greatest concern is the potential for the virus to spread to countries with weaker health systems that are ill-prepared to deal with it.”

The WHO declares Public Health emergency of International Concern [Credit: Fabrice Coffrini]

At the time of the PHEIC declaration, there were 7,818 total confirmed cases worldwide, with only 82 cases of COVID-19 without any fatalities outside of mainland China across 18 countries. Dr. Tedros, during the press briefing, also warned, “this is the time for science, not rumors. This is the time for solidarity, not stigma.”

Despite the warning, the wealthy nations of the globe squandered the time that was bought by the lockdowns imposed by China to prepare for the epidemic by imposing flight restrictions and border closures while healthcare and public health infrastructure remained in shambles.

It was only on March 11 that the WHO characterized the COVID-19 epidemic as a pandemic. The number of cases outside of China had risen 13-fold, and the number of cases had reached 118,000 across 114 countries, with 4,291 people who had lost their lives.

At the WHO’s press briefing on Thursday, remarking on the declaration of PHEIC, Dr. Mike Ryan acknowledged that public health systems across the world responded slowly to implementing a comprehensive strategy to bring the pandemic under control. “The capacity to do surveillance, an integrated response is not there,” he said. “We need to look really hard to our assumptions of the existence of systems that did not prove correct.”

Since then, the pandemic has wrought a trail of devastation that continues to rage in defiance of national borders. The daily cases of COVID-19 have reached a seven-day moving average high of 260,028. There are more than 17.7 million cases with close to six million active cases. Total deaths are approaching 700,000 globally, with a seven-day moving average of 5,655 fatalities per day. Three days running, more than 6,000 people have died. Much of the recent fuel to the coronavirus’ acceleration has been the demand by the markets and the financial oligarchs to reopen commerce even while community transmission remained hot, and health experts warned incessantly that such measures would be ruinous.

Initially, Italy bore the brunt of the pandemic followed quickly by New York City. France, the United Kingdom, and Spain followed. The continent accounts for 2.87 million cases and over 203,000 deaths. Despite the massive efforts to bring the pandemic to a grinding halt, reopening efforts have led to resurgences in Spain, Germany, and France again while the Ukraine and Russia are attempting to fend off their initial foray with the virus. Many of the stateless and most impoverished in the country are facing uncertainties, including ethnic minorities, the homeless, and those recently released from prisons. They account for more than 35,000 people.

The United States continues to lead as the global epicenter of the pandemic with 4.7 million cases and nearly 157,000 deaths. Though cases have plateaued at a high of almost 70,000 cases per day, the fatality rate has been climbing, reaching nearly 1,500 three days running. According to covidexitstrategy.org, The pandemic that has seen a record number of deaths in the sunbelt states is pushing north through the Midwest states. Yet, federal and state officials have begun an effort to hide the real statistics, making the tracking of hospitalizations and cases impossible.

In a recent development in Georgia, 260 children, teens, and staffers, out of 344 tested, were found to be positive for COVID-19 while attending an overnight camp. More than half those testing positive were children ages 6 to 10. Masks were not required for the children. The massive cluster highlights the fact that children are very susceptible to the virus and should be considered contagious if infected. This will add to the growing return-to-school catastrophe that has the nation on edge. Yet, Director of the Centers for Disease Control Dr. Robert Redfield continued to endorse the reopening of schools while unable to provide clear guidance as to how to achieve sufficient measures to ensure the safety of teachers, staff and students.

During the US House of Representatives’ special select committee investigation into the Trump Administration’s response to the pandemic, Admiral Brett P. Giroir acknowledged to lawmakers that getting COVID-19 testing back to a turnaround time of 48 to 72 hours “is not a possible benchmark we can achieve today, given the demand and the supply.” Yet his attempt to paint an optimistic scenario only fell on bewildered ears. Testing shortages continue to hamper efforts on the ground.

Dr. Fauci, in his opening statement, assured the hearing that he was “cautiously optimistic” that the Moderna mRNA vaccine would be successful. The vaccine trial was ushered in with pomp and circumstance as this week beginning the phase three trial intending to enroll 30,000 subjects to prove the efficacy of the vaccine.

However, the United States has positioned itself to bring all viable vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 under its control. Sanofi and GlaxoSmithKline reported that the US government would provide them up to $2.1 billion to fund their development and manufacturing of their experimental COVID-19 vaccine. As part of this quid pro quo, they will provide the US with 100 million doses with an option to procure up to 500 million doses. They are expected to begin trials in September.

On top of the Moderna vaccine, Operation Warp Speed has also invested $1.2 billion in UK-based AstraZeneca’s vaccine with the assurance of 300 million doses. They have also announced the purchase of 100 million doses of German-based BioNTech’s vaccine, created in collaboration with Pfizer, for $1.95 billion.

Should these regimens require two doses, and if the immunity remains short-lived, the vaccine will become a bonanza for shareholders and critical life-saving treatment against a virus that has barely infected the world’s population despite the arduous six months the world has suffered to this moment.

Brazil India, Chile, South Africa, Columbia, Mexico, Peru, and Argentina are only a shortlist of countries hard-hit by the pandemic whose economies remain in disarray and are unable to provide adequate care to the poorest in their countries. Countries and areas like Japan, Israel, Lebanon, and Hong Kong are facing a record number of new cases after they had suppressed infections to single digits. In Australia, the rising tide of cases forced officials to impose restrictions on Melbourne, a city of more than 5 million.

Experience with the 2009 Swine flu demonstrated that vaccine distribution would not be based on the allocation of resources to the most in need or essential, but to those that can pay. The majority of nations will be forced to negotiate for vaccines for millions of inhabitants who will face the most likely winter surge. The six months of the public health emergency of international concern has demonstrated capitalism’s total inability to deal with the threat of infectious disease and other critical threats to mankind.

US unemployment supplement expires, setting the stage for mass hunger and homelessness

Barry Grey

The $600 weekly unemployment insurance supplement enacted in March as part of the bipartisan multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street expired Friday, leaving some 25 million US workers laid off due to the coronavirus pandemic facing destitution.

The loss of the federal supplement to state jobless insurance will cut benefits by up to 80 percent in some states, dropping the average national payment from $920 a week to $520, according to some estimates.

People line up at a food distribution site in Chelsea, Massachusetts [Credit: AP Photo/David Goldman]

In addition, a moratorium on evictions of tenants in buildings with mortgages backed by the federal government, affecting 18 million of the 44 million renter households in the US, expired last week. This means that 11 million households could be served with eviction papers over the next four months, according to the global advisory firm Stout Risius Ross LLC.

With home mortgage payment moratoriums also expiring, a vast growth of homelessness is looming.

Mile-long lineups of cars at food distribution centers have already become commonplace. A cutoff or reduction in the unemployment pay supplement will greatly increase the spread of hunger and even starvation in the US. Already, almost 40 million people do not expect to be able to make their next rent or mortgage payment, and nearly 30 million say they did not have enough to eat during the week ending July 21.

The official unemployment rate, at 11.1 percent, remains the highest since World War II, and the government reported Thursday that new jobless claims for the week ending July 18 rose for the second week in a row, climbing to 1.43 million.

The Labor Department reports that 33.8 million workers are either receiving jobless benefits or have applied and are waiting to see if they will receive them. These workers account for fully 20 percent of the US labor force.

Moreover, the expiration of the unemployment supplement follows Thursday’s report from the Commerce Department that the nation’s gross domestic product fell at a record annualized rate of 32.9 percent in the second quarter, a decline of 9.5 percent from the first quarter of 2020. And this past week, Levi’s, United Air Lines, American Air Lines and Wells Fargo added to the wave of layoff announcements with the warning that tens of thousands of their employees face being furloughed or terminated in the near future.

Under these conditions, the stalemate in Congress over an extension of the unemployment pay supplement, which is certain to result in either the total elimination or a major cut in the benefit, amounts to a declaration of war by the capitalist ruling elite against the entire working population.

This was underscored by the response on Wall Street, where the financial oligarchy reacted to the expiration of benefits on Friday by driving up stock prices on all of the major indices. The Dow climbed by 114 points and Nasdaq shot up by 157 points.

The ruling class is demanding the elimination of the $600 benefit or its reduction in order to carry through its drive to force workers back to work under conditions where its incompetence, indifference and sheer greed have led to the uncontrolled spread of the coronavirus pandemic and the deepest social crisis since the 1930s Depression. Workers are being given the “choice” of going back to factories and workplaces that are breeding grounds for the virus, without any serious protection for themselves or their families, or seeing their families go homeless or hungry.

The Republicans openly denounce the $600 benefit as a “disincentive to work,” because a majority of workers laid off due to the pandemic are receiving more income in jobless pay than they did when they were working. This fact is a stark commentary on the near-poverty wages of most American workers.

But the Democrats echo the Republican line, agreeing, as in the New York Times editorial of July 30, that replacing only “a portion of the income of the average unemployed worker” is “reasonable in normal times,” because it “encourages people to find jobs,” but not in the midst of a pandemic.

In any event, there are no jobs for millions of laid-off workers to return to. As the Economic Policy Institute noted: “There are 14 million more unemployed workers than job openings, meaning millions will remain jobless no matter what they do. Slashing the $600 cannot incentivize people to get jobs that are not there.”

The Republican leadership of the Senate on Monday put forward a series of bills that would immediately slash the federal jobless benefit from $600 to $200 a week through September, and thereafter calibrate the federal addition to state benefits to provide 70 percent of the worker’s previous pay, with a combined maximum of $500.

The Democrats, who passed their so-called HEROES Act in the Democratic-controlled House in May, which would extend the $600 benefit until January, rejected the Republican proposal, setting off negotiations between House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer on one side and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on the other.

President Trump weighed in this week, calling for a stopgap measure that would temporarily extend the federal jobless benefit, at an unspecified amount, as well as the federal moratorium on evictions. In talks on Thursday and Friday, the Democratic leadership rejected a piecemeal deal, nominally insisting on other components of their HEROES Act, including federal aid to state and local governments and additional funding for coronavirus testing.

With no settlement in sight, Senate Republicans adjourned for the weekend, while it was reported that talks would continue between the representatives of the White House and the Democratic leadership.

CBS News reported Friday, citing an unnamed source “with knowledge of the negotiations,” that Meadows first proposed a simple one-week extension of the $600 supplement and then put forward a scaled back bill that would include four months of benefits at $400, along with funding for the reopening of schools and additional funding for the corporate slush fund known as the “small business” Paycheck Protection Program. He agreed, as part of the latter proposal, to strip out the Republican demand for a five-year legal immunity for businesses from lawsuits related to the pandemic.

The Democrats reportedly rejected these offers. However, they made clear they were prepared to accept a substantial reduction in the federal jobless pay supplement.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland said Tuesday on CNN, “Look, it’s not $600 or bust.” He went on to signal his agreement with the Republicans that the current benefit was a “disincentive to work,” saying, “I think that’s an argument that… has some validity to it, and we ought to deal with that.”

Schumer is jointly sponsoring a bill along with Senator Ron Wyden (Democrat of Oregon) that would progressively cut the federal unemployment supplement by $100 for every drop of 1 percentage point in a state’s unemployment level.

And on Friday, Pelosi reiterated on CNN her position that, prior to the August 7 adjournment of Congress for the party conventions, “We’ll find our common ground” on a relief bill.

Any cut in the benefit, already inadequate given the added costs of dealing with the pandemic and rising staple goods prices, will have devastating consequences for workers already struggling to pay rent and put food on the table.

Bonnie Armstrong, a laid-off server from Naples, Florida, told the local CBS television affiliate WINK, “I won’t be able to pay my rent. The fact is, if you’re offered your position back and you say no, you don’t get any more unemployment.”

Saying she would be glad to return to work, she added, “For every job, there are hundreds of people applying. It’s going to be difficult.”

There are tens of thousands of laid-off workers who have not received any unemployment benefits because their state unemployment offices failed to process their claims. In Wisconsin, where 13 percent of claims were still not processed as of July 7, workers have set up a Twitter group called “Empower Wisconsin.”

One member recently posted: “I haven’t received any money either and I filed on March 24th. Friday I called the phone line and actually got through. I was very nice and respectful and I asked, ‘This Sunday will be week #13, when will I receive benefits?’ Guess what!? She hung up on me… no lie.”