Vidya Sethuraman
India Post News Service
The United States is in the grip of a triple crisis: the COVID 19 pandemic, the resulting economic collapse and an eruption of civil unrest over violent racist confrontations. EMS has invited leaders and advocates in the civil rights and racial justice field to share their recommendations on June 5.
Dr. Tung Nguyen, UCSF Health Division of General Internal Medicine gave the weekly update on the pandemic. As of June 4, 6.5 million diagnosed with Covid 19 Worldwide. In US, we have over 1.92 Million cases and total Deaths 109,901. This week’s national ensemble forecast suggests that the number of newly reported COVID-19 deaths per week will continue to decline. It predicts between 118,000 and 143,000 cumulative COVID-19 deaths by June 27.
The cases are rising in 17 states including California, Texas, Florida and North Carolina. Due to the recent protests, we are concerned about the number of infections that will spike up. Medical experts have warned that dousing crowds with teargas and pepper spray will accelerate the spread of coronavirus as mass demonstrations against police brutality rage on, raising concerns that police tactics could worsen a pandemic that has already taken a disproportionate toll on black and brown Americans.
Surgical grade N95 respirators offer the highest level of protection against Covid-19 infection, followed by surgical grade masks. People with blood type group A have a significantly higher risk for acquiring the coronavirus disease compared with non-A blood groups, according to a study conducted. On the vaccine front, there are over 17 companies in the race and most likely we will have good news from the makers, said Dr.Tung. He also condemned the recent police brutalities and death of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
Jody David Armour is the Roy P. Crocker Professor of Law at the University of Southern California. He has been a member of the faculty since 1995. Armour’s expertise ranges from personal injury claims to claims about the relationship between racial justice, criminal justice, and the rule of law. Armour studies the intersection of race and legal decision making as well as torts and tort reform movements. He explained the much-needed law enforcement reform. He discussed how Black lives don’t matter in this Country right from its inception and called for change and accountability at all levels.
John C. Yang is the president and executive director of Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC. At Advancing Justice, John leads the organization’s efforts to fight for civil rights and empower Asian Americans to create a more just America for all through public policy advocacy, education, and litigation. “We’ve collected over 2,000 self-reported incidents of hate against the Asian American community in the last two months alone,” Yang said. Racism and racial attacks can be equally deadly and dangerous to humanity as much as the virus itself. In a globalized world, it needs the cooperation and collective efforts of individuals, discussions within communities, civil society groups, governments and international institutions to fight against the invisible deadly viruses, including the coronavirus, said John.
Thomas A. Saenz, President and General Counsel of MALDEF (Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund), which has, for over 51 years now, worked to promote the civil rights of all Latinos living in the United States. He spoke on the issues faced by the Latinos communities during the pandemic.
When things get to normal, it will be white Americans who would be hired and the others will have to wait, said Thomas. He urged everyone to prevent these long-term effects. He also emphasized on the importance of Census. “Heightened distrust in elements of the federal government is a threat to our nation’s ability to secure an accurate census, which is so critical to our democracy’s next decade,” said Thomas.
If strong measures are not implemented, the virus of racism will inherently remain in the mindsets of people, which can be a threat to peace, stability and solidarity of the society and the larger humanity.
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