The Thorn West is a state and local news roundup compiled by members of DSA-LA. Our goal is to provide a weekly update on the latest developments in state and local politics, and to track the issues that are most important to our membership.

Issue No. 6 - April 17, 2020

LOCAL NEWS

The coronavirus pandemic is having a devastating and disproportionate impact on black communities, and black pastors and activists representing communities from Los Angeles to Philadelphia are decrying disproportionately high death rates among African-Americans and demanding immediate action, including data on COVID-19 deaths by race and access to treatment. “Blacks often live in communities with less access to high-quality, affordable healthcare. This limits testing and treatment which results in more severe cases and deaths,” said the Rev. Dr. William J. Barber II, president and senior lecturer of Repairers of the Breach. Due to persistent systemic racism, black communities are more likely to suffer from pre-existing conditions and unequal access to healthcare, black workers are more likely to hold jobs deemed essential and black people are disproportionately incarcerated in a prison system that is unsanitary and makes social distancing impossible. Environmental racism is also contributing to deaths, with polluted low-income neighborhoods in Los Angeles being especially impacted. A week after the California Department of Public Health began collecting statewide data on how COVID-19 infections and deaths break down by race, the partial data released has shown that African-Americans, who make up 6% of the state’s population, currently account for 7% of infections and 11% of the 750 deaths, with a hospitalization and ICU rate 2.5x higher than those of white Californians. This disparate impact is also reflected in health data from the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in which black people suffered the highest rates of severe illness and death. On April 14 the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors ordered LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer to provide a breakdown of county data within 14 days, including an analysis of testing and COVID-19 fatalities by race, ethnicity and age group.

Both Mayor Garcetti and Governor Newsom rolled out frameworks this week that will be used to determine when businesses and public spaces will be allowed to reopen. Both plans call for a stronger, more widespread system for testing and isolating coronavirus cases as well as strengthening hospital infrastructure to deal with future surges in infections. However, there is still no timeframe on when the lockdown may be eased or when businesses and public spaces will be able to reopen; we will all have to adjust to a new normal. LA County Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer says that retail stores, which will be the first to reopen, will have to put a limit on how many are in the store at any one time. Museums and cultural centers will likely have to do the same, and concerts and sporting events may not return until sometime next year. Talk of reopening might be very premature, as The Atlantic reports that growth of COVID-19 testing, critical to reopening the country, has stalled in the past two weeks.

Three weeks after the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act was signed into law, Americans have begun to receive their $1200 payments. About 60 million checks have already gone out to those who filed their 2018 or 2019 tax returns with direct-deposit information. A second round, in approximately one week, will reach Social Security recipients who did not file tax returns but provided direct-deposit information in other forms. A third round in the first week of May will cover those who are receiving the money by check.

After an ongoing outcry from activists and residents for more relief for renters, a plan to give Los Angeles renters $1000 a month for three months was approved unanimously by the LA County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday. Under the plan, the county will use federal assistance money received in the recent stimulus, coupled with private funding, to provide rent aid to households that will not need to be paid back. Meanwhile California renters including sick, elderly and pregnant residents continue to face evictions from landlords, highlighting the need for greater protections for renters and gaps in existing protections.

The LA mayor’s office created a program that randomly awards a prepaid debit card of up to $1500 to residents, but the application website crashed after a crush of 56,000 applications on the first day. To be eligible for what’s being called the Angeleno card, residents’ income must have been below the federal poverty line before the stay-at-home order was issued last month or they must have fallen into “deeper hardship” with their income reduced by at least 50%. Eligible applicants will be placed in a lottery. On Tuesday, after the application web page melted down and phone lines crashed, Garcetti told desperate residents not to “worry if you’ve not gotten through because there are two more days still.”

Amid reports from food banks of massive increases in usage, crops are being left to rot and thousands of gallons of raw milk dumped, while lines and demand at Southern California food banks are at historic levels. There has been a 49% increase in food distributed by the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank, which serves about 600 agencies across the region. Without the demand from restaurants, farmers say there is not a market for the produce and food banks cannot cover the cost of the labor needed to harvest it.

Scientists have concluded that man-made global warming is responsible for at least half of a historic drought hitting California and western states that is turning into one of the deepest megadroughts in 1200 years. UCLA scientist Daniel Swain highlighted the significance of the results, saying it provides evidence “that human-caused climate change transformed what might have otherwise been a moderate long-term drought into a severe event comparable to the ‘megadroughts’ of centuries past.”

ELECTIONS

As Joe Biden became the presumptive Democratic nominee for president, focus turned to the question of whether the candidate would receive “full-throated” endorsements from leftist politicians. Senator Bernie Sanders, as he did in 2016, endorsed his former rival for the nomination in a joint video. In a series of interviews, Representative Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez made clear that she “will be supporting the Democratic nominee in November,” while challenging him to move to the left on several issues, and becoming one of the first high-profile politicians to speak openly about the sexual assault allegations against the candidate. Meanwhile, the DSA explicitly announced that they would not endorse Biden, alongside several local chapters of DSA, and YDSA.

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