COVID 19

Governor signs virus protections for farmworkers

Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a farmworker relief package this week, which promises farmworkers stricter enforcement of health guidelines and paid sick leave for COVID-19 and prioritizes farmworkers for both proective equipment and testing, among other things. Details

COPING IN SANTA CRUZ

Music and video set locally – enjoy!

Shocking NY Times piece

This article details the horrifying racial differences in Corona virus impact. See also our Black Lives Matter page.

New Piece with EXCELLENT GRAPHICS

Document by our local DSA group – good ideas

Excellent Scientific Piece on COVID Air Transmission

Article published June 11, 2020 by the National Academy of Sciences. Conclusion “wearing of face masks in public corresponds to the most effective means to prevent interhuman transmission”. Somewhat scientific with good graphics – worth reading.

Public transport NOT a major COVID risk

Data from numerous places shows that public transportation is NOT a cause of disease transmission.

5/28/20 Carpe COVID Economist article about addressing Climate Change with Carbon Taxes

5/21/20 Lots of good information on Slow Streets and COVID

New 6 min video comparing COVID and Climate Change

New details on indoor infections 5/11

New piece by James Hansen compares the COVID crisis with the Climate Crisis 4/6

Santa Cruz Co Mutual aid Flyer

Excellent letter to the editor by Lynda marin, in the Sentinel 5/6/20

Connect dots between CO2 and pollution

Seven years ago when I began lobbying for CO2 emissions reduction, the received political wisdom for reaching the broadest audience was to downplay the use of the term “carbon emissions” and to emphasize “air pollution.” The rationale was, Who doesn’t want to reduce air pollution? I understood the psychology but thought it self-defeating to perpetuate an artificial barrier between carbon emissions and air pollution. It seemed better to connect the dots.

Now the Harvard School of Public Health has found a clear connection between air pollution and higher rates of death from COVID-19. The virus essentially catches a ride and persists longer on pollution particles released by coal plants and oil refineries, rendering people of color and the poor most vulnerable since that is where they are more likely to live and work. Reducing carbon emissions would eliminate most of that pollution, as the present pandemic has illustrated.

— Lynda Marin, Santa Cruz

Tenant Info and Resources Santa Cruz 4/1/20

Cleaning Instructions for things that might carry the virus

Mask Patterns

1. Pattern for a home sewn mask from the New York Times

2. BETTER MASK PATTERN and video – I made this one – contact me for help.

3. Easy to make no sew mask from CDC

4. Another no sew mask

5. Detailed article on masks with patterns and fabric information

6. Magi’s favorite mask pattern

Short excerpt from LA Times article

Anne Orford, chair of international law, Melbourne Law School: Orford wrote a blog post for the London Review of Books arguing that efforts to rein in the novel coronavirus have “led to a significant shift in the way individuals, institutions and politicians discuss our responsibility to protect vulnerable groups.”

“States that for decades had been committed to neoliberal thinking have slowly begun to embrace such radically old-fashioned ideas as planning for the future, relying on scientific expertise, or calling on their constituents to make sacrifices,” she wrote.

In an interview, Orford explained that international law has long been shaped by the “rational choice” paradigm that dominates U.S. legal thinking. She described that way of thinking as follows: “You can’t ask people to make any sacrifice of liberty or property for the collective — and even if you did ask them, they wouldn’t do it.” Nations, too, will act only in their own self-interest, “even when faced with destruction of the planet.”

Now the COVID-19 pandemic is putting those ideas to the test. And Orford suspects there’s no going back.

“We can’t un-live this,” she said. “We now know you can ask people to radically do something we wouldn’t have thought possible, and we can do that with good humor. So why can’t we do that for the environment?”

Guardian piece by George Monbiot March 25

Good local site for updates – Santa Cruz Local – https://santacruzlocal.org/

Links for people with needs at this critical time..

• SC Tenant Power Mutual Aid
• Mutual Aid Fund
• Campus Slug Support
• Grey Bears food delivery
• 2nd Harvest food bank – Food Hotline at (831) 662-0991

Contact congress in support of Elizabeth Warren’s eight conditions for financial aid:

• Companies must maintain payrolls and use federal funds to keep people working.
• Businesses must provide $15 an hour minimum wage quickly but no later than a year from the end
• Companies would be permanently banned from engaging in stock buybacks.
• Companies would be barred from paying out dividends or executive bonuses while they receive federal funds and the ban would be in place for three years.
• Businesses would have to provide at least one seat to workers on their board of directors, though it could be more depending on size of the rescue package.
• Collective bargaining agreements must remain in place.
• Corporate boards must get shareholder approval for all political spending.
• CEOs must certify their companies are complying with the rules and face criminal penalties for violating them.

https://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public https://www.harris.senate.gov/contact/email https://panetta.house.gov/contact/email

Let’s not waste the lessons of the current crisis – great Sentinel op-ed by Tim Goncharoff. County Waste manager, outlines how we need to make permanent changes including less driving and flying.

Corona virus dashboard – world wide data summary

6 min video by Naomi Klein

Striking on Line 45 sec video

Scripps Keeling Curve – this data from Mona Loa Hawaii may already be showing a relative reduction in CO2. In the 2 year view you can see that the previous year had a steady increase from October to the following May, rising steeply in March – this trend has happened every year since recording started in 1960. But now we may be seeing a “flattening” in March. Check the data yourself.

5 Ways Corona Virus Could Help Humanity. Good article about better ways to move forward.

Animated 8min video explaining the science of the virus the disease and flattening the curve.