A People’s Movement to Confront COVID-19
By Manzoor Cheema
Strategic Partnerships and Membership Director at Project South
US
With a quarter of global infections and deaths from COVID-19, the United States is the epicenter of the infection. Decades of neoliberal policies that defunded public health and the historic denial of universal healthcare have made the United States particularly vulnerable to the virus. This reality was coupled with a policy that treated the infection as a “flu” for months and still offers unproven and shocking remedies.
One of the biggest disasters was the absolute failure to test at the early stage of the pandemic. The USA missed almost one month of testing at the beginning of the infection because of lack of initiative, flawed testing kits by the Center of Disease Control and refusal to use the kit by the World Health Organization. A significant number of infections and deaths could have been prevented if there was timely testing, contact tracing, and early preventive measures by the federal and state governments.
The COVID-19 test is based on the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) technology, famously depicted in the movie Jurassic Park where the genome of dinosaurs is replicated in a laboratory. The movie is fictional, but the technology for gene replication by PCR has been well established. Many high schools teach that technique where complementary strands of DNA or RNA are produced in vitro (in laboratory) while matching the original code. This technology is frequently used in medical diagnostics, forensics, and many other applications.
Currently, COVID-19 is tested by conducting a PCR test on a nasal or oral specimen to check the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes the infection. Another test, the antibody test, checks the presence of antibodies against the virus, and is useful to determine if a person was infected in the past. Antibody tests do not show if a person is currently infected and whether they could spread the infection, therefore, the PCR test is the preferred test in controlling the spread of the infection.
The question arises - why did the USA miserably fail in testing for almost a month when many countries were able to provide early, large-scale testing and contact tracing to suppress the morbidity and mortality rates. Testing was so scarce in the USA that it led to allegations of elitism against fewer people who received the tests in the early stage of the pandemic. New York City Mayor, Bill De Blasio, attacked the NBA team members for their privilege of being tested, without exhibiting symptoms, when critically-ill patients with COVID-19 symptoms were denied testing in NY. “Tests should not be for the wealthy, but for the sick,” tweeted the mayor.
With historic denial of healthcare, education, living wage, and other basic opportunities, the Black population in the US South and other parts of the country are well aware of the abandonment by the state. This failure of the state becomes particularly acute in the face of a crisis. As a result, Black communities have developed survival mechanisms, from establishing Benevolent Societies to building Mutual Aid institutions.
Rooted in that same Black Radical Tradition, Atlanta-based Project South launched COVID-19 testing in South Atlanta in partnership with a national organization, CORE (Community Organized Relief Effort). Project South developed a community organizing and education-based approach, and eliminated all barriers to get tested. The testing was completely free and did not require an appointment, insurance, or symptoms.
Black and low-income areas are particularly vulnerable to COVID-19, and Project South has provided free testing in 15 churches, community centers, and libraries in order to create easier access to hard to reach communities. A combination of denial of universal healthcare leading to pre-existing conditions, working in unsafe environments, frequent use of public transport and other factors make Black and Brown people particularly vulnerable to COVID-19. Additionally, historical racism in the health establishment has developed a distrust against healthcare in many Black community members. The Tuskegee Syphilis Experiment is a textbook case of malpractice and medical homicide against the Black people. Community organizations that have established a relationship with Black, Brown, low-income, and other impacted people have the ability to provide testing and information about the infection in ways that the healthcare establishment has failed. Project South built its base in South Atlanta with three decades of community work alongside our partner, the Hunger Coalition of Atlanta. Along with testing, Project South provides food and medical supplies to community members in South Atlanta and offers to provide food deliveries for people who test positive, need to quarantine, and do not have access to food.
A particular boost to testing took place when Project South reached out to protesters for Black Lives in the wake of protests for Ahmaud Arbery, Breonna Taylor, George Floyd and Rayshard Brooks. As people organize to abolish police and prisons, there is a growing consciousness to view healthcare, healing and well-being as integral to that movement.
About fifty years ago, the Black Panther Party started a clinic for sickle-cell anemia since the white-majority medical establishment denied research and treatment for this condition that predominantly impacts Black community members. AIDS activists confronted government agencies and pharmaceutical companies to demand research and treatment for AIDS at the time the US Administration was silent about the disease and demonized AIDS patients. Medical research and healthcare do not exist in a vacuum but exist in a context of power. What conditions are researched and who receives the treatment often depends on who has the wealth and power in the society. Building a grassroots movement is essential to protect and defend impacted people from COVID-19 and all health challenges.
References:
1. Statistics by John Hopkins University as of June 18, 2020: https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html
2. Global coronavirus infections pass eight million, Wall Street Journal. June 16, 2020.
3. http://bostonreview.net/class-inequality-science-nature/amy-kapczynski-gregg-gonsalves-alone-against-virus, Boston Review. March 13, 2020.
4. Outcry after Trump suggests injecting disinfectant as treatment. BBC. April 22, 2020.
5. The lost month: how a failure to test blinded the US to COVID-19. The New York Times March 28, 2020.
6. How many needless COVID-19 deaths were caused by delays in responding? Most of them. STAT News. June 19, 2020.
7. Testing individuals for coronavirus disease 2019. The Journal of the American Medical Association. April 1, 2020.
8. Test for past infection (Antibody Test). Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Last reviewed on May 23, 2020.
9. New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio criticizes “wealthy” NBA teams for coronavirus tests. CBS News. March 19, 2020.
10. The early Benevolent Societies, 1780 - 1837. The Massachusetts Journal. Autumn, 1979.
11. The radical past and present of mutual aid. Foundation Beyond Belief. May 7, 2020.
12. https://projectsouth.org/free-covid-19-testing/
13. https://www.coreresponse.org/
14. https://gacitizenshungercoalition.wordpress.com/
15. What you don’t know about the Black Panthers. AJ+. February 11, 2018.
How to demand a medical breakthrough: Lessons from the AIDS Fight. NPR. February 9, 2019.
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