Thread by @amymaxmen

I spent 8 months investigating how exploitation, poverty & discrimination drove COVID—and why scientists haven’t really addressed these issues, despite studying them for 150 years.

“Where is the urgency?” asks @Arrianna_Planey.

My latest #longform + 🧵 nature.com/immersive/d415…

In October, I went to Cali's San Joaquin Valley as it surged with COVID.

Many people impacted by the virus were immigrants who worked at farms & in meat plants. They felt their work was of value to society but not their lives. Low wages, no protection & blatant discrimination.

What I heard from agriculture workers reminded me of an investigation by Rudolf Virchow, 1848:

“The plutocracy…did not recognize Upper Silesians as human beings, but only as tools.” His radical solution was that “the worker must have part in the yield of the whole.”

It reminded me of WEB Du Bois, 1889. He surveyed Philly & found that death rates correlated with living conditions, not biological insufficiencies, as racist hypotheses supposed. And so

“It should spur increased effort...not passive indifference or increased discrimination.”

It reminded me of Sir Douglas Black,1980. The 'Black Report' finds that death rates correlate with occupational class.

Solution? “A fairer distribution of resources."

jstor.org/stable/4513074…

But what happened in the 80s was the opposite. Tax cuts for the wealthy & corporations. Social services, public education & public health were slashed.

Inequality & poverty rose, so did health disparities. Life expectancy in the US plateaued relative to other rich countries.

Low wages for decades + no universal healthcare + weak labor protections + unassured sick-leave + poor education + disinvestment set the US up for a BAD epidemic, @DrMaryTBassett says.

& Black & Latinx people disproportionately hold low-wage jobs that can’t be done at home.

In the San Joaquin Valley, community organizations led the fight to address inequities. But it was a battle, and the wins are temporary.

Oralia Mendez @CBDIO told me what her community goes through: “This is what we have lived…But the pandemic has brought it up to the front.”

Some researchers are documenting how hard agriculture workers are hit—they collect data that is otherwise obscured because that’s what’s best for corporate interests.

eg thefern.org/2020/04/mappin… or covid19farmworkerstudy.org or medrxiv.org/content/10.110…

Some speak out.

“Many workers have few rights, are underpaid & face hazards that would be unacceptable to the corporate leaders who profit from their work.” says @DrDavidMichaels

If public health can’t push back against corporate interests, it fails—despite so much hard work by committed folks.

@GeorgesBenjami7 @APHA says the time for scientists to call for social reform is now. He recalled 1930s labor strikes & the New Deal.

Scientists have ushered in vaccines, drugs & genetic sequencing. Technologies don’t have as much profit & politics didn’t standing in the way of progress.

As a new editorial @NatureNews says, it’s time to get political.

nature.com/articles/d4158…

Please check out my latest piece on the toll of inequality. It was a labor of love.

Impossible without my wonderful editors @naturenews & support from @pulitzercenter & @ksjatmit. I couldn’t ask for better company.
nature.com/immersive/d415…

& Shout out to the MANY community orgs in the San Joaquin Valley & institutes I talked to: Central Valley Health Policy Institute @CVHPI Cultiva La Salud @CultivaLaSalud Jakara Movement @JakaraMovement Lideres Campesinas @LCampesinas African American Coalition...

Leadership Counsel for Justice & Accountability @LCJandA Centro Binacional para el Desarollo Indígena Oaxaqueño @CBDIO Central California Environmental Justice Network @CCEJN California Institute for Rural Studies @CARuralStudies Alianza Nacional de Campesinas @campesinasunite …

Western Center for Ag Worker Health and Safety @AgHealthUCD United Farm Workers @UFWupdates
Fresno Interdenominational Refugee Ministries @FIRMunity_ Fresno Building Health Communities @FresnoBHC Centro La Familia @CentroLaFamilia The Immigrant Refugee Coalition…

California Latino Legislative Caucus @LatinoCaucus
Friends Committee on National Legislation @FCNL National Employment Law Project @NelpNews California Endowment @CalEndow @WarehouseWorker American Public Health Association @APHA Public Health Institute @PHIdotorg

Pew Research @pewresearch Economic Policy Institute @EconomicPolicy Milken Institute @MilkenInstitute Brookings Institute @BrookingsInst Food & Environment Reporting Network @FRENnews and @UCSFFresno @UCMerced 🙏🏼

(Typo in this tweet 🙄 Technologies don't have as much profit & politics standing in the way of progress...)