What happens when the Covid empathy runs out?

In the early months of Covid-19, health care workers were applauded on the frontline of defense. But as the pandemic rages, hospital underfunding and employee burnout have been exacerbated — and health care workers are bearing the brunt. 

Emergency room nurse Ellie Navidson contracted a severe case of Covid that left her sick for months. She quit her job after the physical demands became too much. “We’ll come to a point where there won’t be as much sympathy around Covid, and we’ll be casualties,” she says of the nurses who worked the early days of the outbreak.

Ten thousand healthcare workers have tested positive for the coronavirus. As the emergency phase of the crisis continues, a mass exodus is occurring as up to 30% of health care workers claim to be considering leaving the profession. 

Covid survivors are also experiencing symptoms from Long Covid, even as some doctors dismiss those experiences. As we continue on with little change to systems or standards of care, people are getting left in the lurch. Read the full story by Amanda Page.
 

Conservatives want to destroy democracy. People on the margins will bear the brunt.
 

Conservatives believe they need to seize permanent control as the basis for government, culture, and law. Their vision for government is one in which more than half the country is systematically disenfranchised and forced to live in a society in which they have little say. The fact that it has taken so long for people to recognize the real danger here is a testament to how omnipresent the myth of American exceptionalism is.

For most people, life in a post-democracy America will be boring. But those who are branded the enemies of real America — trans people, trans-inclusive feminists, Black people, immigrants, and Muslims — life is going to take a very dark turn within a few years.

Government policy under the GOP will become even more hostile to Black people and focused on crime and punishment. Roe v. Wade is certain to be overturned. It’s likely funding will be withheld from schools that are inclusive of trans students. And workers’ rights will suffer greatly under long-term GOP rule. Read the full story from Brynn Tannehill.