There are so many tragedies in this time of pandemic — and some of these tragedies have touched our Daily Kos community. Here are a couple of diaries written by Kossacks who have lost family members to this virus, both while in nursing homes. One is this group’s co-founder Tara TASW, the other CupaJoe. Condolences to both of them. If you know of any others, or if any Kossacks have died of the virus, please let us know in the comments, and I will update this diary.
We have also seen the very public tragedy of Dr. Lorna Breen, an ER doctor in Manhattan, who killed herself this past Sunday. She had contracted the virus, which she treated at home, but returned to work after about a week and a half. She was unable to complete her shift, and her family moved her home to Virginia. Her family says she told terrible stories of her work in the epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic, and had seemed detached in the days before her suicide.
I’m sure Dr. Breen will not be the only front line health care worker dealing with this virus to die from suicide, in addition to those killed by the virus. A young EMT in NYC also died from suicide in the same week. Rachel Maddow has been showing video journals by doctors and nurses caring for COVID-19 patients, and they are harrowing.
As always, a crisis exacerbates the problems we cover all too often, namely reproductive health and violence against women.
Violence Against Women, Worldwide
From the UK:
In the first four weeks of lockdown in the UK, 13 women and four children are believed to have been killed by men, most while shut inside their homes – that’s double the (already mind-bending) average of two women a week.
(snip)
For the rest of us, she says, be alert. “If you do know someone who is suffering, have a secret code system, something they can say if they’re frightened – like: ‘I need a pint of milk.’” Shop assistants, postal workers and delivery drivers should also be aware that, now that GPs’ surgeries are hard to access and schools are closed, they might be a victim’s only point of contact. “If someone looks like they’re pleading but can’t say anything, if they pass you a note, please act on it,” she adds. “Don’t intervene. Call the police – they do have the resources, the time and they do want to help. Everyone needs their antennae turned up to 10.”
Mexican drug cartels are dealing with the drop in oil prices and lower demand for drugs caused by the coronavirus restrictions, are branching out into sex trafficking.
From India:
An Indian woman was allegedly gang raped in a school in the desert state of Rajasthan where she had been quarantined for a night by the police amid the nationwide coronavirus lockdown, a police official said on Sunday.
The incident occurred last week when the victim, a daily wage earner, sought shelter at a police station after walking alone for miles and losing the way to her native village.
(snip)=
The nationwide lockdown imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi last month to contain the spread of the virus prompted tens of thousands of workers who lost their jobs in cities to walk for days in desperation to reach their homes in rural India.
But there are heroes too — here are five women helping around the world. And one piece of good news out in the world — Sudan has outlawed genital cutting, and hopefully the law will be enforced.
Reproductive Health
In Texas, where it was already far too difficult to access abortion services, and where the courts have been making things even more uncertain, the state has classified abortion as non-essential surgery, and therefore shut it down, leaving women desperate.
But Texas is far from the only state using the virus as an excuse to ban abortion statewide. Are conditions worse than they were before Roe?
"We've been hearing from women who've said, 'In any other circumstance I would continue this pregnancy and have my baby,'" Burkhart said. "But at this point they've made the decision within their family, that an abortion would be the best thing."
Those making the long treks to neighboring states aren't just stymied by additional cost, but also increased exposure to the virus.
"It's many times worse than some of the post-Roe landscapes we've imagined because of the public health crisis," Hagstrom Miller said.
And to cap it all off, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear the Little Sisters of the Poor case that claims filling out a form so they will not have to provide birth control to employees violates their religious freedom. The case has been sitting for a while, but now it looks like they have the votes on the SCOTUS.
The Joe Biden Case
I will not comment on this. Instead I present a number of sources on both sides so we can figure it out as we may.
www.nytimes.com/…
www.salon.com/…
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As always, thanks to my WoW sisters for their help finding articles for this diary, who this week include SandraLLAP, mettle fatigue, and elenacarlena.
If you haven’t written a weekly diary for us yet, this could be a good way to vary your sheltering in place. We are always here to help with questions and to help round up sources.
Stay safe, everyone.