Thursday, April 30, 2020
'Owes an Apology to Every Essential Worker': Pence Under Fire for Refusing to Wear Face Mask at Mayo Clinic
"When I warned everyone in February that Pence doesn't believe in science and shouldn't be in charge of Covid response, I meant it," said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/29/owes-apology-every-essential-worker-pence-under-fire-refusing-wear-face-mask-mayo
In violation of Mayo Clinic policy, Vice President Mike Pence refused to wear a face mask while visiting the organization's Minnesota headquarters Tuesday and interacting with patients and workers, drawing outrage from medical professionals who said he recklessly increased the risk of spreading Covid-19.
"It is a selfish display by Mike Pence disregarding Mayo Clinic policy by not wearing a mask," tweeted Dr. Rob Davidson, executive director of the Committee to Protect Medicare. "As an ER doc, on behalf of the staff with whom I work, I think he owes an apology to every essential worker keeping things going and trying not to get sick."
Video footage of a mask-less Pence walking around inside the facility and speaking with employees quickly went viral on social media. A Mayo Clinic spokesperson said Pence and his staff were made "aware of our policy regarding masking." Everyone in Pence's entourage except the vice president himself wore a face covering.
Watch:
CNN reported that Pence "did avoid shaking hands; he elbow-bumped instead with doctors and officials."
"But he was mask-less as he thanked workers, conferred with hospital administrators, and spoke with a Mayo Clinic employee who was donating plasma after being diagnosed with Covid-19 at the end of March," CNN noted.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended that people wear masks in public, but it is not a federal requirement. President Donald Trump has not followed the CDC guidelines.
In response to outrage over his flouting of the Mayo Clinic's clear safety protocol, Pence told reporters that he didn't wear a mask because he is "tested for the coronavirus on a regular basis, and everyone who is around me is tested for the coronavirus."
"Since I don't have the coronavirus," Pence said, "I thought it'd be a good opportunity for me to be here, to be able to speak to these researchers, these incredible healthcare personnel, and look them in the eye and say thank you."
"When I warned everyone in February that Pence doesn't believe in science and shouldn't be in charge of Covid response, I meant it," tweeted Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). "But I admit I did not have 'VP visits Covid patients without wearing a mask' on my bingo board."
Poll Shows Tens of Millions of Americans Would Avoid Covid-19 Treatment Over Cost Fears
"A country that puts people in this situation is not a country upholding its responsibility to its citizens."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/29/poll-shows-tens-millions-americans-would-avoid-covid-19-treatment-over-cost-fears
A Gallup poll out Tuesday indicates that tens of millions of U.S. adults would avoid seeking potentially life-saving medical treatment for Covid-19 symptoms due to fears about their ability to afford the associated costs.
The survey results were viewed as an alarming though not surprising signal that America's uniquely expensive for-profit healthcare system—which has produced numerous horror stories of coronavirus patients being hit with massive surprise medical bills—could be forcing millions of people to forego medical care for the deadly and highly infectious virus.
"One out of every seven (14%) U.S. adults report that they would avoid seeking healthcare for a fever and a dry cough for themselves or a member of their household due to concerns about their ability to pay for it," Gallup found. "When framed explicitly as believing to have been infected by the novel coronavirus, 9% still report that they would avoid seeking care."
"This is terrifying," tweeted Bill Sweeney, senior vice president of government affairs with AARP Advocates."Adults under 30, non-whites, those with a high school education or less, and those in households with incomes under $40,000 per year are the groups most likely to indicate they would avoid seeking out care," Gallup reported.
Louise Aronson, a professor of medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, said on Twitter "a country that puts people in this situation is not a country upholding its responsibility to its citizens."
According to a study released earlier this month by America's Health Insurance Plans, an insurance industry trade group, the average cost of coronavirus treatment for patients admitted to intensive care could exceed $30,000.
The terror that U.S. medical costs have induced in coronavirus patients was vividly captured earlier in April by New York City registered nurse anesthetist Derrick Smith.
In a viral social media post and subsequent press interviews, Smith told the tragic story of a man dying of Covid-19 who asked, "Who's going to pay for it?" as he was placed on a ventilator. Smith said he does not know if the patient survived but believes it is "pretty unlikely."
"I was very sad and honestly, a little horrified," Smith told CNN. "This demonstrates that we have a profound failure when one has to worry about their finances when they're dealing with much bigger issues that have to do with life or death."
The multi-trillion-dollar CARES Act that President Donald Trump signed into law last month included provisions aimed at requiring private insurers to make Covid-19 testing free for customers, but people could still be hit with large bills if they are tested by an out-of-network entity. Some major insurers, including Cigna and Humana, have vowed to waive out-of-pocket coronavirus treatment costs.
As for the tens of millions of people in the U.S. without health insurance—a number that is growing rapidly as mass layoffs continue—the Trump administration has vowed to use an unspecified amount of hospital funds from the CARES Act to cover coronavirus treatment costs for the uninsured.
Progressives argue that more systematic solutions are necessary to ensure that everyone in the U.S. is able to receive the treatment they need, for coronavirus and other ailments, without worrying about the potential costs.
In an op-ed for Politico on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made the case for his proposal to "empower Medicare to pay all of the healthcare costs for the uninsured, as well as all out-of-pocket expenses for those with existing public or private insurance, for as long as this pandemic continues."
The Health Care Emergency Guarantee Act, which Sanders introduced alongside Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) earlier this month, would provide "comprehensive coverage to far more Americans while saving taxpayers money," the Vermont senator wrote.
"At a time when many American families are waiting hours in food lines and are often unable to afford groceries, whatever amount of money is left in their pocket must be saved for the basic needs of their families, not exorbitant healthcare bills," said Sanders. "When so many of our people are struggling economically and are terrified by the possibility of becoming sick with the coronavirus, the government must take the burden of health care costs off the backs of working people."
Trump Labor Department Says It May Actively Defend Meatpacking Companies Over Workers in Covid-19 Lawsuits
"We have a president forcing hazardous meat plants to reopen, threatening workers' health. We have a Labor Department siding with corporations over workers' safety. Disgusting."
Jake Johnson, staff writer
16 Comments
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/29/trump-labor-department-says-it-may-actively-defend-meatpacking-companies-over
The stated mission of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration is to protect workers, but the agency is signaling that it may actively defend meatpacking corporations against workplace safety lawsuits filed by employees who contract Covid-19 on the job if the companies show they made a "good faith" effort to comply with federal health guidelines.
But O'Scannlain and Sweatt said companies will have leeway to flout standards that they determine are not "feasible in the context of specific plants and circumstances," provided that they "document why that is the case."In a statement Tuesday shortly after President Donald Trump invoked the Defense Production Act (DPA) to keep meat processing plants open amid the coronavirus pandemic, Solicitor of Labor Kate O'Scannlain and OSHA principal deputy secretary Loren Sweatt urged meatpacking employers to comply with the agency's non-binding safety guidelines.
"Where a meat, pork, or poultry processing employer operating pursuant to the president's invocation of the DPA has demonstrated good faith attempts to comply with the Joint Meat Processing Guidance and is sued for alleged workplace exposures," said O'Scannlain and Sweatt, "the Department of Labor will consider a request to participate in that litigation in support of the employer's compliance program."
Jordan Barab, former deputy assistant secretary at OSHA, said Wednesday that the Labor Department's statement constitutes "a free pass to meat and poultry processors."
In an interview on MSNBC Tuesday night, former OSHA senior policy adviser Debbie Berkowitz slammed her former agency for abdicating its responsibility to safeguard workers.
"There's a real price to pay for this kind of, I would call it government malfeasance," Berkowitz added."OSHA... has chosen—this is a choice—not to enforce any requirements in the meat industry to protect workers," said Berkowitz, who is currently the director of the worker health and safety program at the National Employment Law Project. "The [meatpacking] industry looked at these recommendations—they're voluntary—and in the end didn't implement them."
Meatpacking plants across the country have become coronavirus hot spots in April. The United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW), the largest meatpacking union in the U.S., said in a statement Tuesday that at least 20 meatpacking workers have died of Covid-19 and more than 5,000 "have been hospitalized or are showing symptoms."
"The reality is that these workers are putting their lives on the line every day to keep our country fed during this deadly outbreak," said UFCW president Marc Perrone. "For the sake of all our families, we must prioritize the safety and security of these workers."
Critics warned that Trump's executive order mandating meatpacking plants remain open amid the pandemic could lead to another surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths among workers in the industry. According to the Washington Post, at least 20 meatpacking plants have closed in recent weeks due to coronavirus outbreaks at the facilities.
"We have a president forcing hazardous meat plants to reopen, threatening workers' health," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) tweeted Wednesday. We have a Labor Department siding with corporations over workers' safety. Disgusting."
"Maybe this is too 'radical,'" Sanders added, "but we need a White House that protects public health during a pandemic."
Between January and early April, OSHA was flooded with thousands of worker complaints accusing employers of violating federal coronavirus guidelines and endangering employee safety by failing to provide adequate protective equipment.
But the agency, overseen by Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia, has thus far refused to use its authority to force employers to comply with Covid-19 safety guidelines. OSHA is also massively understaffed with vacancies at 42% of its top career leadership positions, including such crucial spots as director of enforcement and director of whistleblower protection.
"OSHA's mission to protect workers in the most dangerous jobs has been seriously compromised under the Trump administration," Berkowitz said in a statement Tuesday. "The agency has essentially abandoned its responsibility to ensure that employers keep workers safe from Covid-19."
'Pathetic': Trump Says No to Additional Covid-19 Stimulus Checks, Backs Cutting Tax That Funds Social Security Instead
"Cutting payroll taxes does nothing to help seniors or the millions of people who just lost their jobs. It does, however, defund Social Security and Medicare—which is why Trump is obsessed with the idea."
by
Jake Johnson, staff writer
https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/29/pathetic-trump-says-no-additional-covid-19-stimulus-checks-backs-cutting-tax-funds
President Donald Trump on Tuesday expressed opposition to providing additional direct relief payments on top of the $1,200 checks that are slowly trickling out to eligible U.S. households, saying he would instead prefer to slash the tax that funds Social Security and Medicare.
"Well, I like the idea of payroll tax cuts," Trump said at a press conference when asked about the idea of authorizing another round of direct payments in the next coronavirus stimulus package as mass layoffs continue.
Watch:"I've liked that from the beginning," the president said. "That was a thing that I really would love to see happen. A lot of economists would agree with me. A lot of people agree with me. And I think frankly it's simple, it's not the big distribution, and it would really be an incentive for people to come back to work and for employers to hire."
Trump has floated the idea of a payroll tax cut several times in recent weeks—suggesting at one point earlier this month that the cut should be permanent—even though the move would not provide any relief for the tens of millions of people who have lost their jobs since mid-March.
"Economists don't actually agree with him," said Justin Wolfers, economics professor at the University of Michigan. "Payroll tax cuts are too slow and poorly targeted."
But a payroll tax cut would advance a longstanding objective of the conservative movement by striking a blow to Social Security and Medicare funding, advocacy groups pointed out. The CARES Act, which Trump signed into law last month, contained a little-noticed provision allowing employers to delay payment of the payroll tax for at least the rest of 2020.
"Unlike additional stimulus checks, cutting payroll taxes does nothing to help seniors or the millions of people who just lost their jobs," tweeted Social Security Works. "It does, however, defund Social Security and Medicare—which is why Trump is obsessed with the idea."
The president's opposition to additional direct payments comes as progressive lawmakers and activists are pushing for $2,000 monthly payments to all U.S. households for the duration of the Covid-19 crisis because the initial $1,200—for those lucky enough to have received it—was far from sufficient to cover basic expenses.
"Pathetic," Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in response to Trump's remarks. "A payroll tax cut does nothing for the 26 million who lost their jobs. With rent due on May 1, we need to provide $2,000 a month to everyone until this crisis is over. If we can bail out corporations, we can make sure everyone has enough to pay for basic necessities."
Oil price rally belies hard Covid-19 realities
Oil price rally is being driven by irrational exuberance with little real good economic or industry news in sight
TIM DAISS
APRIL 30, 2020
https://asiatimes.com/2020/04/oil-price-rally-belies-hard-covid-19-realities/
While global oil prices rise after a historic collapse, there is little if any supply or demand indication that the speculative spike is sustainable.
As Big Oil companies’ first quarter (Q1) results start to stream in, it’s just as likely the bad earnings news leads to an even more profound drop into the single digits.
PetroChina and Sinopec both announced troubling pandemic-hit earnings in Q1, deflating certain hopes that China’s super oil majors might help to sustainably lift deflated global oil prices.
PetroChina, China’s largest oil and gas producer, reported a Q1 net loss of 16.2 billion yuan (US$2.29 billion), compared to a profit of 10.3 billion yuan over the same period last year.
The oil major’s Q1 revenue dropped some 14.4%, despite a 4% increase in crude oil production and an 8.7% rise in natural gas output. The company blamed its dismal quarterly results on the coronavirus and a “significant increase in instability and uncertainty.”
Sinopec, China’s largest oil refiner by capacity, reported a Q1 loss of 19.8 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) after a profit of 14.8 billion yuan over the same period a year earlier. Its refinery segment was hit particularly hard, as fuel demand in China collapsed due to Covid-19’s impact.
Both PetroChina’s and Sinopec’s Q1 2020 releases came the same day that global oil markets rallied, at least temporarily shrugging off the gloom and doom of recent trading sessions.
On Wednesday (April 29), global oil benchmark Brent crude rose some 8.5% to $22.80 per barrel. In early trading in Asia on Thursday, Brent nearly hit $25 per barrel.
US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the world’s most actively traded oil futures contract, had an even better outing, increasing by a whopping 25% at one point on Wednesday before settling at $15.50 per barrel, a 15.5 % increase. Early Thursday, WTI continued its momentum, spiking another 14.5% to $17.15 per barrel.
Both price benchmarks, which have been hyper-sensitive to news headlines over the past two months, reacted to news that Norway, Western Europe’s largest crude producer, agreed to cut oil production by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June, and by 134,000 bpd in the second half of 2020. It represents Norway’s first oil production cut in nearly two decades.
Oil markets, seizing any positive news it could grasp, also trended upward over the two sessions after drug marker Gilead Services said that the results of one of its studies indicated that the Remdesivir drug had a positive effect in treating the coronavirus.
Yet recent the oil price gains are premature and can’t be sustained given the ongoing oil supply and demand imbalance. Moreover, oil prices still haven’t found a floor and thus will likely see more whipsaw price spikes and plunges over the mid-term.
Global oil majors will see both earnings and profits continue to plunge going forward, a trend that will stress their balance sheets, deter new exploration and disrupt existing production, and drive down share prices and dividend payouts. Indeed, it’s not clear to some analysts Big Oil companies will ever regain their past financial and political clout.
For prices to find a floor and then trend upward, more and sustained oil demand is needed, all the while coming amid more oil production shut-ins as producers around the world are increasingly unable to pump so far beneath their breakeven price points.
Oil markets are in uncharted territory amid the worst demand destruction in history and the first global health pandemic in more than a century.
As much as 25-30 million barrels per day (bpd) of demand destruction is projected for April, with oil storage levels precariously close to full capacity, particularly in the US, currently the world’s top oil producer.
US oil stockpiles rose by 15 million barrels to 518.6 million barrels for the week ending April 17, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Storage at Cushing, Oklahoma, the largest storage facility in the country after the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased around 10% in a week to 59.7 million barrels, about 25 million barrels shy of its capacity.
While US oil inventory levels fill up in May, total global oil storage is projected to be full by June at the latest. The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) reported earlier this month that worldwide crude stocks could rise by as much as 11.9 million bpd in the second quarter of this year.
In Asia, the problem is particularly acute. South Korea, with the fourth-largest commercial storage capacity in Asia, recently ran out of room to store more oil, media outlets reported on Monday. India, the world’s third largest oil importer after China and the US, is also reportedly nearing its storage capacity.
China, the world’s largest oil importer accounting for a massive 10% of global demand, has been seizing the opportunity of multi-year low prices to fill its own strategic and commercial oil reserves. They are expected to reach around 90% capacity by year’s end. Whether actual Chinese demand will return by then is another question altogether.
APRIL 30, 2020
https://asiatimes.com/2020/04/oil-price-rally-belies-hard-covid-19-realities/
While global oil prices rise after a historic collapse, there is little if any supply or demand indication that the speculative spike is sustainable.
As Big Oil companies’ first quarter (Q1) results start to stream in, it’s just as likely the bad earnings news leads to an even more profound drop into the single digits.
PetroChina and Sinopec both announced troubling pandemic-hit earnings in Q1, deflating certain hopes that China’s super oil majors might help to sustainably lift deflated global oil prices.
PetroChina, China’s largest oil and gas producer, reported a Q1 net loss of 16.2 billion yuan (US$2.29 billion), compared to a profit of 10.3 billion yuan over the same period last year.
The oil major’s Q1 revenue dropped some 14.4%, despite a 4% increase in crude oil production and an 8.7% rise in natural gas output. The company blamed its dismal quarterly results on the coronavirus and a “significant increase in instability and uncertainty.”
Sinopec, China’s largest oil refiner by capacity, reported a Q1 loss of 19.8 billion yuan ($2.8 billion) after a profit of 14.8 billion yuan over the same period a year earlier. Its refinery segment was hit particularly hard, as fuel demand in China collapsed due to Covid-19’s impact.
Both PetroChina’s and Sinopec’s Q1 2020 releases came the same day that global oil markets rallied, at least temporarily shrugging off the gloom and doom of recent trading sessions.
On Wednesday (April 29), global oil benchmark Brent crude rose some 8.5% to $22.80 per barrel. In early trading in Asia on Thursday, Brent nearly hit $25 per barrel.
US oil benchmark West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude, the world’s most actively traded oil futures contract, had an even better outing, increasing by a whopping 25% at one point on Wednesday before settling at $15.50 per barrel, a 15.5 % increase. Early Thursday, WTI continued its momentum, spiking another 14.5% to $17.15 per barrel.
Both price benchmarks, which have been hyper-sensitive to news headlines over the past two months, reacted to news that Norway, Western Europe’s largest crude producer, agreed to cut oil production by 250,000 barrels per day (bpd) in June, and by 134,000 bpd in the second half of 2020. It represents Norway’s first oil production cut in nearly two decades.
Oil markets, seizing any positive news it could grasp, also trended upward over the two sessions after drug marker Gilead Services said that the results of one of its studies indicated that the Remdesivir drug had a positive effect in treating the coronavirus.
Yet recent the oil price gains are premature and can’t be sustained given the ongoing oil supply and demand imbalance. Moreover, oil prices still haven’t found a floor and thus will likely see more whipsaw price spikes and plunges over the mid-term.
Global oil majors will see both earnings and profits continue to plunge going forward, a trend that will stress their balance sheets, deter new exploration and disrupt existing production, and drive down share prices and dividend payouts. Indeed, it’s not clear to some analysts Big Oil companies will ever regain their past financial and political clout.
For prices to find a floor and then trend upward, more and sustained oil demand is needed, all the while coming amid more oil production shut-ins as producers around the world are increasingly unable to pump so far beneath their breakeven price points.
Oil markets are in uncharted territory amid the worst demand destruction in history and the first global health pandemic in more than a century.
As much as 25-30 million barrels per day (bpd) of demand destruction is projected for April, with oil storage levels precariously close to full capacity, particularly in the US, currently the world’s top oil producer.
US oil stockpiles rose by 15 million barrels to 518.6 million barrels for the week ending April 17, according to the US Energy Information Administration (EIA).
Storage at Cushing, Oklahoma, the largest storage facility in the country after the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, increased around 10% in a week to 59.7 million barrels, about 25 million barrels shy of its capacity.
While US oil inventory levels fill up in May, total global oil storage is projected to be full by June at the latest. The Paris-based International Energy Agency (IEA) reported earlier this month that worldwide crude stocks could rise by as much as 11.9 million bpd in the second quarter of this year.
In Asia, the problem is particularly acute. South Korea, with the fourth-largest commercial storage capacity in Asia, recently ran out of room to store more oil, media outlets reported on Monday. India, the world’s third largest oil importer after China and the US, is also reportedly nearing its storage capacity.
China, the world’s largest oil importer accounting for a massive 10% of global demand, has been seizing the opportunity of multi-year low prices to fill its own strategic and commercial oil reserves. They are expected to reach around 90% capacity by year’s end. Whether actual Chinese demand will return by then is another question altogether.
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