WPSR Updates on COVID-19
WPSR urges you to consult the following resources for up to date information on the COVID-19 pandemic.
WPSR & COVID in the media
WHAt Lessons CAN WE LEARN from the COVID-19 CRisis?
Through a series of four talks spanning capitalism to cancer, WPSR board member, Dr. Stephen Bezruchka considers what lessons can be learned from the coronavirus pandemic. Click below to listen to Dr. Bezruchka’s full talks, which aired on Alternative Radio:
March 14: “The Coronavirus Pandemic”
March 29: “COVID-19 and Capitalism”
April 23: “Consequences of COVID-19”
July 30: “The Human Cancer in the COVID-19 Era”
WPSR President Mark Vossler, MD Interview on PRX RADIO
Health professionals with WA Physicians for Social Responsibility are calling for a halt to steep cuts to the state budget made by the governor after economic impacts of the COVID crisis first took hold. They say the $235 million in cuts will be felt most acutely by low-income people and communities of color. They're also sounding the alarm over a request that all state agencies conduct an exercise to show how they can slash their budgets by 15% for the coming year. Martha Baskin caught up with Mark Vossler, a Kirkland cardiologist who is president-elect of WA Physicians for Social Responsibility on a fuzzy phone line, and has our report.
WPSR BOARD MEMBER Stephen BEZRUCHKA IN SEATTLE TIMES
May 24: “…the health emergency also is a socio-economic crisis, said Stephen Bezruchka, a senior lecturer of health services at the UW. COVID-19 is hitting poor people harder, he said. “Social spending accomplishes much more than spending on medical care,” he said. “In our current situation, how can we increase social spending? It can only come from progressive taxation.”
Pandemics and air pollution collide as a global health threat
An April 10, 2020 OpEd in the Seattle Times by WPSR member Michael Soman and William H. Marks
WPSR Dispatches on COVID
Climate justice & COVID-19
April 10, 2020
Dear WPSR supporter,
Washington Physicians For Social Responsibility’s work to address the climate crisis is rooted in the strength of members. You make this work possible through your contributions of time, talent and financial support. Our progress in reducing carbon emissions and supporting healthy communities also depends upon our strong coalition partnerships -- including the Climate Alliance for Jobs & Clean Energy, Power Past Fracked Gas, and Stand Up to Oil.
New reports reveal that race, income, and prior exposure to fossil fuel pollution are all major risk factors for contracting and dying from COVID-19. People of color, low-income people, and those who can’t work from home are bearing the brunt of this crisis -- just as climate change disproportionately threatens these communities. We missed having Mustafa Santiago Ali speak to this issue of climate injustice at our annual dinner. Here is an important, brief video with him explaining just how the pandemic disproportionately harms vulnerable populations.
As our policymakers and communities respond to this crisis, it is more important than ever to call for just policies that address decades of environmental injustice, racism, and growing economic disparities. This crisis has opened up an opportunity to build a more resilient and equitable society. Recovery from the COVID-19 crisis must not be a reversion back to the status quo of fossil fuel subsidies, dependency, and pollution. Instead, we must continue to push for a transition to a safe, healthy and equitable clean energy future that also creates sustainable, living-wage jobs.
Now, as many WPSR health care professionals are working to directly care for COVID-19 patients, our Climate & Health Task Force is focused on standing with our coalition partners who represent those who have been most impacted by this public health crisis. Please consider supporting them and their efforts through the calls to actions below, and add your voice to call for just and community-centered response and recovery:
Front & Centered, a coalition of community of color-led organizations working towards climate justice, has created a rapid response fund to support critical needs. Please consider making a donation.
Unions representing health care and grocery workers in Washington, including Washington State Nurses Association, SEIU 775, and UFCW 21, are calling for personal protective equipment (PPE) and adequate support. Sign on to their petition here. Do you have any spare PPE? Find out how you can donate it to health care workers here.
La Resistencia, an immigrant justice organization part of our Power Past Fracked Gas coalition that advocates for the closure of the ICE immigrant detention facility in Tacoma, is calling for vulnerable detainees to be released. See their calls to action and add your voice to support those who are detained and unable to access health care and socially distance.
The focus now, and for the foreseeable future, will continue to be on this pandemic. With environmental regulations still being rolled back, even in the midst of this crisis, and fossil fuel prices plummeting, the COVID-19 pandemic has major implications for our work on climate change. We will need to be flexible, and to shift our work in recognition of this new reality. WPSR will continue to fight for a healthy and safe environment for all. We will continue to work closely with our coalition allies so that the voices of those most affected are heard by our local, state and federal elected officials.
UPDATE on COVID-19 and the Crisis of Nuclear Weapons
April 6, 2020
We on the WPSR Nuclear Weapons Abolition Task Force are outraged by the poor protection of our population by the Administration during the current COVID-19 pandemic. Federal spending for nuclear weapons last year was $35 billion, an amount that could have covered the cost of 300,000 beds in ICUs, 35,000 ventilators, and the annual salaries of 150,000 US nurses, according to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
The crisis of coronavirus should be a wake up call to our leaders in Congress to drastically shift our federal spending priorities to divest from military spending on nuclear weapons and invest in extraordinary costs of treatment, flattening the curve, and a just relief and recovery for the the current COVID-19 pandemic. We believe the replacement of our nuclear arsenal is both wasteful and militarily provocative. It takes away from resources needed to rebuild federal and state public health systems, underfunded for over a decade. The funds going to nuclear arsenal replacement would be better spent on economic recovery, detailed to the right.
Read more about national nuclear weapons spending on ICAN's website.
The COVID-19 pandemic demands swift and unprecedented action from the federal government. The depth of the crisis and the scope of the response mean that choices being made right now will shape our society for years, if not decades to come. As policymakers take steps to ensure immediate relief and long-term recovery beyond the $2 trillion already slated for recovery from the pandemic, it is imperative that they recognize how wealth inequality, denial of climate science, racism, and rebuilding our weapons of mass destruction, all in place long before COVID-19, are integrally related and now contribute to the calamitous health and economic deterioration.
This is a time to be decisive in saving lives, and bold in charting a path to a genuinely healthier and more equitable future through a just recovery.
Dr. Joe Berkson, co-chair of the WPSR nuclear weapons task force, said, “As physicians, deeply disturbed by the mass health impacts of the COVID-19 crisis, we urge all Washington State Members of Congress to uphold just principles for COVID-19 Relief and Stimulus, including:
Health is the top priority, for all people, with no exceptions
Provide economic relief directly to the people
Rescue workers and communities, not corporate executives
Make a down payment on a regenerative economy, while preventing future crises
Protect our democratic process while protecting each other
The government must ensure health protections to cover all people, including low-wage workers, health workers, independent contractors, family farmers, Black and Latinx communities, undocumented immigrants, Indigenous peoples, people who are incarcerated, people who are homeless or housing insecure, and others likely to be hit first and worst by COVID-19 and the economic downturn.
We support the calls of community leaders, public health organizations, unions, and others for free and accessible testing, treatment, and protective equipment; expanded hospital capacity, including in rural areas, territories, and tribal lands. There must be paid sick leave and paid family medical leave for all workers without exception; expanded federal funding for Medicaid; and full funding for Indian Health Service and urban Indian health centers.
While we urgently need a large, short-term rescue package to protect the health and economic security of those on the front lines of the COVID-19 crisis, it is also imperative that policymakers also plan for a large, medium-term stimulus to counteract the economic downturn and ensure a just recovery. That should Include public investments to rebuild our infrastructure, replace lead pipes, expand wind and solar power, build clean and affordable public transit, weatherize our buildings, build and repair public housing, and support regenerative agriculture led by family farmers.
We thank the Members of Congress who have already voted for and advocated that these policies be urgently implemented to provide relief.
COVID-19 carries a special importance to the nuclear disarmament movement because individuals and communities impacted by the research, development, testing, and production of nuclear weapons have many exposures which magnify their risks, including radioactive and toxic chemical exposures, air and water pollution, poverty, poor nutrition, and institutionalized racism. Members of communities affected by nuclear weapons are at risk for immunodeficiency: veterans and civilians exposed to radiation through above-ground nuclear testing, uranium miners, residents near abandoned mines and waste sites, and those who worked in nuclear production sites. These exposed populations are disproportionately from indigenous communities, communities of color, low-income, or rural communities.
Many frontline communities in Washington State lived downwind from the plutonium processing facility at Hanford. Many were workers at the facility where they were exposed to radiation during the production phase of nuclear weapons and currently with the cleanup of the contaminated facility. The legacy of Hanford on ancestral lands also creates healthcare challenges for nations including Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Wanapum.
Uranium mined on tribal lands for nuclear weapons exposed communities of the Spokane Tribe for a half century. As the Sovereignty Health Air Water Land (SHAWL) Society describes it: “our families on the Navajo and Spokane Reservation are at extremely high risk with limited to no access to basic PPE, medical support services and healthy food. There are symptomatic staff in both the local IHS clinic and HHS which provide support to disabled and patients with medical needs.” It is time for nuclear justice for these communities.
We commit to working with all members to get progressive legislation to help our population recover, and prevent poor governmental performance in the future.
The open-pit Midnite Mine, which provided radioactive material for nuclear weapons, closed operations in 1981.
UPDATE & CALLS TO ACTION FROM WPSR’s ECONOMIC INEQUITY PROGRAM
March 31, 2020
Today we write to you as we all face a pandemic of unprecedented proportions that is spreading rapidly, killing mainly the elderly and the chronically ill but also some previously healthy people, and testing the limits of our health care systems. It is also profoundly affecting the daily experiences of individuals, families, children, workers, businesses and entire communities across our state and beyond. At WPSR, our thoughts are with all of you as we all navigate the challenges of these uncertain times.
While the full health and economic impacts of COVID-19 are not yet known, we do know that this public health emergency is highlighting and exacerbating existing social, economic, and health inequalities. As an organization long concerned about the health impacts of inequality, we are particularly alarmed at how COVID-19 is disproportionately affecting the communities who can least afford the loss of income, school, childcare, and access to health services.
We are rapidly turning our attention to how we can support those suffering today. This pandemic will require a robust, multi-level response addressing the structural frailties and policy gaps that leave many in our communities disproportionately vulnerable to the many impacts of COVID-19. Among those most affected include undocumented immigrants without access to cash assistance, people living in poverty, and those workers without flexible/remote work options, robust benefits, or paid sick/family leave. At WPSR, we are thinking about how to mitigate future public health crises - particularly how to lessen the number, and vulnerability, of those who already face outsized hardship during the best of times, and suffer even more during times like these.
Please read on to learn more about how COVID-19 is impacting - and is impacted by - economic inequity in Washington state, and how you can help.
Here are some simple but powerful actions you can take NOW:
Do no harm, and stay healthy: The most important and urgent thing anyone can do is to continue to practice social distancing and frequent and thorough hand hygiene. It is our collective responsibility to not transmit the virus to vulnerable populations, particularly the elderly and the chronically ill. To find or provide support in your community, visit the Mutual Aid Hub.
Be a voice for the most vulnerable: We must doggedly point out to decision-makers, and the public, that the economic impacts of this crisis place a massively disproportionate burden on low-income households. Please, join us in advocating for policies, such as The People’s Bailout, that support a just economic response and recovery to the pandemic. We also urge you to express your support for Sen. Murray’s PAID Leave Act which would expand federal funding for paid sick and family leave to protect at-risk workers.
Advocate for significant post-pandemic social change: It is essential to use this crisis as an opportunity for change for a better future. It is essential to redirect federal funds from the military to areas of true national security including public health, health care access, mitigation of climate change and - most importantly - reducing economic inequity. Joining WPSR gives you opportunities to work alongside other healthcare professionals and concerned citizens on systemic policy change to protect public health and ensure a just recovery from the COVID crisis.
Click here to be added to WPSR’s Economic Inequity Mailing List
Below we've put together a list of additional calls to action and news items focused on COVID-19 and inequity. And stay tuned to WPSR for more information from our Economic Inequity Program as we continue to develop our response to the evolving COVID-19 crisis and recovery.
What you can do now: COVID calls to action
Not all residents of Washington currently have access to life-saving testing, treatment, or care needed for COVID-19. Please contact Governor Inslee and your state legislator’s office to demand free COVID-19 testing and treatment for all Washington state residents, regardless of insurance or immigration status.
Sign Got Green's Emergency Justice Petition in Response to COVID-19. Many demands listed in this petition aim to reduce the inequitable economic impacts of COVID-19 across Washington State, including through suspending housing payments and expanding cash assistance.
Sign Physicians for Social Responsibility’s Take Action Petition to pass an economic stimulus package that doesn't reward polluters, exacerbate the climate change crisis, worsen environmental injustice, or fail to address the critical needs of workers and their families.
Suggested Reading on COVID-19 and Inequity
NY Times: "As Coronavirus Deepens Inequality, Inequality Worsens Its Spread"
The Atlantic: "The Coronavirus Will Be a Catastrophe for the Poor"
World Economic Forum: "Coronavirus: a pandemic in the age of inequality"
Al Jazeera: "What coronavirus has taught us about inequality"
PBS: "How health care inequity could make the COVID-19 crisis worse"
UPDATE ON COVID-19 FROM WPSR PRESIDENT DR. MARK VOSSLER
March 16, 2020
Dear WPSR members and supporters,
Faced with a public health crisis of uncertain but potentially devastating proportions, there seems to be more concern on the part of the Federal government for preserving the gains of the investor class than protecting the health of all Americans. If this isn’t a call to action for health professionals to change the debate I don’t know what is. The series of events of the past two weeks have given us cause to seriously reflect on our work at WPSR as we advocate for policies to promote the safety, health, and well being of our community and the human community at large. We are, of course, shaken by the impact of the COVID-19 outbreak in our state and beyond. As of this writing, there have been 904 reported cases in Washington and 48 deaths. In times of tragedy like these, we look at our work and ask if we are focusing on the right things, areas where we can have a real impact. We are humbled by our limits and motivated to do better.
I am extremely proud of the work being done by the medical and nursing staff at our local hospitals. Their dedication and perseverance in the face of adversity are commendable. Our state and county health department have been working diligently on this despite their limited resources. Our governor, state legislature and Congress are taking this seriously and allocating additional resources to combat the outbreak. Congress has wisely passed an $8.3 billion emergency spending bill to address the crisis. Needless to say, resources are not unlimited and it is still possible that this crisis will outstrip our ability to manage it.
The optimal response to an infectious agent that has no specific antimicrobial treatment includes social distancing and quarantine. Working from home and having your children home from school might be an option for affluent and white-collar households, but is much more difficult for those working in retail, health care, and other services. There are children who depend on schools for meals and shelter. Many workers - many of our neighbors - live paycheck to paycheck. The communities most likely to be affected are those with lower incomes and people of color. Lower-paid workers often feel pressured to work while sick. They are typically the first to be laid off, the most likely to lose health care benefits (if they have them in the first place) and therefore the most likely to suffer health consequences that go above and beyond the offending infectious agent. Economic inequity, therefore, limits our resilience in the face of this emergency and those to come. The current pandemic is almost certain to further widen this inequity. If a recession follows, workers and small business owners from low-income communities and communities of color will suffer the brunt of job losses, pay cuts, and plummeting sales, while the more affluent are positioned to weather the downturn by drawing on their wealth. We will, therefore, continue to advocate for guaranteed paid medical leave, an increase in the federal minimum wage, and a more progressive tax system in both our state and our nation.
At Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility, we continue to work to prevent what we cannot cure. However, it is overly tempting for health professionals to think of preventive medicine strictly in terms of personal responsibility: lose weight, exercise, don’t smoke, eat your vegetables, wear your seatbelt, avoid alcohol, etc. People are not dying of COVID-19 because they are irresponsible. They are dying because our global society lacks the means to contain the virus, pure and simple. They are dying because they are vulnerable and we as a society are unable to protect them. Our society is in poor health, and we need to correct that if we are to have any chance at all at preserving individual health. Fundamental to the crises of health we are facing are economic and governance systems designed to preserve power and privilege for the few, to the detriment of the health of the many.
The coronavirus pandemic points out the need to prepare for other human health crises, such as the spread of vector-borne diseases as a result of climate change, extreme weather events, and the horrific consequences of a nuclear attack. Our budgetary priorities are grossly misplaced with our federal government positioned to spend $50 billion annually on nuclear weapons. Rather than spend that money on increasing the risk of the extinction of humanity let’s spend it on protecting human health. Fully fund the CDC and local health departments, ensure that every American has a living income, and mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis. Let’s hold our leaders accountable to the needs of the people.
So, our work on health-based advocacy remains crucial. We know that the majority of Americans agree with us. We know that as health professionals we lend a level of credibility to these ideas that cannot be dismissed. We have the privilege of the talent and resources to make a difference and therefore have an obligation to advocate for the health of our patients and all of humanity. Every one of you has a part to play.
Your support of WPSR ensures that we will continue our tireless efforts to ensure health, peace, and justice for all Washingtonians. We are inspired by compassion, and undaunted by the odds -- this is even more true during times like these when we have a greater responsibility and opportunity to act. There has never been a more important time to join us in our fight against grave threats to human health and survival. Please visit www.wpsr.org/support to engage, stay informed, and to contribute to our critical cause.
In peace and health,
Mark Vossler, MD
President
Washington Physicians for Social Responsibility
P.S. Please continue to do your part to “flatten” the transmission curve by practicing good hygiene and social distancing. Visit our COVID-19 website for WPSR updates and responses to the coronavirus crisis: www.wpsr.org/covid
UPDATE ON WPSR POLICIES AND PRACTICES DURING THE COVID-19 OUTBREAK
March 12, 2020
Dear Friends of WPSR,
At Washington PSR, we are doing our part to keep our communities safe from the novel coronavirus (COVID-19). Public health experts’ understanding of the situation is evolving rapidly and we encourage you to continually check with the World Health Organization, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Washington Department of Health and your local county health department for the latest information.
From now through April 1st, subject to change, WPSR is adopting the following organizational policies, which may affect our involvement as host or attendee of meetings and events:
WPSR staff will not be convening or attending in-person meetings and will instead plan to hold meetings over phone or by video conference, or will be postponing meetings until further notice. This includes already scheduled meetings, which we are in the process of switching to a virtual format. WPSR volunteers are asked to do the same (please email us if you would like assistance setting up video conferencing).
We will not be sending staff or volunteers to meetings, conferences, or other WPSR-related activities that require travel or involve being in close physical contact with others. This is both to protect our staff from contracting the virus as well as to protect others from transmission, as it appears that people with no symptoms can be carriers of the disease.
Per current public health guidelines, we encourage everyone to wash hands regularly and thoroughly, refrain from shaking hands, avoid touching your face, and do not go out in public if you have a fever or cough. If you are feeling ill, contact your healthcare provider.
We also want to express our concern for those who are bearing the greatest burdens of this outbreak, and to highlight that COVID-19 is accentuating and exacerbating existing inequities in our communities. People without paid sick leave, the elderly, Asian Americans, and others are bearing an increased burden as the outbreak unfolds. We urge all to resist baseless fear and xenophobia, and to seek ways to support those who may be suffering from the health, economic, and social impacts of COVID-19.
Finally, we recognize and applaud the many frontline health care providers working around the clock to care for patients at this time. We will continue to assess the situation, track recommendations and best practices from multiple public health agencies, and update our policies accordingly. Should you have any questions about how this may impact upcoming WPSR-supported events or meetings, please contact us.
Wishing you - and your communities - peace and health,
Max Savishinsky
Executive Director
A message to WPSR supporters about COVID-19
Dear WPSR members and supporters,
We are disappointed to have to cancel our annual dinner in the face of a public health state of emergency in our region but there really is no other responsible choice. COVID-19 transmission rates are 0.5% in the general public and 10% in close contacts. With the infection now endemic in our area a gathering of 300 plus people in an enclosed space presents an unacceptable risk of propagation of the virus. Although 80% of those infected have minimal or mild symptoms 5% will require critical care treatment and 1.6% will die.
In yesterday’s press release Seattle King County Public Health specifically recommended that people over the age of 60 and/or those suffering from chronic heart, and lung disease or who are immunocompromised or pregnant avoid attending large public gatherings. Faced with the serious nature of this epidemic we all need to do our part to contain it. Up until now, we have held off making any official statements from WPSR regarding this crisis preferring to leave space for our public health professionals to lead and advise us. I encourage you to keep posted on information from the Centers for Disease Control, Washington Department of Health, and Seattle/King County Public Health Department.
Other general advice from King County Public Health includes the following:
Do not go to the emergency room unless essential. Emergency rooms need to be able to serve those with the most critical needs. If you have symptoms like cough, fever, or other respiratory problems, contact your regular doctor first.
Stay home when sick
Practice excellent personal hygiene habits, including handwashing, coughing into tissue or elbow, avoid touching eyes, nose, or mouth.
Stay away from people who are ill and avoid large public gatherings, especially if you are 60 and older or have underlying health conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, or a weakened immune system.
Many of you know that I practice at Evergreen Hospital in Kirkland. The outbreak in one of our local skilled nursing facilities has put me, and my colleagues, at the center of this outbreak. I am extremely proud of the work being done by the hospitalists, and pulmonary and critical care specialists at Evergreen. I am also deeply grateful for the work being done by our friends at the county and state health departments. They are going above and beyond with the limited resources they have at their disposal.
This current epidemic has implications for our work advocating for a reduction in inequity and adaptations to the climate crisis and refocusing our resources on improving health and well being and away from building and maintaining nuclear weapons. We are in deep learning mode during this time of trouble. Expect to hear more on this in the near future.
Mark R. Vossler, MD
President