Healthcare
Strike of nearly 5,000 University of Illinois Health nurses and workers reaching a critical juncture
By Jessica Goldstein, 21 September 2020
The only way for service workers and nurses at UIC and UIH to combat poverty wages and the threat of the pandemic is to take their struggle into their own hands.
SEIU calls off health care strike in Minnesota after Allina hospital system threatens legal action
By Jonas Boquist, 21 September 2020
The cancellation of the strike comes as 4,000 workers at the University of Illinois at Chicago in SEIU Local 73 remain on picket lines in Chicago, Peoria, Rockford and Urbana.
UK firms awarded billions in NHS/government contracts amid failure of COVID-19 testing system
By Julie Hyland, 21 September 2020
The largest intended privatisation is the £100 billion-plus expansion of the national coronavirus testing programme “Operation Moonshot.”
As COVID-19 deaths approach one million
WHO condemns governments’ failure to prepare for pandemic
By Bryan Dyne, 21 September 2020
The pandemic has exposed the contradiction between the highly integrated nature of modern society and the outmoded and irrational nation-state system of capitalism.
Union shuts down nurses strike at University of Illinois Hospital in Chicago
By George Gallanis and Fabian Salgado, 19 September 2020
The Illinois Nurses Association ended the strike without a new contract and isolating 4,000 staffers on the picket line.
New cases of COVID-19 reach a one-day high of nearly 308,000 worldwide
By Benjamin Mateus and Patrick Martin, 15 September 2020
The number of new cases of COVID-19 hit a new one-day high of nearly 308,000 worldwide, bringing the global total to almost 30 million cases and 930,000 deaths. The United States alone will reach 200,000 deaths by mid-week.
Israel becomes first country to impose second national COVID-19 lockdown
By Jean Shaoul, 15 September 2020
Israel now tops the world rankings in the number of new COVID-19 cases per capita.
Four thousand University of Illinois at Chicago staff join striking nurses
By Kristina Betinis and Marcus Day, 15 September 2020
The now nearly 5,000 university health and staff workers are locked in a battle against the Democratic state leadership and must expand their struggle for health and safety.
Washington, DC mayor calls for reopening of public schools amid pandemic
By Nick Barrickman, 15 September 2020
The announcement comes despite a late-July decision banning in-person teaching throughout the fall.
Dramatic spike in Philippines’ coronavirus death toll
By Owen Howell, 15 September 2020
The official death toll reached 4,371 on Saturday, but the record of incorrect figures suggests that the real total could be much higher.
Hospital merger between Beaumont and Advocate-Aurora Health faces internal opposition
By Kevin Reed, 15 September 2020
The merger plans have been slowed down by opposition from Beaumont staff and a group of donors who are calling on the Board of Directors to fire the management team.
The precedents for disease eradication through international cooperation
Part one
By Frank Gaglioti, 15 September 2020
An examination of the historical record demonstrates that infectious diseases like COVID-19 can be eliminated.
“In the end, it is all about profit"
University of Illinois Hospital nurses strike over staff shortages, unsafe conditions
By Benjamin Mateus and George Gallanis, 14 September 2020
UIH nurses in Chicago walked out Saturday to demand patient limits and safe work environments.
Why did so many poor New Yorkers die of COVID-19?
By Josh Varlin, 12 September 2020
Inequality, including in-hospital care, determined whether thousands of people in New York City would die of COVID-19.
Mexico runs out of death certificates with 122,765 “excess deaths” reported during pandemic
By Norissa Santa Cruz and Carlos Reed, 12 September 2020
The Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has done nothing to prevent the virus from claiming the lives of tens of thousands, most of them poor workers.
Smoking in the age of COVID: Some immunological considerations
By Henry Hakamaki, 12 September 2020
Smoking and e-cigarettes are directly associated with increased risk of infection by the novel coronavirus.
University of Iowa students and staff respond to one-day sickout
By Brian Brown and Andy Thompson, 11 September 2020
University of Iowa faculty and students continue to protest against the administration’s reluctance to transition to 100 percent online learning, despite an additional 220 students who tested positive for COVID-19 in one day.
Iraqi health care workers threaten nationwide strike to demand resources to fight pandemic
By Jean Shaoul, 11 September 2020
Iraq had initially contained the pandemic with lockdown measures, but cases and deaths have more than doubled since early July, when the government began the gradual lifting of restrictions.
Australian study reveals rise in mental health problems during COVID-19 pandemic
By John Mackay, 10 September 2020
The data shows that services remain woefully inadequate to deal with the impact of the pandemic and its aftermath.
University of Illinois Hospital nurses poised to strike over unsafe staffing conditions
By Benjamin Mateus, 9 September 2020
UIH nurses in Chicago are set to begin a week-long strike over unsafe staffing ratios, which have provoked several stoppages by nurses across the country during the pandemic.
Mounting evidence of COVID-19 reinfection
By Henry Hakamaki, 31 August 2020
Several recent studies suggest that survivors of the coronavirus can come down with a second case after recovering from a first infection.
Under pressure from the White House, CDC issues guidelines for less COVID-19 testing
By Benjamin Mateus, 27 August 2020
The change in guidelines has been met with a barrage of anger and dismay among various health experts and physician groups who have repeatedly stated that the key to suppressing the infection is broad, mass testing of the population.
“We refuse to lay down our lives for profit or participate in a poorly designed, underfunded, deadly experiment”
Florida educators launch rank-and-file committee to oppose unsafe school openings
By Duval County Educators Rank-and-File Safety Committee, 27 August 2020
Teachers and their supporters have set up a rank-and-file safety committee in Duval County, Florida, which includes Jacksonville, the sixth largest school district in Florida, the state with the highest per capita infection rate in the US.
Low-income Canadians twice as likely to be hospitalized due to self-harm than the wealthiest
By Alexandra Greene, 27 August 2020
A recent study found that 25,000 Canadians were either hospitalized or died due to self-harm last year, the equivalent of about 70 self-harm incidents per day.
Australia: Official negligence led to mass health worker infections in Victoria
By Oscar Grenfell, 27 August 2020
Government claims that health staff had primarily contracted COVID-19 at home and in the community, as opposed to their places of employment, have been exposed as lies.
New York City preparing to lay off 400 EMS workers in advance of looming second wave of pandemic
By Ali Elhassan, 26 August 2020
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, is preparing to place the burden of the pandemic-triggered budgetary crisis on workers, including frontline health care workers.
US health care workers infected with COVID-19 pressured to return to work
By Alex Johnson, 25 August 2020
The failure of health care facilities and employers to provide adequate paid leave has left health care staff with the cruel “choice” of risking hunger and homelessness by forfeiting their paychecks or becoming transmitters of the coronavirus in their workplaces.
Australia: Sharp increase in COVID-19 among Victorian healthcare workers
By Margaret Rees, 21 August 2020
The Victorian Labor government is attempting to downplay the growing number of infected healthcare workers in Melbourne, Australia’s second largest city.
New excess death counts reveal more complete toll of coronavirus pandemic
By Bryan Dyne, 20 August 2020
As of mid-July, there were 178,500 excess deaths in just fifteen urban areas internationally, including New York City, Mexico City, Lima, Jakarta, Istanbul and Madrid.
Johnson government scraps Public Health England, accelerating break-up of National Health Service
By Robert Stevens, 20 August 2020
The main “crime” of PHE for the ruling elite was that it was part of a “bloated” NHS still not sufficiently responsive to the expertise and “flexibility” of the private sector.
COVID-19 overtakes accidents as third leading cause of death in the US as testing continues to decline
By Benjamin Mateus, 19 August 2020
Despite the deadly nature of the virus, which has already killed more than 175,000 in the US, testing capacity is declining as states move to resume in-school learning.
SAG-AFTRA’s Health Plan restructuring faces massive opposition
By Marc Wells, 19 August 2020
The restructuring of the US union’s health plan will reduce coverage for thousands of current and retired performers and media professionals, along with their families.
US health insurance companies reap billions as COVID-19 pandemic inflicts death and destitution
By Alex Johnson, 14 August 2020
The largest healthcare chains, including Anthem, Humana, and UnitedHealth Group, have reported second-quarter earnings at double the rate from the same period last year.
New outbreak of COVID-19 in New Zealand
By Tom Peters, 13 August 2020
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s government failed to undertake mass testing and left the country unprepared for a second outbreak of COVID-19.
Analysis shows 54,000 “excess deaths” in US, pointing to coronavirus death toll of 200,700
By Kate Randall, 12 August 2020
A new analysis shows that the number of deaths from the coronavirus has likely been undercounted by 37 percent.
“They are treating us all like pawns—we are the ones who suffer”
Health care workers rally across UK against unsafe conditions
By our reporters, 11 August 2020
Thousands of health workers took part in demonstrations and rallies across the UK demanding a pay rise and adequate protection from COVID-19.
“They spout in the news ‘thank you to health care heroes’ but what thanks do we get?”
US nurses’ poll shows appalling working conditions in the pandemic
By Julian James, 11 August 2020
The NNU study shows that only 24 percent of nurses think their employer is providing a safe workplace.
Why is the US doing less and less COVID-19 testing?
By Bryan Dyne, 11 August 2020
Without any serious explanation by the government, the number of tests being done every day in the United States has dropped significantly over the past two weeks.
US hits five million COVID-19 cases as testing declines and schools reopen
By Benjamin Mateus, 10 August 2020
The number of daily COVID-19 tests in the US has dropped significantly in recent weeks in line with the increasingly feverish drive to reopen the schools.
Unions’ big lie to Quebec health care workers battling the pandemic: “The government will protect you”
By Richard Dufour, 10 August 2020
With the unions unable and unwilling to defend them, health care workers must take matters into their own hands, to protect their own health and lives and those of the public.
US coronavirus death toll predicted to reach 295,000 by December
By Bryan Dyne, 8 August 2020
The IHME projection of nearly 300,000 deaths by December exposes the lie that it is safe to reopen the schools.
Columbia University pressures faculty into teaching in-person classes, triggering backlash
By Elliott Murtagh, 8 August 2020
Faculty and graduate instructors have denounced university demands they teach in-person classes during the planned fall campus reopening.
Health Commissioner forced out as New York City prepares to reopen schools amid national pandemic surge
By Josh Varlin, 7 August 2020
Dr. Oxiris Barbot’s ouster indicates a more open return to the herd immunity strategy that guided the city’s disastrous early response to the pandemic.
Dangerous conditions in Melbourne quarantine hotels helped cause Australia’s COVID-19 resurgence
By Martin Scott, 7 August 2020
Victoria’s state Labor Party government presided over the hiring of poorly-paid security guards with no infection control training.
Britain’s National Health Service workers demand pay rise amid COVID-19 crisis
By Rory Woods, 7 August 2020
Hundreds of health workers demonstrated in London last week and dozens of protests are scheduled in cities across the country this Saturday, organised by Facebook groups.
Theater on your personal device
The Line movingly conveys health care workers’ struggles during the pandemic
By Erik Schreiber, 7 August 2020
A powerful play based on interviews shows how New York City’s health care workers battled the pandemic as the health care system collapsed around them.
Stricter lockdown reimposed in Philippines as cases top 100,000
By Joseph Santolan, 4 August 2020
The Duterte administration has responded to the COVID-19 pandemic with authoritarianism and anti-scientific nonsense.
Mass unemployment to worsen in Australia following Victorian lockdown
By Mike Head, 4 August 2020
Workers, especially those in casual and insecure employment, will bear the burden of the sweeping “state of disaster” COVID-19 restrictions announced by Victoria’s Labor government.
Amid COVID-19 “disaster,” Australian state government announces limited workplace closures
By Oscar Grenfell, 4 August 2020
The measures were only announced after the Victorian surge of infections had spiralled out of control, sparking fears of a collapse of the healthcare system.
New COVID-19 infections take hold in first week of attempted cruise industry restart
By Tom Casey, 4 August 2020
Among the first ship operators to resume sailings, Norwegian-owned Hurtigruten suspended operation of two ships this weekend after 36 passenger and five crew tested positive for coronavirus.
COVID-19 takes hold in Papua New Guinea
By John Braddock, 4 August 2020
A surge of new COVID-19 cases has been recorded in the past 14 days, threatening to overwhelm the impoverished country’s ill-equipped healthcare system.
One month of the coronavirus pandemic: 7.2 million infected, 165,000 dead
By Bryan Dyne, 4 August 2020
July was the worst month yet in terms of new cases of COVID-19, as the pandemic continued to tear through the global population.
Baltimore’s Mercy Medical Center intensive care unit head physician dies of COVID-19
By Dominic Gustavo, 3 August 2020
Health care workers have been placed on the front lines of the pandemic as safety precautions such as social distancing have been lifted.
Six months since the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global public health emergency
By Benjamin Mateus, 1 August 2020
Nearly 700,000 people have succumbed to the pandemic over the past six months.
The coronavirus pandemic and the growing mental health crisis
By Ben Oliver, 1 August 2020
Dealing with the insidious uncertainty of COVID-19's spread is more like living with a domestic abuser or being deployed to a war zone.
Doctors at Michigan’s Beaumont Health submit no-confidence petition on eve of merger
By Stephen Fuller, 1 August 2020
A group of doctors at Michigan’s Beaumont Health system are submitting a no-confidence petition on the eve of a possible merger with Chicago-Milwaukee-based Advocate Aurora Health system.
COVID-19 deaths mount at GM plant and maquiladoras across Mexico
By Andrea Lobo, 30 July 2020
The state-owned oil company reported that 234 family members of workers have also died from coronavirus, highlighting the horrific human cost of the rush to reopen the economy.
Auto parts worker dies at Michigan Faurecia plant of unexplained causes
By Tim Rivers, 30 July 2020
Management at the Saline, Michigan plant has not released the cause of death, but coronavirus is widely suspected.
India set to surpass two million COVID-19 cases within days
By Wasantha Rupasinghe, 30 July 2020
While the government claims that it is mounting a “successful battle,” the virus is rampaging across the India, with half a million new infections in the past 12 days.
UK coronavirus infections and death rates increase as Johnson blames Europe
By Robert Stevens, 30 July 2020
The Tories’ aim is to divert attention from the resurgence of coronavirus infections in the UK due to their own criminal policies.
Record Australian COVID-19 deaths and infections
By Oscar Grenfell, 30 July 2020
Today’s toll of 723 infections and 13 deaths in Victoria demonstrates that the authorities have completely lost control of the state’s coronavirus surge.
Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine racket
By Bryan Dyne, 30 July 2020
Moderna’s exorbitant price point for its taxpayer subsidized vaccine exemplifies the corporate-financial elite’s exploitation of the coronavirus catastrophe for its selfish private gain.
Michigan Medicine laying off hundreds of workers despite ongoing pandemic
By George Kirby, 29 July 2020
The medical center owned by the University of Michigan is cutting the jobs of hundreds of nurses, emergency technicians and other hospital workers.
COVID-19 spreading widely in auto plants as Detroit automakers push for more production
By Shannon Jones, 23 July 2020
Reports continue of spreading COVID-19 infections at US auto plants as Detroit automakers are making clear that they will not permit even temporary shutdowns for cleaning and quarantining.
New coronavirus cases globally rocket past a quarter million
By Bryan Dyne, 23 July 2020
Multiple countries yesterday set new records in their daily death tolls, case counts or both.
California: 700 health care workers at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital on five-day strike
By Brian Dixon, 23 July 2020
Workers are protesting understaffing at the hospital, inadequate access to personal protective equipment, and management’s proposal to slash their benefits.
Widespread opposition as union sells out Joliet, Illinois nurses strike
By Alex Johnson, 23 July 2020
The Illinois Nurses Association isolated the courageous two-week strike and then pushed through a deal that does nothing to address dangerously high patient-to-nurse ratios.
Record daily coronavirus infections in Australia
By Patrick O’Connor, 23 July 2020
The pandemic has been exacerbated by the casualisation of the workforce that was engineered over the last four decades by successive Labor and Liberal governments.
Ongoing surge in COVID-19 cases across Pacific Island states
By John Braddock, 23 July 2020
The global health and economic crisis is having a catastrophic impact on the fragile and impoverished former colonies across the Pacific.
Health and safety of medical workers jeopardized by world leaders’ negligent response to the pandemic
By Benjamin Mateus, 21 July 2020
Health care workers have faced the brunt of the pandemic, with tens of thousands who have contracted the coronavirus and thousands who have died caring for those infected with COVID-19.
Australia: Hundreds of health workers in Victoria contract COVID-19
By Clare Bruderlin, 18 July 2020
A national survey of 500 healthcare workers found that half were experiencing PPE shortages and some were having to source their own supplies.
Millions of Americans are losing health insurance as joblessness skyrockets
By Alex Johnson, 17 July 2020
The pandemic has left approximately 5.4 million American workers uninsured between February and May, according to an analysis by the Families USA consumer advocacy group.
Two-week strike by Joliet, Illinois nurses in danger
By Benjamin Mateus and Jerry White, 17 July 2020
The nurses have taken a defiant stand not just for themselves but for all health care workers, but the unions are isolating their strike.
US drug overdose deaths soared to record highs in 2019
By Genevieve Leigh, 17 July 2020
Preliminary data shows that nearly 72,000 Americans died from drug overdoses last year, a staggering increase of 5 percent from 2018, and that the toll will be even higher this year.
Nearly 70,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in US prisons
By Sam Dalton, 16 July 2020
As the virus’s spread in prisons continues unabated, a new study shows the COVID-19 death rate for US inmates is triple the population at large.
Australian governments reject lockdowns, as Victoria hits highest daily infection toll
By Oscar Grenfell, 16 July 2020
Infections are spiralling out of control, because governments are refusing to implement measures that would impinge on the profits of the corporate elite.
Houston hospitals overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients as Texas continues to reopen
By Chase Lawrence, 14 July 2020
Coronavirus skyrockets in Texas’ largest city as reopening continues.
Joliet, Illinois nurses reject sellout contract, continue strike
By Benjamin Mateus, 13 July 2020
The nurses voted 393 to 154 to defeat the contract proposed by the Illinois Nurses Association, which did nothing to reduce the dangerously high patient-to-nurse ratios.
French trade unions agree to attacks on healthcare system amid coronavirus pandemic
By Will Morrow, 13 July 2020
As far as the capitalist class is concerned, if more workers die, particularly elderly workers no longer able to produce profits for employers, this can be a positive good.
North American autoworkers expand fight against unsafe conditions amid COVID-19 nightmare
By Shannon Jones, 11 July 2020
Fiat Chrysler Toledo Assembly workers in Ohio have decided to launch a rank-and-file safety committee, after similar committees were set up last month at two FCA plants in the Detroit area.
Pandemic surges in the Americas as the global death toll nears 560,000
By Kate Randall, 11 July 2020
The United States is leading the global toll of new COVID-19 cases and deaths, with nearly 3.2 million cases and 134,092 deaths as of Friday evening, about a quarter of the global total.
Striking Joliet, Illinois nurses should reject sellout deal
By Benjamin Mateus, 11 July 2020
AMITA Health St. Joseph Medical Center nurses in Joliet should reject the Illinois Nurses Association's deal, which does nothing to address chronic understaffing.
COVID-19 disrupts reopening of US professional sports
By Alan Gilman, 11 July 2020
Professional baseball, basketball, football and soccer are all attempting to resume play without live audiences, but dozens of athletes have fallen victim to coronavirus.
Lenox Hill: Portrait of New York City hospital obscures more than it shows
By Clara Weiss, 11 July 2020
Netflix is currently streaming the mini-series documentary Lenox Hill, which focuses on four doctors at the hospital of the same name in New York’s Manhattan.
“This is going to kill us—not coronavirus, but how broken the health care system is”
An Illinois nurse speaks out against corporate control of health care systems
By Jessica Goldstein, 10 July 2020
The nurse spoke to the WSWS after being furloughed for speaking out against a hospital’s corporate policies that discriminated against low-income patients during the pandemic.
Striking nurses in Joliet, Illinois denounce unsafe conditions at AMITA hospital
By Benjamin Mateus, 8 July 2020
Striking nurses spoke to WSWS reporters about their demands for adequate staffing and safe working conditions.
New York City EMS worker commits suicide
By Ali Elhassan, 8 July 2020
The warnings by mental health experts about the traumatic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on health care workers are now being tragically borne out.
The COVID-19 vaccine and the drive for profit
By Frank Gaglioti, 8 July 2020
As the pandemic rages across the planet, the struggle to develop a vaccine has become an urgent task. But the vaccines will be weaponized for geopolitical purposes, not to provide the treatments equitably on a global scale.
Over 700 Joliet, Illinois nurses go on strike for better wages and safe working conditions
By Benjamin Mateus and Kate Randall, 6 July 2020
Strikes of health care workers are part of a growing global response of workers across industries to the dangers posed by government back-to-work drives.
Zimbabwe nurses strike as economic crisis brings threat of second coup and military dictatorship
By Stephan McCoy, 4 July 2020
Emmerson Mnangagwa’s government is preparing to confront mounting opposition in the working class through dictatorial forms of rule and the abrogation of democratic rights—even as it is threatened by the possibility of a coup.
Riverside, California: HCA nurses strike continues as coronavirus takes its toll
By Alex Johnson, 4 July 2020
According to health officials, the confirmed active case count in Riverside bloated to 10,059 on Thursday, compared to 9,532 on Wednesday. The number of deaths due to COVID-19 stands at 465.
HPAE union betrays New Jersey nurses’ fight for PPE and better pay
By Erik Schreiber, 4 July 2020
New Jersey nurses must not allow their struggles to be strangled by the Health Professionals and Allied Employees union.
Tories resurrect cynical “Clap for Carers” on 72nd anniversary of the NHS
By Rory Woods, 4 July 2020
Sunday’s event insults the memory of hundreds of health and social care workers who died of COVID-19 trying to save the lives of others.
Letter from a New York City transit worker on miscarriages and pregnancy on the job
By our reporters, 3 July 2020
A New York City transit worker has written in to the WSWS describing the atrocious conditions faced by pregnant workers at the facilities run by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
“The company is taking risks with the lives of 5,000 workers”
As COVID-19 cases surge, Texas GM workers demand closure of factory
By Jerry White, 2 July 2020
Just days after Fiat Chrysler workers in Detroit halted production, GM workers in the Dallas-Ft. Worth area are demanding the closure of Arlington Assembly.
“Chrysler was telling everybody that it was safe to come back to work, and it’s not.”
Autoworkers at FCA Trenton Engine call for rank-and-file safety committees to fight COVID-19
By Tim Rivers, 2 July 2020
Autoworkers at the FCA Trenton Engine Plant south of Detroit called on their co-workers to build rank-and-file safety committees to fight the spread of COVID-19 in factories and save lives.
Arizona Department of Health Services activates plan to ration healthcare for COVID-19 patients
By Benjamin Mateus, 2 July 2020
As the pandemic surges throughout Arizona, the governor is seeking emergency support from the federal government to supplement the beleaguered hospital staff in hard-hit counties.
Riverside, California Nurses strike continues as ICU beds reach capacity
By Kevin Martinez, 2 July 2020
Nurses are protesting unsafe working conditions while county health officials announced this week that ICU beds were at 99 percent capacity
Respiratory therapist at New York’s Elmhurst Hospital describes horrors during COVID pandemic:
“The patients in March didn’t have to die like this, if we would have had more staff and better equipment to work with”
By Clara Weiss, 2 July 2020
At poor community hospitals like Elmhurst Hospital in Queens, patients were up to three times more likely to die from COVID-19 than they were in facilities in the richest parts of Manhattan.
Johnson pledges “New Deal” for UK as he prepares savage attack on workers
By Chris Marsden, 2 July 2020
Johnson is prime minister of a declining imperialist power, dominated politically, economically, and socially by a financial oligarchy whose sole concern is that the flood of wealth into its coffers continues.
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