Healthcare
The New York Times’ Nicholas Kristof demands immediate reopening of schools
By Evan Blake, 26 February 2021
The purpose of Kristof’s article is to pollute popular consciousness and pressure local Democrats tasked with enforcing the homicidal policy of reopening schools.
Canada’s indigenous population faces elevated infection rate, lack of health care as COVID-19 runs rampant
By Alexandra Greene, 26 February 2021
The COVID-19 infection rate among First Nations people living on-reserve is 40 percent higher than that of the Canadian population as a whole.
Elderly bear the brunt of Texas power outage catastrophe
By Tony Jackson, 26 February 2021
A disproportionate amount of preventable human suffering fell on the oldest, most isolated, and most dependent members of society.
Sri Lankan government mobilises army to break health workers’ strike
By Sakuna Jayawardena, 26 February 2021
None of the health service unions, nor any other trade union, has opposed or condemned the Rajapakse government’s deployment of the military.
The dominant variant of the coronavirus in California has acquired dangerous mutations
By Benjamin Mateus, 25 February 2021
A new variant of the coronavirus was discovered in California, dubbed CAL.20C. The mutation, L452R, appears to make the virus more contagious.
Calls mount for investigation of Governor Cuomo in New York nursing homes scandal
By Josh Varlin, 25 February 2021
The real scandal is not the Cuomo’s alleged “bullying,” but the massive death toll in nursing homes.
800,000 COVID-19 deaths in Europe: capitalism, social murder and the case for socialism
By Alex Lantier, 24 February 2021
The catastrophic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is not only a tragedy, but a comprehensive political and moral failure of the existing social order.
Massachusetts nurses vote to strike for safe staffing ratios
By Ben Oliver, 24 February 2021
Nurses at St. Vincent Hospital in Worcester, Massachusetts, without a contract since November 2019, on February 10 gave their overwhelming approval for strike action for safer working conditions and patient outcomes.
Global vaccination at the mercy of competing national interests
By Jean Shaoul, 24 February 2021
Control over vaccine distribution strengthens the major powers’ political and economic influence—their “soft power”—over allies and enemies alike
Media censors British Medical Journal description of pandemic deaths as “social murder”
By Robert Stevens, 23 February 2021
Finely attuned to the threat from below, Britain’s ruling elite understands the implications of any public discussion of the issue of social murder as it prepares to end the “last lockdown,” with the virus and its dangerous mutations allowed to rip through the population once again to deadly effect.
UK: Pandemic death toll among care home residents soars past 50,000
By Stephen Alexander, 23 February 2021
Researchers at the University of Manchester have found that COVID-19 deaths were “hugely underestimated” in the first wave.
Canada’s governments lift COVID-19 restrictions despite warnings of deadly third wave
By Frédéric Charlebois and Roger Jordan, 23 February 2021
Flying in the face of warnings from Canada’s chief medical officer and numerous other experts, Canada’s governments are accelerating the “reopening” of the economy even as more contagious variants of the virus take root.
Half a million dead in the US from coronavirus pandemic: Catastrophe, crime and historical turning point
By Joseph Kishore, 23 February 2021
The catastrophic loss of life in the US is the outcome of deliberate decisions made by the ruling class and its political representatives to prioritize profit over lives.
Sri Lanka health workers discuss need for action committees at public meeting
Our correspondents, 21 February 2021
Over 60 people, including doctors, nurses and other health staff, the participated in the Health Workers’ Action Committee at Peradeniya Teaching Hospital public meeting earlier this month.
The Lancet reveals impact of COVID-19 on health care workers
By Kevin Martinez, 20 February 2021
The British medical journal describes how frontline workers have had to face higher than average rates of burnout, anxiety, depression and isolation during the global pandemic.
Teachers and health workers strike amid back-to-school campaign in Brazil
By Eduardo Parati and Brunna Machado, 19 February 2021
Faced with enormous opposition from teachers, the Brazilian ruling class fears that the return to classes will provoke a nationwide wave of struggles beyond the control of the unions and pseudo-left parties.
Storm and blackouts endanger Texas health system
By Benjamin Mateus, 19 February 2021
Winter storm Uri has thrown Texas into a temporary dark age. Health systems are grappling with the loss of power, potable water, and burst water mains. People are crowding warming centers and emergency rooms.
Netanyahu lifts Israel’s third lockdown despite warnings of renewed surge in March
By Jean Shaoul, 18 February 2021
With each of the second and third surges seeing a higher death toll than the previous one, 5,441 Israelis have now died. Last Saturday, there were still 992 patients in hospital—after weeks of hovering around 1,200—of whom 388 were in critical condition
Biden falsely downplays dangers of COVID-19 in schools
By Evan Blake, 18 February 2021
At a CNN town hall event Wednesday, Biden made his most direct intervention into the campaign to reopen schools, falsely claiming that children and their families are not endangered by the reopenings.
BBC Hospital series explores crisis faced by UK’s National Health Service during COVID-19 pandemic
By Ben Trent, 17 February 2021
The series amounts to an indictment of the government’s policy during the pandemic and the impact of decades of cuts on the NHS—facts that will not be lost on Hospital ’s many viewers.
Oregon and other US states prioritize vaccinating educators in order to boost profits
By David Fitzgerald, 16 February 2021
Numerous US states plan to vaccinate teachers in the first phase of vaccinations as a means to reopen schools, regardless of the extent of community spread.
New York Governor Cuomo embroiled in political crisis over coverup of nursing home deaths
By Josh Varlin, 16 February 2021
The revelation that data on nursing home deaths was withheld from state legislators for months underscores the bipartisan nature of the ruling class response to the pandemic, which prioritizes profit over lives.
Johnson government plans UK National Health Service “overhaul” to streamline privatisation
By Thomas Scripps, 16 February 2021
The White Paper formalises the process of privatisation and outright cronyism that ran riot during the pandemic.
New Zealand towns’ drinking water contaminated with lead
By Tom Peters, 13 February 2021
Residents of Waikouaiti and Karitāne are demanding answers after dangerous levels of lead were detected in their drinking water.
Five public Los Angeles vaccination sites forced to close due to lack of doses
By Shawn Velia, 13 February 2021
Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti has announced that five vaccination sites must close for at least two days due to an inadequate supply of COVID-19 vaccine, leaving thousands in the lurch.
California nursing home workers strike as state surpasses New York for most COVID deaths
By Kevin Martinez and Norisa Diaz, 13 February 2021
The nursing home has seen 34 patients die from COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic.
California study highlights dangers of COVID-19 pandemic to the working class
By Bryan Dyne, 13 February 2021
Essential workers, whom the research defined as those in the “food/agriculture, transportation/logistics, facilities, and manufacturing sectors,” experienced a 22 percent higher mortality rate than they did in the four years before the pandemic.
Why do US health care workers continue to refuse vaccination against COVID-19?
By Katy Kinner, 12 February 2021
Haunted by the inadequate, criminal, chaotic and disorganized response by the ruling class to the coronavirus pandemic, some health care workers turn away from a safe and efficacious vaccine.
Air pollution crisis in South Asia causing massive loss of pregnancies
By Vijith Samarasinghe, 12 February 2021
The ruling elites of South Asia have no interest in allocating the urgently necessary resources to implement air pollution abatement measures to save millions of lives, including the unborn.
“Our society is sick:” The Lancet condemns American capitalism
By Andre Damon, 11 February 2021
The Lancet, one of the world’s premiere medical journals, argues that the dead from COVID-19 in the US should be added to the toll of “missing Americans” whose deaths were attributable to the rise of social inequality over the past four decades.
Doctors predict global mental health crisis to persist post-pandemic
By Ben Oliver, 11 February 2021
A survey found that 86 percent of 3,334 doctors from 24 countries believe that the most significant non-virus-related public health issue when the pandemic subsides will be mental health and depression.
Doctors move on as the Heights Hospital in Houston, Texas remains shuttered indefinitely
By Chase Lawrence, 11 February 2021
The abrupt closure of the hospital was a violation of state law, which states that ceasing the care of a patient with less than a 30-day notice is illegal. In this case, there was no notice.
Europe passes three quarters of a million COVID-19 deaths
By Robert Stevens, 10 February 2021
The capitalist class is at war with society. The scale of death being witnessed in Europe and across the globe is unprecedented outside of wartime.
Los Angeles Hospital slated for closure amid pandemic
By Elizabeth Cabrera and Norisa Diaz, 10 February 2021
The impending closure of the Olympia Medical Center Hospital in Los Angeles County in the midst of a pandemic shows the irrationality of health care run for profit.
Peru in COVID-19 lockdown as new Brazilian variant exposes murderous “herd immunity” policy
By Miguel Andrade, 10 February 2021
The new lockdown in Peru follows a horrific resurgence of the pandemic in neighboring Brazil’s Amazon capital Manaus, which experts blame squarely on the “herd immunity” policy.
Czech Republic clinics collapse as pandemic rages
By Markus Salzmann, 8 February 2021
The coronavirus pandemic is assuming increasingly dramatic forms in the Czech Republic.
British Medical Journal calls pandemic response “social murder”
By Andre Damon, 7 February 2021
The editorial published in one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious medical periodicals is a devastating indictment of the policies of governments around the world in response to the pandemic.
Experts warn Hawaii on the brink of major COVID-19 outbreak and hospital overcrowding catastrophe
By Angelo Perera, 6 February 2021
With hospitalization rates rising, health officials have warned that zero percent ICU capacity could be reached in the next two weeks.
How Royal Bournemouth Hospital management put patient and staff safety in jeopardy: A frontline nurse explains
6 February 2021
Hospital management pretended that they could look after Covid and non-Covid patients along with other elective patients, without adequate staff and resources. This has failed miserably, with severe consequences.
Major hospital in Chile goes up in flames amid near collapse of public health system
By Mauricio Saavedra, 3 February 2021
The fire that engulfed San Borja Hospital in Santiago, Chile bears the hallmarks of decades of under-resourcing the public health system by both right-wing and “left” governments.
Royal Bournemouth Hospital blacklists World Socialist Web Site
By Rory Woods and Thomas Scripps, 2 February 2021
Instead of addressing the grievances highlighted in the frontline nurse’s letter, University Hospitals Dorset NHS Foundation Trust management is desperately trying to shut down any discussion in the workforce about patient and staff safety.
Vaccination debacle in Germany exacerbates spread of new variants
By Marianne Arens, 2 February 2021
While politicians are demanding the reopening of schools and businesses, new variants of the virus are spreading widely throughout Germany.
Capitalism vs. socialism: The pandemic and the global class struggle
By David North, 31 January 2021
One year since the World Health Organization declared the coronavirus a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” the response of the ruling class to the pandemic has led to the deaths of more than 2.2 million people.
The right to breathe: COVID-19 and the scarcity of medicinal oxygen for the developing world
By Benjamin Mateus, 31 January 2021
Medicinal oxygen is essential for the treatment of severe and critical COVID-19 infections. Yet the developing world, seeing a surge in cases, faces a dire shortage of this life-saving treatment.
Far-right protesters temporarily shut down COVID-19 vaccinations at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles
By Shawn Velia, 31 January 2021
The Los Angeles Police Department allowed a few dozen right-wing anti-vaccine and anti-lockdown demonstrators to block traffic into Dodger Stadium, forcing a shutdown of the vaccination site for nearly an hour Saturday afternoon.
Shut down schools and businesses to stop the spread of new COVID-19 strains!
By Bryan Dyne, 30 January 2021
The more than 102 million confirmed cases of the coronavirus pandemic worldwide have provided ample opportunity for the virus to mutate and become even more dangerous.
A letter from a frontline nurse at Royal Bournemouth Hospital “We are in a perilous situation”
30 January 2021
“We saw this coming from the first wave of the pandemic and colleagues sounded the alarm by speaking out. But these warnings have fallen on deaf ears.”
Sri Lanka online public meeting: Build workers’ action committees to win health workers’ rights!
By Health Workers Action Committee of Peradeniya Teaching Hospital, 29 January 2021
All health workers are invited to participate in this vital online meeting on February 7 to discuss how to protect ourselves and other workers from the danger of COVID-19 infections and to defend our rights.
Clinic closures in Germany continue despite pandemic
By Markus Salzmann, 29 January 2021
The pandemic, which has now been raging for a year, urgently requires an expansion of health care, but 21 clinics across Germany were closed down last year.
COVID-19 infections among UK nursery workers deepens funding crisis
By Harvey Thompson, 29 January 2021
As the pandemic worsens, nurseries and early years settings nationwide are describing their workplaces as deadly environments, having to operate within a financial crisis.
As pandemic continues in China, lack of resources provokes social media protests
By Jerry Zhang, 28 January 2021
The government’s COVID-19 prevention and control system is facing tremendous pressure and fuelling popular discontent.
Opposition mounts to Spanish government’s refusal to implement coronavirus measures
By Alice Summers, 28 January 2021
The blame for the explosion of cases and deaths in Spain lies squarely on the shoulders of the Socialist Party (PSOE)-Podemos government, which has refused point-blank to take any serious measures to control the pandemic.
Australian governments lift safety restrictions despite COVID-19 dangers and vaccine doubts
By Martin Scott, 28 January 2021
The back-to-workplaces drive is being escalated, even though vaccine roll-outs have not begun.
An interview with Dr. Arthur Caplan, professor of bioethics at New York University, on the COVID-19 pandemic
By Benjamin Mateus, 27 January 2021
Dr. Arthur Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor of Bioethics at NYU’s Langone Medical Center and the founding director of the Division of Medical Ethics.
Nevada sees record number of COVID-19 deaths
By Hong Jian and Dan Conway, 26 January 2021
The policy of herd immunity is being deliberately cultivated in Nevada as casinos, logistics and other industries have continued to operate as normal with little to no protections in place to stop the spread of the virus.
Union pushes through contract to avert strike of Hawaii nurses
By Angelo Perera, 26 January 2021
Despite lower infection rates than the US mainland, COVID-19 infection rates in Hawaii have been on the rise, with total infections increasing by 29 percent since the beginning of December.
Houston, Texas hospital remains locked over financial dispute, putting hundreds of patients at risk
By Chase Lawrence, 25 January 2021
It is an absolute indictment of the for-profit healthcare system and the financial oligarchs that benefit from it that hospitals should be shut down in the middle of a pandemic, let alone when 83 million already lack sufficient access to primary healthcare, in the richest country in the world.
Johnson government warns UK COVID-19 strain more deadly as hospitals buckle under pressure
By Robert Stevens, 25 January 2021
The Johnson government has been able to oversee such death and destruction only because they are governing in a de facto coalition with the Labour Party and the trade unions.
Spain’s rich and powerful secretly monopolised COVID-19 vaccines
By Alejandro López and Alex Lantier, 23 January 2021
The ruling class orders workers and youth back to work and school, knowing thousands will get sick and die, knowing they can illegally obtain the vaccine for themselves.
Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness exposes stark global inequalities in COVID-19 response
By Benjamin Mateus, 22 January 2021
The second report from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response is a thorough indictment of the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Corporatization of Canada’s virtual health services part of broader privatization drive
By Penny Smith, 22 January 2021
Telecommunications giant Telus is exploiting desperate patients who lack timely access to healthcare services, the need for social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic, and rising chronic illness to significantly expand its presence in the health care sector.
Chaotic vaccination rollout leaves New Yorkers vulnerable to COVID-19 surge
By Ali Elhassan, 22 January 2021
Governor Cuomo has committed himself to keeping businesses open despite the loss of life.
The science of the pandemic supports teachers’ concerns over the dangers of school reopening, Part two
By Benjamin Mateus, 21 January 2021
Science validates teachers’ concerns that in-person education during the pandemic is a dangerous proposition. This article reviews some of the more recent scientific findings.
Doctors locked out of hospital in Houston, Texas over rent dispute, forced to treat patients in parking lot
By Chase Lawrence, 21 January 2021
The sudden closure Monday of the Heights Hospital follows 21 hospital closures in 2020 across the United States, many of which were thrust into acute financial crisis by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Record UK COVID-19 deaths as government plots ending “the last” lockdown
By Robert Stevens, 20 January 2021
This is being justified by citing a vaccination programme with only four million people having received the first dose of a required two doses. The population of the UK is over 66 million.
Hawaii nurses demand safe working conditions and PPE
By Evelyn Rios, 19 January 2021
The struggle of Hawaii nurses has reached a critical juncture. They should reject the attempts to sabotage their actions and begin organizing independently of the trade unions.
The global COVID vaccination distribution debacle is mirrored in the US
By Benjamin Mateus, 19 January 2021
The global vaccination distribution has been characterized as a “catastrophic moral failure” by the WHO’s director-general. Despite the US predominance in access to these life-saving vaccines, its national vaccine initiative has been a dismal disaster.
Spanish hospitals on brink of collapse as COVID-19 cases explode
By Alice Summers, 18 January 2021
As COVID-19 infections reach new highs, medical professionals in Spain warn that hospitals will soon be overwhelmed by admissions to intensive care units.
Three million in Los Angeles County have been infected with COVID-19 as workplace outbreaks reach all-time high
By Kevin Martinez, 16 January 2021
The virus is so widespread, according to the Los Angeles Times, that the infection rate has likely been slowed down by the large numbers of people who have already contracted it and developed a temporary immunity.
Tens of thousands of UK National Health Service workers fall ill with COVID-19
By Rory Woods, 16 January 2021
Nearly 50,000 health care workers have contracted the virus and thousands more are isolating or shielding.
Inside the COVID-19 outbreak at Lakepointe nursing home in Clinton Township, Michigan
By Zac Corrigan, 16 January 2021
At least three Lakepointe residents have died from COVID-19 since Christmas, and workers say that residents who catch COVID are no longer able to be removed from the home, which has resulted in a growing outbreak that they can’t contain.
Irish health system on brink of collapse as COVID-19 figures surge
By Dermot Quinn, 14 January 2021
Ireland's health services are being rapidly overwhelmed by escalating rates of coronavirus infection.
California health care worker explains how COVID-19 catastrophe has been fueled by the drive for profit
14 January 2021
The WSWS encourages health care workers to speak out on the disastrous conditions which are now overwhelming hospitals due the reopening and “herd immunity” policies pursued by the ruling class in countries around the world.
London Mayor declares “major incident” as UK capital devastated by COVID-19
By Thomas Scripps, 13 January 2021
The Office for National Statistics estimates that one in 30 people are infected with the virus in London, up to one in 20 in the worst-hit areas.
California hospitals ration oxygen as COVID-19 death toll surpasses 30,000
By Peter Ross, 13 January 2021
More than one in ten of the total number of COVID-19 deaths in California since the beginning of the pandemic took place in just the last week, at a rate of almost 500 per day.
Global COVID-19 death toll nears 2 million
By Benjamin Mateus, 13 January 2021
It has been one year since the first person died from complications caused by SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes the disease COVID-19.
Before it begins, COVID-19 vaccination in Turkey already a fiasco
By Barış Demir, 13 January 2021
The Turkish government’s murderous ruling class “herd immunity” policy continues with a chaotic and incompetent roll-out of the vaccine.
German hospital group terminates nurse after criticism of situation in ICUs
By Markus Salzmann, 13 January 2021
As new infections reach record levels in Germany, the number of people requiring hospitalization for COVID-19 is growing.
Nurses speak on conditions in Arizona hospitals where COVID-cases reach national highs
By Katy Kinner, 12 January 2021
Arizona COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations rise to national highs as testing and vaccine administration continue to be inadequate.
Netanyahu government denies vaccine to Palestinians as it lauds mass rollout to Israelis
By Jean Shaoul, 11 January 2021
Israel’s COVID-19 vaccination program does not include the five million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel has illegally occupied since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Nearly 30,000 Americans have died of COVID-19 in the past 10 days
By Bryan Dyne, 11 January 2021
At the current rate, more than a quarter million people will die across the globe before the end of January, including more than 60,000 in the US alone.
Canada’s health care system overwhelmed by COVID-19 surge
By Frédéric Charlebois, 11 January 2021
“We’ve lost control of the epidemic,” exclaimed Dr. Antoine Delage, a pulmonologist at a hospital south of Montreal.
The United States sees more than 4,000 deaths in a single day from COVID-19
By Benjamin Mateus, 9 January 2021
The United States saw more than 4,000 deaths yesterday from COVID-19 infections. The vaccine rollout continues to be a fiasco, while new coronavirus variants are demonstrating more aggressive behaviors.
Record numbers of COVID-19 deaths and hospitalizations across the US as pandemic surge continues
By Kevin Martinez, 8 January 2021
The situation in southern California remains especially dire, with Los Angeles County emerging as a global epicenter of the virus.
Ontario care worker denounces political establishment over disastrous conditions in care homes
8 January 2021
Five workers at Canada’s long-term–care facilities have died from COVID-19 within little more than a week.
New year begins with record COVID-19 deaths in Germany
By Martin Nowak, 7 January 2021
The beginning of the year in Germany was characterised by overcrowded crematoria, hospitals on the brink of collapse and mass death.
Five Canadian health care workers die within a week as COVID-19 infections rise sharply nationwide
By Carl Bronski, 7 January 2021
Canada’s health and senior’s care systems are buckling under a second wave of the pandemic for which the entire political establishment is responsible.
As the pandemic death toll mounts, governments delay administration of second vaccine dose
By Benjamin Mateus, 7 January 2021
With the death toll from COVID-19 projected to accelerate over the next several weeks, some governments are attempting to compensate for problems in the production and distribution of vaccines by delaying the second dose, despite a lack of data proving the efficacy of a prolonged dose regimen.
Los Angeles limits ambulance services as COVID-19 infections skyrocket in California and nationwide
By Bryan Dyne, 6 January 2021
The unfolding nightmare in the city of 4 million people is the direct result of the ongoing drive to reopen schools and non-essential businesses.
Quebec nurses need independent organizations of rank-and-file workers’ power, not another pro-capitalist trade union
By Laurent Lafrance and Richard Dufour, 6 January 2021
Outraged by their union’s latest sellout agreement, some nurses have voiced support for building a new, more “militant” union.
UK in third national lockdown as coronavirus surges out of control
By Robert Stevens, 5 January 2021
The lockdown is not as stringent as that imposed last March, with Prime Minister Boris Johnson insisting that people should go to work if they cannot work at home to keep profits rolling in for the major corporations.
Mounting mental health crisis among US health care workers
By Alex Johnson, 5 January 2021
With coronavirus infections and deaths rising to astronomical heights, frontline health care workers are experiencing acute mental and emotional distress.
Tennessee confronted with surge in coronavirus cases
By Cordell Gascoigne, 5 January 2021
Nearly one percent of the state’s 6.8 million people have contracted the disease, making Tennessee the fourth highest infection percentage in the country.
“For corporations they are only numbers”
Two GM Silao workers in Mexico die on Christmas Eve
By Andrea Lobo, 5 January 2021
Workers have reported 13 deaths at the GM Silao Complex in Mexico to the WSWS since the government of Andrés Manuel López Obrador allowed production to resume in May
COVID-19 cases rise sharply in China
By Lily Zhao, 5 January 2021
An examination of the chain of infections in three major Chinese cities further underscores the highly contagious nature of the COVID-19 virus.
COVID-19: Global vaccination stymied by nationalism and profit gouging
By Jean Shaoul, 4 January 2021
The race to procure vaccines against a fast-spreading virus that travels unimpeded by border controls has set in motion a ferocious national competition that threatens to prolong and intensify the pandemic.
Over 2,900 US health care workers have died from COVID-19
By Benjamin Mateus, 4 January 2021
A new report by the Guardian and Kaiser Health News published last week estimates that over 2,900 health care workers have died in the United States due to COVID-19.
“Our patients are dying like flies, it’s like a warzone”
Nurses call for help as California hospitals pushed to the brink
By Evelyn Rios, 31 December 2020
Every day deaths continue to break one-day records, with 440 deaths on Tuesday, more than half of which are from Los Angeles County.
As scientific council warns of “uncontrolled resurgence of epidemic”
Macron government rejects national lock-down in France
By Samuel Tissot, 31 December 2020
Ignoring the recommendations of scientists, the government has determined to reopen schools and workplaces in the New Year
Coronavirus deaths reach record high in Germany as hospitals teeter on brink of collapse
By Marianne Arens, 31 December 2020
Nurses in Hamburg went public to speak about working conditions shortly before Christmas.
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