Capitalism and Its Beneficiaries, Rich People, Are the Spreaders of Coronavirus

theprestige said:

I hire a guy to run a company, I'm especially dependent on his skills in times when running a company is hard. Say, in the middle of a major pandemic, when the economy is in a slump. Costs are up, productivity is down, morale is low and getting lower. If my guy can shepherd the company through times like this, without taking a major retention hit, and without losing too much money, then hell yeah I've got a fat bonus for him. Times like this are what you hire the best managers for. Times like this are exactly when you need them earning that bonus.

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dann said:

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The newly released “Poor People’s Pandemic Report” shows poor people died from COVID at twice the rate of wealthy Americans and that people of color were more likely to die than white populations. “Our country has gotten used to unnecessary death, especially when it’s the death of poor people,” says Rev. Liz Theoharis, co-chair of the Poor People’s Campaign.
A Poor People’s Pandemic: Report Reveals Poor Died from COVID at Twice the Rate of Wealthy in U.S. (Democracy Now! on Youtube, April 5, 2022)

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Key findings include the following:
• During the pandemic, people living in poorer counties died at nearly two times the rate of people who lived in richer counties: After grouping counties by median household income into ten groups with equal population size (deciles), the report shows that death rates in the highest income group are half the death rates in the lowest income group.
• During the deadliest phases of the pandemic, poorer counties saw many times more deaths than wealthier counties: A recent Pew study that broke the pandemic up into six phases shows that the deadliest phases of the pandemic to date were in winter 2020-2021, and the Omicron period. Except for the first phase in March 2020, death rates were many times higher in poorer counties than in richer counties.
• Vaccination status cannot explain all the variation in death rates across income groups: In almost every income group, county vaccination coverage rates range from nearly full coverage (85%+) to almost no coverage (under 5%). Average vaccination rates are generally higher in high income counties than in middle- and low-income counties; however, these differences do not explain variations in death rates in the later waves of the pandemic.
• Characteristics of counties with the highest death rates: Counties with the highest death rates are poorer than counties with lower death rates, and have higher percentages of people of color.
• Characteristics of the poorest counties: In counties in the poorest decile, more than half of the population lives under 200% of the poverty line and people of color are over-represented.
A Poor People's Pandemic Report: Mapping the Intersection of Poverty, Race and COVID-19 in the US (UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network, April 6, 2022)

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The biggest players in the U.S. meat industry pressed “baseless” claims of beef and pork shortages early in the pandemic to persuade the Trump White House to keep processing plants running, disregarding the coronavirus risks that eventually killed at least 269 workers, according to a special House committee investigating the nation’s pandemic response.
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“Meatpacking companies knew the risk posed by the coronavirus to their workers and knew it wasn’t a risk that the country needed them to take,” according to the report by the select subcommittee on the coronavirus crisis. “They nonetheless lobbied aggressively — successfully enlisting [the U.S. Agriculture Department] as a close collaborator in their efforts — to keep workers on the job in unsafe conditions, to ensure state and local health authorities were powerless to mandate otherwise, and to be protected against legal liability for the harms that would result.”
The report alleges the nation’s largest meatpackers and industry trade groups repeatedly misled the public when they warned that a slowdown in their operations posed an imminent threat to the nation’s meat supplies. But “these fears were baseless,” investigators wrote.
Meatpackers hyped ‘baseless’ shortage to keep plants open amid covid (Washington Post, May 12, 2022)

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theprestige said:

dann said:

Even wealthy people without a yacht tend to fare much, much better than the working poor in the corona crisis:

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Thank you for the stunning revelation that rich people are faring better in this crisis, just like they do in every other crisis. I was beginning to think this corona thing was going to be a socio-economic anomaly.

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Stephen Colbert's newest segment looks at how billionaires are using their riches to lay plans for surviving the apocalypse.
Rich, Please! How The Hyper-Wealthy Are Prepping For The End Times (The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Oct 26, 2022)

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dann said:

The pandemic is only a minor part of this, but I didn't know where else to put it:

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dann said:

Sunset last night...isolated in the Grenadines avoiding the virus. I'm hoping everybody is staying safe.
Coronavirus: Billionaire David Geffen blasted for his Instagram-perfect isolation on a luxury yacht (South China , March 31, 2020)

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At that location, at least he isn't spreading anything worse than awful Instagram messages ...

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Tech billionaires are buying up luxurious bunkers and hiring military security to survive a societal collapse they helped create, but like everything they do, it has unintended consequences
(...)
Eventually they edged into their real topic of concern: New Zealand or Alaska? Which region would be less affected by the coming climate crisis? It only got worse from there. Which was the greater threat: Global warming or biological warfare? How long should one plan to be able to survive with no outside help? Should a shelter have its own air supply? What was the likelihood of groundwater contamination? Finally, the CEO of a brokerage house explained that he had nearly completed building his own underground bunker system, and asked: "How do I maintain authority over my security force after the event?" The event. That was their euphemism for environmental collapse, social unrest, nuclear explosion, solar storm, unstoppable virus, or malicious computer hack that takes everything down.
The single question occupied us for the rest of the hour. They knew armed guards would be required to protect their compounds from raiders as well as angry mobs. One had already secured a dozen Navy Seals to make their way to his compound if he gave them the right cue. But how would he pay the guards once even his crypto was worthless? What would stop the guards from eventually choosing their own leader?
The super-rich 'peppers' planning to save themselves from the apocalypse (Guardian, Sep 4, 2022)

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DD) participants will be able to download their certificate. For participants with positive test results, a certificate stating a positive result will be issued.

Positive COVID-19 results
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To request support, participants can contact the COVID-19 hotline provided in the email with the positive result. The Forum’s Health Measures team can also be contacted by email at [email protected].
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Protect your health during the Annual Meeting

Rapid antigen self-tests
Rapid antigen tests will be available free of charge at all Forum testing centres and at the Registration Centre. If you do not feel well, please take a self-test. These tests do not replace the requirement to take a test at one of the official Forum testing centres.

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The WEF published its Guidance for Health Measures document, listing all the protocols in place and guiding participants through the arrival and testing process in advance. Free masks and rapid tests were available throughout the venue. New state-of-the-art ventilation system and HEPA purifiers were installed ahead of the event.
These protocols led to a Twitter thread called #DavosStandard that trended in multiple languages. Some tweets were derogatory, inferring these precautions were in place only because of the VIP nature of the attendees. Experts however, pointed out these measures are available to all and should be in place for any type of gathering.

At Convening Leaders, the annual convention of the Professional Convention Management Association (PCMA), SafeExpo was set up right outside The District, as the trade show floor at this gathering is called, with free masks, Covid tests, and information.
“Everything that is being done at Davos, is readily available. People have to demand it,” said Patty Olinger, Executive Director of the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC).
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In addition, she isn’t surprised by the protocols that are in place in Davos. “They are setting an example for the rest of the world. It is not just hygiene theater. They are doing their best to keep their attendees healthy and are in a no-win situation. People would have complained either way if they did or did not take these steps.”
All Eyes on Davos and Its Covid Mitigation Practices (Skift, Jan 20, 2023)

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US President Joe Biden, who falsely claimed last September that “the pandemic is over,” embodies this official apathy to the suffering of the population. Last month, in an offhand comment on the fact that over 1 million Americans have died from COVID-19, Biden bluntly told a conference of city mayors, “I sometimes underestimate it because I stopped thinking about it.”
This was not simply a sign of Biden’s declining mental acuity, but an expression of the capitalists’ sociopathic outlook towards the working class, who account for the vast majority of deaths from COVID-19. It was also a backhanded admission of their intent to kill more.
One week after Biden’s comment, the White House announced that it will allow the COVID-19 national emergency and public health emergency declarations to expire on May 11, which will have broad ramifications.
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Flowing from these two, the third fundamental lesson drawn by the ruling class is that nothing should be done to prevent or prepare for future pandemics. With access to the best medical care money can buy, as well as private bunkers to wait out the next disaster as they did at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the billionaires would welcome the next deadly pathogen as a means to further “decrease the surplus population.”
The COVID cover-up, or how the ruling class learned to stop worrying and love the virus (WSWS, Feb 24, 2023)

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Skeptical Greg said:

There will always be have's and have nots..

The have nots will usually be the ones who want to try something that might turn them into a have, even if it means eliminating the current crop of have's.

Social/economical evolution is also about survival of the fittest.

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xjx388 said:

I'm beginning to realize that too many business owners/CEOs/etc do not truly appreciate the work the people under them do to make their businesses successful. Too many have this attitude that it was really them that did it, through their brilliance/leadership/whatever and they don't have to share "their" profits with anyone else.

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In 2020, Robert Kuciemba, a woodworker in San Francisco was infected with covid by a co-worker after his Nevada-based Victory Woodworks transferred a number of sick workers to the San Francisco site for a few months.
Through the proceedings of the case it turns out that the employer knew some employees might be sick but they transferred them anyway and ignored a San Francisco ordinance in place at the time to quarantine suspected covid cases.
Kuciemba was subsequently infected and he then infected his wife, who ended up in ICU on a ventilator.
The California Supreme Court just ruled against Kuciemba on the basis that a victory, while, in the court's words, "morally" the right thing to do, would create "dire financial consequences for employers" and cause a "dramatic expansion of liability" to stop the spread of covid.
There’s a few stunning details to note in this case. First, the court agreed that there is no doubt the company had ignored the San Francisco health ordinance. In other words, they accepted the company had broken the law. And then concluded “yeah, but, capitalism.”
On covid California's supreme court just said the quiet part out loud (Nate Bear, Ko-fi, July 8, 2023)

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Do you know who panics the most during disasters?
It's the rich.
It's the politicians. It's the elite. It's the riot police. They don't panic about actual death and suffering. They panic about money.
They panic about their investments. They panic over property. They panic over the possible loss of their comforts and privileges. Most of all, they panic over the loss of their authority. They panic about the rest of us. They believe that the first chance we get, we'll break into their mansions and steal all of their stuff. Instead of helping the public, the elite collude with the government and media to preempt any imagined disobedience and to protect their own assets while amassing resources for themselves.
They hide crucial information.
They deceive us.
In most cases, the elite's abuse of power winds up making disasters far worse than they would've been. Meanwhile, communities themselves often pull together during disasters and emergencies. If anything, individuals underreact to threats. The average person is more likely to stand around waiting for instructions than they are to run screaming down the street.
That's the stuff of disaster movies.
The Politics of Panic (OK Doomer, Sep 17, 2023)

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dann said:

Elite Panic

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It would be much easier to use NPIs to drive Re to much below 1 and keep it there until elimination when starting from Re around 1.2-1.3 than when it was over 3, and this moment should be used, before another radically new serotype appears and takes us back to those even more unpleasant situations. This is not a technical problem, but one of political and social will. As long as leadership misunderstands or pretends to misunderstand the link between increased mortality, morbidity and poorer economic performance and the free transmission of SARS-CoV-2, the impetus will be lacking to take the necessary steps to contain this damaging virus.

Political will is in short supply because powerful economic and corporate interests have been pushing policymakers to let the virus spread largely unchecked through the population since the very beginning of the pandemic. The reasons are simple. First, NPIs hurt general economic activity, even if only in the short term, resulting in losses on balance sheets. Second, large-scale containment efforts of the kind we only saw briefly in the first few months of the pandemic require substantial governmental support for all the people who need to pause their economic activity for the duration of effort. Such an effort also requires large-scale financial investment in, for example, contact tracing and mass testing infrastructure and providing high-quality masks. In an era dominated by laissez-faire economic dogma, this level of state investment and organization would have set too many unacceptable precedents, so in many jurisdictions it was fiercely resisted, regardless of the consequences for humanity and the economy.

None of these social and economic predicaments have been resolved. The unofficial alliance between big business and dangerous pathogens that was forged in early 2020 has emerged victorious and greatly strengthened from its battle against public health, and is poised to steamroll whatever meager opposition remains for the remainder of this, and future pandemics.
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During COVID-19, aside from a few privileged groups who worked from home, people were herded back into their workplaces without minimal safety precautions such as providing respirators, and improving ventilation and indoor air quality, when a dangerous airborne pathogen was spreading.

Can we realistically expect existing safety precautions and regulations to survive after that precedent has been set? Can we expect public health bodies and regulatory agencies, whose job it is to enforce these standards, to fight for workplace safety given what they did during the pandemic? It is highly doubtful. (...) Implementing airborne precautions in workplaces, schools, and other public spaces would have resulted in a cost to employers and governments; a cost they could avoid if they simply denied they needed to take such precautions. But short-term thinking has resulted in long-term costs to those same organizations, through the staffing crisis, and the still-rising disability tsunami. The same principle applies to all other existing safety measures.
'Endemic' SARS-CoV-2 and the death of public health (The John Snow Project, Nov 6, 2023)

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The Atheist said:

No, I don't expect or care whether anyone listens to me. Those who did made a heap of money and those who didn't, didn't.

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