Where are the coronavirus tests? Where are the masks? Where are the ventilators? Where is the direct support to Americans who can't go to work and whose rent and bills are due in days?
They
are tied up in the severe dysfunctions of an administration that has ineptly
confronted this crisis, and lost in the Republican leadership's obsession with
prioritizing corporate bailouts over investment in and relief for the rest of
us.
We
are facing an unprecedented moment. Health care providers are asked to make
miracles happen while being denied basic equipment. Parents are being asked to
school their children at home while they don't know if they'll have money for
rent that's due. Grocery store workers are being told that they are
essential—and truly, they are heroes—while being denied the basic ability to
stay safe at work, the time to care for themselves or their families in case of
infection, or the confidence that there will be hospital beds left for them.