These COVID-19 first responders are getting left behind, and it says a lot about racism and sexism
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New York City paramedics have been through it. “I woke up this morning to about 60 new text messages from paramedics who are barely holding it together,” Anthony Almojera, a lieutenant paramedic, told The Washington Post last month. “Some are stilThese COVID-19 first responders are getting left behind, and it says a lot about racism and sexism
New York City paramedics have been through it. “I woke up this morning to about 60 new text messages from paramedics who are barely holding it together,” Anthony Almojera, a lieutenant paramedic, told The Washington Post last month. “Some are still sick with the virus. At one point we had 25 percent of EMTs in the city out sick. Others are living in their cars so they don’t risk bringing it home to their families.” Five had died; others were still on ventilators. But it’s not just a hard job made exponentially harder by a pandemic. “One thing this pandemic has made clear to me is that our country has become a joke in terms of how it disregards working people and poor people,” Almojera said. “The rampant inequality. The racism. Mistakes were made at the very top in terms of how we prepared for this virus, and we paid down here at the bottom.” That’s not just about the coronavirus, though. Read more