Jacobin Radio: Coronavirus; Warehouse Organizing

Suzi talks with her brother Irv Weissman (https://www.ludwigcancerresearch.org/success-story/idea-man-qa-with-irv-weissman/), director of Stanford University’s Institute of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (https://med.stanford.edu/stemcell/institutefaculty/weissman.html) about the science and politics of coronavirus, and with Sheheryar Kaoosji (https://www.forworkingfamilies.org/leadership/people/sheheryar-kaoosji), director of the Warehouse Workers Resource Center, about the dangerous working conditions at Amazon fulfillment centers and the threat they pose to the company’s workers and to public health. Irv explains why coronavirus is so devastating, how our immune system has responded to it, and why the disease is more dangerous for those who are older. He also discusses the fragility of our public health infrastructure, what safe practices are needed to protect the population now, and the barriers to scientific research posed today by the political and religious right. Sheheryar reports on the walkouts taking place by Amazon workers in the Inland Empire (https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2020-04-09/fearful-of-covid-19-amazon-workers-ask-for-state-probe-of-working-conditions), and elsewhere around the country over the lack of safety equipment and practices in their workplaces.