Governor Newsom and the UC Regents:
Prioritize Saving Human Lives and Providing for Human Need over Corporate Profit Margins – Free Mass Testing Now to Stop Coronavirus
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For a Printable Copy of this Petition in Spanish Click HERE
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The Coronavirus pandemic has reached worldwide proportions. As testing slowly becomes available, the numbers of known cases both of deaths and infections in the U.S. are rising exponentially. The response of the Trump administration has been a complete disaster and has done nothing but guarantee the deaths of countless numbers of people in America.
While the initial numbers provided in the media seemed small, the reality is that those numbers, plus every official number of confirmed cases and deaths announced since, have only been those of positive tested cases for the virus. Trump is projecting 100,000 – 240,000 deaths by the time the crisis is over, and again, this prediction is only based on data of positive tested cases. The real numbers of those infected and deceased are undoubtedly higher than what is being reported, given the lack of mass testing. The Trump administration, Center for Disease Control (CDC), the rest of the public health bureaucracy, every single state and city government nationwide have followed Trump’s policy of diminishing the importance of testing in order to prioritize the stock market.
The real numbers of cases and deaths are being suppressed because they don’t want to deal honestly and forthrightly with what it will take to defeat this pandemic, avoiding increased anger and more demands on the government and the healthcare industry to do what is necessary to keep people alive. Even “respectable” scientific figures like Anthony Fauci participate in this charade. One of the worst offenders of denying mass testing, thereby suppressing the numbers of cases and deaths, is California. NBC News in San Diego ran a story showing that in California, only 7 out of every 10,000 residents have been tested and received results back. The average nationwide for every 10,000 residents is 28, and in New York, 96 out of every 10,000 residents have been tested and received their results back.
Meanwhile, every manufacturer of health-related equipment has spent their time prioritizing their profit margins over actual human lives. Healthcare workers are now forced to carry on their work without the proper protective equipment, risking their lives, the lives of patients, and the general public. Immigrants in concentration camps across the country face certain mass genocide in what are already deplorable inhumane conditions unless they are all released. Our movement must make clear now that saving human lives and providing for human need must override market profits.
Trump and Pence’s willful ignorance, misinformation, obstruction of mass testing and basic care, along with their naked appeals to anti-Chinese racism have been key components to the United States new status as the nation with the largest number of confirmed cases of COVID19. The “flattening the curve” policy of “shelter in place” is far from enough to stop this catastrophe. The lack of freely available public testing is exacerbating the crisis since there is no way to identify, isolate, and treat those infected as the virus continues to spread. Asymptomatic carriers of the disease can still spread the disease. Trump and Pence have made our nation the largest incubator in the world for the deadly virus. They must resign.
As a research institution and a part of the state government, the UC System must play a central role in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. The UC System has proudly publicized that some of their campuses created their own testing kits. They implied that these would be readily available to students on their campuses, but they have not been mass-produced. There remains no free mass testing happening in the UC System or anywhere in the entire state. People are being denied the testing for ridiculous and ever-changing reasons. Yet testing is the only way to gauge whether the virus is being eradicated from the population. California has a population of forty million people. The current rate of testing in our state is unacceptable.
The UC System is a massive public institution with vast resources and tremendous political weight. This is a moment for the UC System to step up to play the role of a truly public institution, serving the needs of the surrounding communities. Not only should testing be available to ALL students, faculty, and staff, the UC labs and medical centers should be made available as free testing sites for the general population. All in-person classes have been cancelled and moved completely online. The campuses should be made available as quarantine sites to prevent the spread of infections as hospitals continue to be overwhelmed with new cases. The lack of safety masks and other personal protective equipment for hospital staff and lack of space to quarantine those infected, is a humanitarian catastrophe in the making. This must be done, since current federal, state and local government policies only guarantee more infections and deaths.
Therefore, We the Undersigned Demand the Following:
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Governor Newsom makes free mass testing available – whether the patients are symptomatic or not.
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In-person classes resume only after mass testing has been systematically conducted to ensure the pandemic is under control.
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Every UC campus serves as a testing center for all students and the communities around them.
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Appropriate campus buildings to serve as medical sites for testing or quarantine for those who have tested positive.
