The public health emergency by Covid-19 not only exposed the insufficiencies of an American health system that was seen as the number one in the world, but also confirmed that in a globalized world, pandemics do not recognize borders, nor racial, ethnic differences, generational or economic strata No one is safe.
From the humblest informal worker to the British royal household, from a defenseless infant to a 102-year-old woman, no one is exempt from contagion. The occurrence that the coronavirus was an elitist pathogen has been denied by circumstances, as it advances invisible, step by step, in all corners of the world.
Understandable for this reason, the claim of Hispanic defense organizations for the decision to exclude from the so-called Cares Act, the unprecedented 2 trillion (million million) dollar economic rescue package, to the overwhelming majority of undocumented immigrants, despite that about 8 million unauthorized workers contribute billions of dollars in tax payments annually.
Not only will they not have access to unemployment checks, but there is no guarantee of health coverage for those without health insurance.
Only Dreamers, DACA recipients, and TPS recipients have the option to apply for unemployment insurance and receive the additional $ 600 per week. In the same week that the Cares Act was approved, a record 3.2 million workers applied for unemployment support.
It goes without saying that the public health emergency will disproportionately hit Latino families overall.
It is logical, therefore, that many community leaders or activists from independent groups preferred the more generous version of the rescue sponsored by the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi, who decided to support the Senate version in order to expedite the payment of payments to 150 millions of homes.
Democrats have made clear they are already planning a fourth bailout initiative with an infrastructure investment component. It is a proposal in sync with one of President Trump’s priorities, which can be a great remedy for great evil.
If the political leaders show us again that no partisan eagerness is above the general interest, the new rescue initiatives must be fair and equitable, and not exclude anyone, because well-being is everyone’s business and in public health, the chains they break at the weakest link.
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