Tens of thousands, perhaps millions, will die if this petition is not answered positively.

Without a working healthcare system, entire communities will collapse -- healthcare workers, patients and their families will be affected. Not that one can put a monetary value on human lives, but our economy will never recover from a healthcare collapse.

UBER and Lyft drivers are on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic, shuttling people back and forth who still need to go to work and get groceries. But UBER and Lyft have yet to extend protections their drivers can actually take, including sick days and paid leave. And these companies aren’t providing the drivers who do want to keep working with adequate sanitary supplies. That means drivers might feel forced to work when they feel ill, or when their family members are sick and need care. These drivers are taking care of us during this pandemic, and the companies they work for need to take care of them by providing critical benefits that protect them, their families, passengers, and communities.

Big Pharma companies are already trying to profit from drugs to treat or prevent coronavirus infection -- and we need your help to stop them. Last week Gilead Sciences was caught attempting to get exclusive rights to one drug that has shown promise in treating covid-19. Under intense public pressure they backed off, but they and other Pharma companies still have the ability to raise the price high and gouge everyone for desperately needed medicine. Under a federal law known as Section 1498, the government can override a patent at any time as long as the company receives "reasonable compensation." This gives the government critical leverage to negotiate lower prices. And the government could even start producing lifesaving treatments itself under the Defense Production Act. Will you help use that leverage to save lives and stop Big Pharma from gouging people?

Every single human being is stressed now with everything that has evolved as a direct result of this crisis. Pharmaceutical drugs have proven to wreak havoc around the world causing many deaths. while cannabis is a safer alternative for many and has never killed anyone. Re-legalize cannabis NOW, it is the only humane thing to do at this point.

I've been a doctor for 35 years and I want our country to listen to medical health professionals in this crisis. Staying at home as much as possible works. We've seen it work in Italy, China, and in areas of the U.S. to slow the spread of the deadly coronavirus. However, millions of people live in several states that have not mandated a stay-at-home order. Everyone deserves to be protected in this crisis as much as possible - we need a federal stay at home order, and every Governor must copy it for their state. If we don't practice physical distancing, then we will continue the exponential growth that I saw in my community and across the country. While some tried to trivialize the impact of the coronavirus just weeks ago we are now seeing over 200,000 reported cases in the United States and more than 5,000 deaths—not to mention record job losses and other immense damage to our nation. Experts say we may end up with hundreds of thousands dead in the United States alone. As a doctor, I am seeing hospitals scramble for the equipment needed to treat the thousands already infected. Staying home slows the rate of infection and will help ease the demand on our already strained healthcare system. It is never too late to act. The U.S. has been slow to react to this global pandemic, but expanding the stay at home orders has the potential to save thousands of lives. We all need to work together, this only works if everyone, in every state stays home because our health is all interconnected. President Trump has said distancing should continue through the end of April, but this needs to be required. Actions speak louder than words - declare a national stay at home order now! We know it works and doctors and other health care providers are willing to put their own lives on the line, this doctor thinks it is more than reasonable to ask EVERY governor and the President to do the right thing and do it NOW, before more lives are needlessly lost.

The coronavirus is a pandemic emergency and should be considered a national emergency in the United States. The piecemeal attempts to control the spread by local or scattered state mandates is not effective. The whole nation must be involved. The coronavirus does not respect borders. If the national government refuses to make the guidelines a national mandate, we need to pressure the state governors into doing that for it. We are all in this together.

As of March 31, 2020, there are 100 reported cases of COVID-19 in Lubbock. Yesterday there were 41 cases. Depending on the level of testing, there will be many more reported cases by the end of the week, probably approaching 200 and counting. This number is arrived at by taking the number of new cases since yesterday 36, and adding it for each day until Saturday. This is a simplistic estimate that will certainly underestimate the true number, since this assumes that the growth won't increase each day but instead remain constant. This is an underestimate since, in exponential growth, the rates increase depending on the previous rate (so the growth rates are not constant). Further, the people who are being tested are those who have the most severe symptoms, leading to the reported cases underestimating the true cases. Many asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic cases of COVID-19 have not yet been tested. This implies that the growth rate, which depends on reported cases, is an underestimate of the true growth rate, so COVID-19 is spreading more rapidly in Lubbock than we currently understand. Lubbock hospitals are exemplary and have substantial resources prepared to handle this pandemic, however, the growth rate is larger than we hope and may soon inundate the hospitals. Whether the hospitals can handle a large number of cases or not, it is still a good decision to protect their resources available to fight the virus. This is best done as a community by sheltering in place for a longer period of time, so as to reduce the number of cases the hospitals need to care for. This preserves the resources needed to safely care for the patients as well as the doctors and nurses working on the front lines. It is a difficult decision to order a shelter-in-place for a longer period of time when there is hope that such an order isn't needed, since it could appear to be a greater measure than what is necessary. However, by not ordering a shelter-in-place for a long enough time, the virus will spread beyond control so that other actions cannot rectify the situation. The longer the order is extended, the better. This is an opportunity for Lubbock to emerge as a leader in West Texas on how to combat COVID-19, and protect the wonderful people and healthcare workers in the city.

The Coronavirus pandemic is a crisis unlike anything that Americans have ever experienced before. Our hospitals are overwhelmed. Our people are dying. Our neighbors are losing their jobs, struggling to pay rent and bills, and scared about the future. At a moment like this, we need leadership. We need our government up and running and responding to the crisis as it unfolds. But, right now, Congress is in recess until April 20. It’s time for Congress to get back to work and take up the legislation that will steer us out of this crisis. Without Congress, President Trump is stumbling through this pandemic, costing people their lives. We understand the health risks to members of Congress and that is exactly why Congress should change its rules so that members can work and vote remotely during the outbreak. In this era of technology, there is no reason that Congress cannot debate crisis legislation from each and every state across America and vote on rescue bills from the safety of their homes. Millions of Americans are working, keeping this country up and running. Congress must do the same. Sign this petition to demand that Speaker Pelosi and Majority Leader McConnell support temporary changes to the House and Senate rules so that Congress can continue to address legislation that will end this crisis and save lives.

Because it is spreading the Covid 19 virus. It is dangerous. Over 500 health care workers have tested positive.

Banning of Partners/Significant Others/Family Members/Visitors in Hospital Labor and Delivery Units in the Tri-State Area Protect our mothers and our newborns. Protect our front-line healthcare workers, doctors and nurses. Ban all visitors now! 784, 716 infected worldwide, 163,807 cases in the United States, 67,384 confirmed in New York and 16,636 confirmed in New Jersey, 37,639 fatalities worldwide - we need to flatten the curve now! This past week, New Jersey ordered its citizens to stay home and closed all non-essential businesses in order to slow the spread of COVID-19. New York has mandated the policy of “stay home, stop the spread, save lives.” But our nurses and doctors face that spread every day, and we must do what we can to protect them. New Jersey and New York must prohibit visitors, including partners and family members, on all maternity units in the state. According to CNN, half of infections originate in pre-symptomatic carriers – every person allowed into a hospital increases the risk of spreading COVID-19 to patients and newborns as well as the medical staff caring for them. Two of New York’s largest hospital systems, New York-Presbyterian and Mount Sinai Health System, had barred all visitors from their maternity wards. This ruling was recently reversed. Inconsistent policies are creating confusion in the public, causing people to “hospital shop,” even crossing state lines to deliver their babies with partners present. With the influx of out-of-state patients, New Jersey and New York obstetrics doctors and nurses are faced with unfamiliar patients with unknown medical history. During this COVID-19 pandemic, Labor and Delivery wards’ primary focus must be on the safety of the mother, newborn baby, and staff. As nurses, we understand the pain a partner feels missing the birth of their child, but that pain doesn’t compare to the risk posed to our patients and our medical staff. Having a partner absent at birth creates a more stressful delivery for mothers and staff alike, but it is necessary. Every person in America is making sacrifices in social distancing in order to ensure the future safety and health of our nation. As health care providers, we are at the front line ensuring this safety. Doctors and nurses are at high risk of contracting COVID-19 and must be quarantined if exposed. Therefore we demand that our health and safety, as well as the health and safety of our patients, is taken into consideration. Until testing is available for everyone, we must reduce this risk as much as possible; banning partners in labor and delivery will flatten the curve and save lives. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/us/coronavirus-us-cases.html Please refer to this hyperlink to show how many people have been infected with unknown origin, how the death toll has risen and how the increase in contact per patient per partner would thus increase exposure risk to all of the people involved. How many people are asymptomatic infected people? Spreading the disease? The USA death total has doubled since Thursday, surpassing 2,500, with NY 1,218 deaths - an increase of 965 since Sunday morning. *Actual numbers provided in opening of petition are from the John Hopkins University Coronavirus COVID-19 Global Cases by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering as of 22:30 on March 30, 2020. https://coronavirus.jhu.edu/map.html

Just like several people, my fiancé received an awful sentence that does not match his crime at all. These inmates can’t even be there for their families when they are sick and some of them are dying. At this time with a pandemic, we need him home and want to make sure he is safe. We are all worried about him, and his four children are worried sick. Ryan Michael Ricks DOC#117070 in CSP is a non-violent offender for this charge and should not even be in this prison. But one of the nation's leading prison experts as well as family members of inmates are calling on the government and prison officials to do more to protect those inside, including allowing inmates to use hand sanitizer and bleach for cleaning and eliminating fees for soap and doctor's visits. "The risks of this disease are incredibly huge. It's going to spread like wildfire," said Michele Deitch, a senior lecturer at the Lyndon B. Johnson School of Public Affairs at the University of Texas. We are asking that non-violent offender’s, no matter what prison they are in, should be released to their families. Use a GPS system or whatever else we can do to get these inmates home. There is not enough protective gear for staff, inmates, and Guards to wear. We don’t even have enough protective equipment for the hospitals. Please don’t put a death sentence on these inmates when their families need them. Social distancing is also an executive order from President Trump as well!