The most effective way to stop the spread of Coronavirus is for all working people to be able to stay home. Unfortunately, economic pressures, not the least of which is housing, force workers, even when sick, to continue to go to work every day. For this reason, we insist that ALL people in this country are empowered to practice social distancing and self quarantine as soon as possible. To make that possible, we must relieve economic pressure that forces people to go to work sick. The surest way to do this is through mortgage and rent suspension for families, individuals and small businesses. This is how we #FlattenTheCurve [https://www.vox.com/2020/3/10/21171481/coronavirus-us-cases-quarantine-cancellation]. UPDATE: In a major intervention into financial markets, the Fed will inject $1.5 TRILLION dollars. It’s a move designed to prevent a sharper economic contraction than what may already be underway. It's time to bail out the people, not the banks!

One of the most pressing needs in managing the spread of coronavirus is to understand not just the number of new cases but also the number of tests administered. Across the country, there is confusion over how many tests are being conducted by public health labs and private ones. New York state has stopped providing data on the number of tests performed, and daily Governor Andrew Cuomo addresses issues around the volume of testing and getting insights. This can be fixed. The governor could require all testing entities in New York State to report the number of tests performed each day by a certain time to a central body. This petition calls on the Governor to issue this demand, create a simple system for reporting and make this data available to the public urgently. We can't take necessary actions if we don't have the right data.

The US government's incapacity to conduct widespread testing has slowed diagnoses, thereby creating chains of infections. Also, this has deprived epidemiologists of a map that could tell how far and how fast the virus is traveling and where the US should concentrate our efforts to slow it down.

While there have been many great steps taken to afford those with health insurance support during this outbreak by the President, Congress, state governments and the Health Insurance industry in the form of reduced or no copay on COVID-19 testing and care, there have been no such provisions made for those without health insurance. This is important because it will leave millions of uninsured people to foot a bill of an untold amount in a time that they are likely to be out of work should they contract COVID-19, which will inevitably result in people being forced to make the decision to get medical care or to go without. This could end up resulting in even an wider spread of COVID-19 as people who cannot afford medical help go un-diagnosed and untreated. Such an action would speak volumes to the commitment to the health of not only the currently insured but also the uninsured people of the country. Please open up a special enrollment for health insurance in this trying time, people should be able to get covered immediately without having to wait until November. Should this happen it would not only be of benefit to the uninsured, but to all Americans. Please tell the leaders of the nation, and health insurance companies to open up enrollment for health insurance so that all might get treatment during this outbreak.

For many COVID-19 is a life threatening illness. Given the current situation with coronavirus I think FCPS should do the right thing and close the schools for a few weeks. It is clear from the numbers in the rest of the world that if we shut things down now we have a much better chance of containing the virus. I know that we have several snow days already built in to the school year. We can use them now and help stop the spread of the virus. I could keep my own children home but it’s not going to help unless everyone keeps their children home. Below are links to a few articles I’ve found defending this idea: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2020/03/coronavirus-cancel-everything/607675/ And https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca If we take things seriously and “quarantine” now we can prevent this virus from overwhelming our medical system like it seems to have done in Northern Italy. But we need our leadership to guide us. I promise I will defend you when other parents complain that closing the schools is an over reaction. Believe me when I say I don’t look forward to spending weeks at home with my children (even though I love them very much!)

Students' Health Should Be WCPSS #1 Goal and with the coronavirus spreading and infecting 7 individuals in North Carolina, we shouldn’t be taking any chances.

To establish a new progressive party with enough support.

The prison population is one of the most vulnerable populations in our society, with millions of prisoners suffering with chronic conditions that leave them immunocompromised, thousands of people living together in close quarters, hundreds of visitors circling through daily, and healthcare facilities that are substandard and understaffed. In many prisons across the country, hand sanitizer recommended by the Centers for Disease Control is forbidden due to its high alcohol content. [source] To force this vulnerable population to make 100,000 gallons of hand sanitizer a week for pennies on the dollar is unconscionable. Join MoveOn members in demanding Governor Cuomo stop using prison slave labor to make hand sanitizer.

As the coronavirus outbreak continues to grow, gig economy corporations that retain workers as independent contractors have a particular responsibility to their workers, their customers, and to the broader public. Food delivery workers, for-hire vehicle drivers, and others working in the gig economy are particularly vulnerable to the health and economic impacts of the coronavirus outbreak. Gig workers who drive cars, deliver food orders, or clean homes do work that entails near-constant interaction with people in public spaces, putting them at greater risk for exposure to coronavirus and other illnesses. Yet as independent contractors, your workers do not receive any paid sick leave or have access to employer-backed health insurance. As a result, they often cannot afford to stay home if they or a family member is sick, and they are much less likely to receive quality healthcare. It is incumbent on you to take steps to protect your workforce, your customers, and the broader public from the spread of the virus -- beginning with providing paid sick days to your workers during this public health crisis. We commend steps that Uber, Lyft, Postmates and others have announced to support workers infected with the coronavirus, but more is needed to protect all workers and contain the spread of the virus. We join with calls from Working Washington and Gig Workers Rising in calling on your companies to: -Provide your contract workers with paid sick time, equivalent to what they would have if they were employees. -Provide workers with free hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes, and/or any other resources they may need to keep themselves and their vehicles virus-free. -Be transparent with workers about risks as you learn about them, and about any steps being taken to keep workers and customers safe. -Suspend the practice of penalizing workers for missing scheduled blocks of work, ending shifts early, or rejecting jobs. -Pay workers their average weekly income if they are prevented from working due to a recommendation by public health authorities to temporarily quarantine them due to exposure that occurred while working. -Encourage workers to leave deliveries at the door rather than make them face-to-face, and disable any rating systems that penalize workers for doing so. -Agree to let workers collect unemployment benefits if they are unable to work due to coronavirus or coronavirus response. -Provide workers the option to receive an advance on their future earnings in order to replace lost income associated with coronavirus. -Not permanently deactivate workers who happen to contract coronavirus. -Take affirmative steps to oppose any form of discrimination or harassment based on race, national origin, or anything else. We urge you to take immediate steps to protect your workers and the general public during this public health crisis.

By allowing workers to stay home without fear of being unable to make rent and allowing people to buy health insurance, EVERYONE will be better off as it will help slow the spread of the virus. Also, if more people get health insurance, the insurance pool will be bigger, and presumably younger people who opted not to get insurance will be motivated to get covered.

designed to improve quality of life and showcase our public school, northline elementary spark park is envisioned as the centerpiece of our "healthy, wealthy and wise community" GO neighborhood plan- representing hope for our neighborhood's revival and inspiration for community unity. until only recently a food and medical desert, 77076 lacks a civic center, focal points of nature and public works of art- for these reasons, underprivileged northline elementary families are prioritized by the mayor's plan for additional parks and greenspace. the community is counting on the spark park and the spark park is counting on the skilled and compassionate leadership of our principal!

In the state of Oregon a renter can be evicted for being $1 short on rent by the 13th of the month; their landlords are under no obligation to accept partial payments, make payment arrangements, or drop the eviction if the tenant comes up with that missing $1 by or before their court date. The vast majority of evictions are NOT long and costly processes, they are the fastest civil legal procedure behind getting a restraining order, especially for non-payment of rent if the tenant doesn't have any reason to withhold (which requires carefully following several steps to be protected from eviction). For a tenant behind on rent, the whole process takes a bit more than 30 days from filing to lock out, though in most cases the tenant moves sooner than that to avoid an eviction going on their record, and it costs the landlord less than $200 in filing fees. The consequences to the renter, whose greatest crime is being poor or having a financial emergency, are significant. This is economic violence, even when we aren't dealing with a major public health emergency. But if we want to contain this virus and reduce the number of people who are critically ill, we must allow people to stay home from work when they need to without worrying about how they'll be able to pay their rent. No one is better off if people who should be staying home are coming to work, we need to do everything we can to make sure they don't have to.