The dual crises of mass incarceration and homelessness aren't new, though they are often ignored. But now that outbreaks among the imprisoned and homeless are aggravating a public health crisis, they have become unavoidable. Overcrowding in Asian, Latin American and African prisons puts inmates at high risk and provides a deadly breeding ground for the novel coronavirus. California and Texas, Nigeria, France, England and Wales have released or considered releasing inmates to reduce the spread of contagion. Homeless people in shelters and slums are another vulnerable population, including half a million people in the U.S. and millions more in dense Indian slums. The homeless cannot easily self-isolate, and if they are hospitalized for Covid-19, to where should they be discharged? To a shelter, or back to the street? Should they be allowed to stay in a hospital beyond their need for care so they remain isolated? Every option has intractable drawbacks. —Philip Gray Did you see this? Black and Hispanic New Yorkers are dying from Covid-19 at a higher rate than others. Unemployment is spiking in Britain, the U.S. and Canada. Just as many jobs held by women are being cut, Britain has eased its requirements on reporting pay disparities. Some workers risking their lives to keep society running, like Trader Joe's employees and Amazon warehouse staff, are fed up with their employers, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Pity the millennials trying to build a life between back-to-back economic crises. The Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee, former Vice President Joe Biden, is going to need a running mate, and he's under pressure to choose a woman of color. Senator Kamala Harris has been raising money for his campaign. A blockchain startup is going against the industry's "by guys, for guys" vibe. We love chartsIf you're still driving to and from work, at least your commute is quick. In normal times, traffic jams are a symptom of income inequality, because high urban housing costs force many workers to live far from their jobs. Surveillance for good and illGovernments have an arsenal of surveillance tools available to track social contacts and viruses, using technology like facial recognition software and mobile phone location tracking. The trouble is that whenever such tools are deployed under "emergency powers," they tend to become permanent. The same tech that helps governments monitor the spread of Covid-19 can later help crack down on political dissidents. In China, however, it happened the other way around: Beijing was already pioneering surveillance to stifle dissent, so when the virus emerged, the government used its authoritarian apparatus to track the pandemic. |
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