A Push for More Aid for Unemployed Under New Bailout Package – The number of unemployment claims in the United States has climbed to more than 22 million in the past four weeks, a picture comparable to the worst moments of the Great Depression. These new figures come as Congress debates a new economic aid package that also includes more funds for small businesses. José López Zamorano has the details from Washington.
In Pandemic’s Epicenter, Latino Youth Collect Food for Affected Families – New York City remains the global epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, and Latinos are among the most affected. Concerned that authorities at all levels of government are doing too little for them, a group of young Mexican activists from the area have launched an emergency operation to provide victims of the coronavirus crisis with food baskets. From New York, Marco Vinicio Gonzalez.
Health Protections Urged in Agricultural Fields – As millions more join the ranks of the unemployed due to the economic paralysis of the coronavirus, the country’s agricultural fields have not stopped operating and farmworkers continue to work to satisfy the growing demand for food from those who stay home. However, working with poor protection measures, many risk their lives by going to the fields. State assemblyman Eduardo Garcia, a Democrat from Coachella, talks about emergency legislation for these workers. Meanwhile, in Florida, field laborers in the rich agricultural region of Immokalee continue to work in conditions that expose them to a devastating outbreak of coronavirus: they ride crowded buses and work the fields face-to-face without masks and without sanitation stations. Anticipating an epidemic, Lucas Benítez, coordinator of the Immokalee Workers Coalition, has urgently requested a temporary hospital for the small town of Immokalee.
