Tag Archives: coronavirus
‘I Think I’m Gonna Die’: Coronavirus Compounds Risk for Dialysis Patients in the Rio Grande Valley
In the Valley, about one in three people have diabetes. They’re at higher risk for COVID-19, but those who rely on dialysis can’t stay home.
Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday morning, Carmen Zuniga leaves her house in McAllen before dawn to go to the dialysis center about four miles away. Zuniga h...Read More
Construction Workers Labor on, Vulnerable and ‘Essential’
While white collar professionals work remotely, and laid-off service workers seek unemployment, construction laborers are still reporting to job sites.
On Wednesday morning, as America’s COVID-19 death count neared 5,000 and workers flooded state agencies with a record-shattering deluge of unemployment claims...Read More
COVID-19 is Buying Time for Gulf Coast Towns Fighting Oil and Gas Projects
In Surfside Beach, Port Aransas, and elsewhere, contentious new infrastructure projects may be stalled by the accelerating pandemic.
Surfside Beach, a village of 560 people an hour south of Houston, is known for a few things: It has one of the state’s handful of drive-on beaches, attracting...Read More
A ‘Stay-at-Home’ Order by Any Other Name
At a time when clear and decisive action is paramount, Governor Greg Abbott has delayed, deferred, and equivocated, likely costing lives.
Twenty-six days after an elderly Fort Bend man became the first presumptive positive case of COVID-19 in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott convened a press conference...Read More
Families of Sick Prisoners Plead for Compassionate Release as Coronavirus Spreads Behind Bars in Texas
Advocates for incarcerated people are urging Governor Abbott to release parole-eligible people who are elderly or have chronic illnesses.
Justin Phillips’ health started deteriorating soon after police arrested him on drug charges in 2016. He grew gravely ill while waiting for his court date at ...Read More
Scientist Peter Hotez on Why Vaccine Development is ‘Critical to the Security of Our Nation’
Several years ago, Hotez and his colleagues developed a vaccine that may have prevented the new coronavirus—but they couldn’t get it funded.
Peter Hotez has spent his career studying infectious diseases that others weren’t paying attention to, developing vaccines that “no one else will make.” F...Read More
In a Pandemic, Poor Defendants Could Pay With Their Lives
COVID-19 lays bare the fundamental inequalities that a cash bond system creates, and highlights the unsafe conditions our jails and prisons have designed.
I arrived at the Harris County Public Defender’s Office before 7 a.m. on Friday, March 13. The calls for action to stop the spread of COVID-19 had been buildi...Read More
In Migrants Camps Along the Texas-Mexico Border, Close Quarters and Closing Borders Raise Concerns
Advocates and lawyers warn new measures implemented along the southern border in response to COVID-19 are putting vulnerable migrants at higher risk.
COVID-19 is lurking along the Texas-Mexico border. As suspicious illnesses begin to appear in migrant camps, close proximity, unhygienic conditions, and travel ...Read More
COVID-19 Reveals the Urgent Need to House the Homeless
As state and local governments scramble to provide the homeless access to rooms in order to save them (and us) from the coronavirus pandemic, it’s worth keeping one eye on the future.
For weeks, advocates and news outlets have been sounding the alarm: The homeless are profoundly vulnerable to the COVID-19 pandemic. The disease is a new and ur...Read More
