The Message Behind “Open Up” and Austerity: “If they die, they die”
By: Andrew Kirchmyer
Tags: New York, Democratic Party, Covid 19, Andrew Cuomo, Coronavirus

When COVID-19 began its assault on America mid-February, New York City was its epicenter. New York State leadership sent a message to the country and the rest of the world that New York was going to look at the data, consult the experts and take a planned, scientific approach to fighting this plague and protecting New Yorkers. New York followed the science and flattened the curve.

Most New Yorkers were satisfied with their state’s initial approach to fighting COVID-19. During the lockdown, the Paycheck Protection Program (which ended in August) and one-time federal stimulus checks of up to $1200 per adult and $500 per child provided some relief to locked-down New Yorkers who were nervous about their jobs.

Now we’re in round two. COVID-19 is infecting New Yorkers at rates not seen since March. The key difference this time is that federal financial support is gone. New York’s curve has un-flattened, only this time New Yorkers are on their own, in sharp contrast to other countries.

Australia subsidized businesses $1500 a fortnight per employee and flattened their curve with lockdowns. South Korea subsidized businesses and even subsidized consumption during their lockdowns and COVID-19 cases have declined to less than 300 cases a day (compared to the US which is rising past 140,000 cases a day).

According to the science, lockdowns + financial support = lower COVID-19 rates and lower unemployment. Paying workers to stay home takes the burden off of workers and employers during a pandemic caused by the failure of world governments.

Locking down without financial support for workers means unemployment increases. The US and New York State do not provide universal healthcare, so a loss of jobs means health coverage is being threatened for workers, and the timing is devastating: during a pandemic, when ICUs are likely to overflow. The people impacted by growing unemployment are disproportionally poor, elderly, disabled or from minority groups — the same people disproportionally affected by COVID-19.

Whether we open up or don’t open up, if we’re not also providing common sense security in the form of universal healthcare, universal basic income, and a moratorium on mortgages and student loans — the result is social darwinism. Governor Cuomo is constantly appealing to the authority of science to justify his policies, while ignoring this critical piece of the successful covid-fighting equation seen throughout the world.

New Yorkers are expected to sacrifice their income indefinitely, and instead of having a blanket lockdown on everything, they’re expected to learn and follow the ever-changing, byzantine, inconsistent and often ridiculous codes set by the state. Yet despite their sacrifice, New York State gives them no support in return.

In his recent Trump-esque press conference, the governor even shamed covid-positive people, likening them to overweight people who can’t resist delicious cheesecake.

“Personal responsibility” is not a science-based approach. It’s austerity.

I’m a straight-ticket blue New York Democrat. The strategy of New York State leadership under Governor Cuomo does not make sense to me. Why is the governor increasing the personal responsibility rhetoric right as New Yorkers are losing the little support they had? That energy would be better directed at Congress for stalling the next round of stimulus or passing Medicare for All in New York State so that New Yorkers’ healthcare would no longer be at the mercy of their employer, insurance companies and market demands during a pandemic.

Since we live in a blue state, the owners of wealth and the politicians they influence are pressured by the democratic-leaning public to flavor austerity nicely with words like “science”, “planning” and “experts”. Despite the optimistic rhetoric, the brutal result of austerity has similarities with the “open up” states. Looking at the demographics of those who suffer most by COVID-19 and those who suffer most by unemployment, the consequences look a lot like survival-of-the-fittest eugenics.

New York Democrats must hold their own party leadership accountable if they want to maintain Democratic leadership. Ignore the increasingly-vocal “open-up” conservatives at your own peril: job losses are very real and terrifying without financial support and universal healthcare. These are not concerns that Democrats should be ceding ground on.

Until we have a vaccine, paying everyone to completely lockdown is the only solution that can defeat COVID-19 without subjecting workers to massive unemployment, and it’s the popular solution. Locking down without financial support will produce mass unemployment and lead to civil unrest. The Democratic party needs to address the fears of workers or risk losing the narrative, and later their power, to this guy: