Online Conference, April 2021: COVID-19 As Revelatory Pandemic in Latin America?
Digital collection for onliine conference, "A Revelatory Pandemic?
BarriosR & Garcia-AcostaV COVID-19 as Revelatory Pandemic Conference Program
Conference program:
A Revelatory Pandemic? Disaster Social Science and COVID 19 in Latin America
April 20 and 27, 2021
COVID-19 as Disaster
Photo essay curating insights from critical disaster studies for the transnational disaster STS COVID-19 project.
COVID, Disaster, Guatamala
Cover image for text on COVID and disaster.
COVID-19 as Disaster
Digital collection supporting a Transnational Disaster STS COVID-19 Collaboration Call, Thursday, July 9, 2020.
Covid-19 may be compuounded by both Anti-Blackness and preceding disasters
Roberto E. BarriosIn New Orleans, African American communities were not only hit hard by Katrina's floods, but also by violent policing during the catastrophe and a disaster "recovery" effort that was fundamentally Anti-Black (closing of publich housing and the privatization of schools and health care). Recovery efforts were not organized along ideals of racial justice that would have addressed gaps in educational and health care resources. Instead, they were imagined along neoliberal principles that systematically excluded the city's Black population. I am interested in looking into how the Anti-Blackness of Katrina "recovery" set the stage for the virulent way COVID 19 is affecting New Orleans' African American communities.
In the US Virgin Islands, Hurricanes Maria and Irma decimated what were already decrepit public school and public health systems. Public schools and hospitals had not been property repaired and remained under-supported as of early March 2020. In places like the Island of St. Croix, residents reported the hospital having only one physicial on staff, and indicated fear of misdiagnosis and prolonged waiting times kept them from seeking health care there. The clientelle of the public health system is predominantly Afro and Hispanic Caribbean. Meanwhile, US "mainlanders" (who are predominantly white) are reported to seek their healthcare off island, something only those with ample financial resources can do. Infection rates and fatality rates for the USVI seem rather low from official reports, but it is important to find out if this is because testing itself is not readily avialable in the territory.
Disproportionate and violent policing of racial/ethnic minorities has continued and evloved.
Roberto E. BarriosMedia coverage from hard-hit cities suggests there is a disproportionate number of arrests and citations related to enforcement of social distancing among racial minorities.
Also, police response seems to have followed very different patterns in the case of "re-open" protests and anti-police brutality protests.
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tamar.rogoszinskiOn the iTunes App Store, there is another app called Medical Management of Radiological Casualties that appears to be similar, but costs $7.99 to download, while REMM's app is free. This app appears to serve a similar function with providing support for healthcare providers, but also includes psychological support information, which REMM does not provide. This app also appears geared toward EMS responders, while the other is primarily made for physicians.
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tamar.rogoszinski1. "But with every explosion that shook the Japanese plant it became clearer: there was nobody -- not in Japan, nor Russia, nor the United States -- who had the relevant know-how, equipment, or strategy to handle a nuclear disaster. No international nuclear emergency response group exists today." pg 194
2. "But in the interest of sustainable, socially legitimate solutions, arguably deisions about even the technical responses to disasters should not be left to scientists and engineers alone." pg 196
3. "While national and international disaster relief organizations have refined their response techniques over the past decades, nuclear emergency preparedness and response has hardly gained traction." pg 200
Photo essay to introduce viewers to Bondo sub-county in Kenya