US new case COVID numbers are higher than they have ever been. 

On July 30 alone there were 68,538 new cases in the US, with over 1,000 deaths. 

On August 6th, there were 53,206 cases and 1248 deaths.  

States like Texas, Florida and Arizona are running out of or are already at capacity for ICU hospital beds. 

As of August 7, over 160,000 people had died from COVID-19 in the United States.

Even as states begin their phased “reopening,” businesses aren’t operating at full capacity.  Employees are facing reduced hours and increased risk.  Several states have even halted or rolled back their reopenings because of COVID surges in those states.

States are reopening because they want to convince us that everything is fine: if everything is fine they no longer have to pay workers’ unemployment.  They are quite literally willing to sacrifice our lives to improve stock market numbers.

Even when states have “reopened” some industries will not be able to get back to work for considerably longer.  The events and entertainment industry will not return until at least 2021 and that industry alone accounts for 5 million jobs.

The decrease in unemployment rate from May and June can be partially attributed to the PPP loans being secured. Employees were brought back not out of organic economic recovery and demand, but because we propped up payroll streams on a national level. Those loan funds are also running out.

There are still 13 million fewer jobs in the US than there were pre-pandemic and the unemployment rate is still higher than it was during the Great Recession.

40 million people are at risk of eviction with eviction protections beginning to phase out with the expiration of FPUC at the end of July.  This disproportionately affects BIPOC households.

Fourty-four percent of Americans are afraid they won’t be able to afford food, and the numbers are even worse for those who are in the gig economy and/or collecting unemployment.  SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) enrollments have increased 100% in some areas since the pandemic began.

Everything is not fine.

Pandemic assistance should continue until the pandemic is over.