As of this Tuesday, New York State remains highest in the US with a total of 1 374 confirmed cases of the novel corona virus, COVID-19 and 12 *reported deaths in total1. A rank that comes perhaps as unsurprising to its residents, which include myself and many of the contributors on this site when considering the densely populated city which serves as a major import and export hub of people coupled with the various rail, interpersonal, occupational and commerce networks that extend the city's lifeways across the state like tributaries.
Thanks to Harry Steven's Washington Post graphic article Why outbreaks like coronavirus spread exponentially, and how to “flatten the curve” which is now available for free on the news outlet's site to provide open access to this information (a breaking down of paywall that joins Adobe's Creative Cloud Suite, Google's Advanced Hangouts and U-Haul among others) there is a growing consensus in the public that social distancing and self-quarantine are in fact the most responsible and effective means individuals can take up to curb the transmission and concentration of viral infections. Flattening the curve, as a preventative measure and collective response in the face of ill-equipped public health infrastructures mandates social distancing and self quarantine for those at risk or who have been exposed to someone infected with and/or asymptomatically carrying the virus. Given COVID-19's extended incubation period however and a lack of access to testing kits for the general public, all 'pandemic subgroups' (Social Science in Humanitarian Action Platform) the at risk, suspected cases, infected and survivors are advised to stay indoors and restrict non essential movement. The infographics accompanying the article which consolidate statistics from the Johns Hopkins University Center for Systems Science and Engineering clearly and succinctly demonstrate the efficacy of this and help us understand just why businesses are closing, public gatherings cancelled and schools across the state are closing and going virtual, including our class which is where this collaborative project begins, to attempt to bend and stretch anthropology's modalities with contemporary spaces of sociality including the internet.
This distancing is however seemingly made the more accessible for students to participate in with each of the aforementioned premium services 'release' being tied to institutional affiliation. Self-quarantine is not in all cases so readily supported by the actors and actants of the neoliberal workforce or marketplace and the state certainly is not subsidising and consolidating for the structural shifts distance produces. The newly increased* accessibility of these online services opens up a plethora of other questions about how the internet is itself a classed space with mediated access despite it proving to be a contemporary basic necessity. Companies like Comcast are offering unlimited internet to all of their pre-existing customers with data and streaming in mind, as well as opening public Xfinity hotspots and no disconnections or late fees in an effort to 'fill' a gap that many Americans have been navigating long prior to the pandemic and continue to configure in regards to a lack of access to technologies including PCs with webcam and comprehensive adobe flash player support. However, waving late fees and disconnections is not the same as offering free bandwidth and removing the limit to customers who already pay for 1TB a month, is largely a performative declaration as it does not account for families and students with no internet at home who can now not attend school or a public library. Does learning end for them? Yet another example of individual corporations stepping in to masquerade as establishing a degree of normalcy/stability/solidarity as those of us privileged to do so are expected to step far away from our regulatory social arrangements, including housing and meals for many.
In natural neoliberal fashion, we see companies offering cushioning to their consumers, but not the same protections for their own workers and employees. To be able to step away from work or take paid sick leave whether as a harm reductive strategy, to care for a loved one or community member(s) that are ill or to care for yourself amidst a health infrastructure that leaves many people without a General Practitioner and Urgent Care centres, save ERs that are already strained and expensive. As a result, many find themselves taking unpaid leave, free-lancers (especially service based) are experiencing stunted opportunities for income and in the worst case scenarios workers are being laid off entirely and advised to file for unemployment; as is the case with servers at our local Hotel Tivoli's The Corner owned by multi-millionaire painter Brice Marden. As a result of increasing job and income insecurity, as well as the pertinence of the aforementioned in the lives of many marginalised people that are exacerbated under crisis, leaving people without the material means to effectively "stock-up" for extended periods of self-shelter a plethora of mutual aid funds have been started online to redistribute fund to those in need. Made possible by the advent and popularisation of third-party money transfer apps such as Venmo, Paypal, Cashapp, Kickstarter etc now hundreds of people can come together to pool a little and make a lot. A grassroots Socialist response that is only fitting to the current political moment. To name a few that are well consolidated in this article published on them. as well as a few I have seen on my own instagram feed there is the Service Worker's Coalition, Restaurant Workers' Community Foundation, Karada House Queer Relief Crowdfunding, NYC-Low Income Artist/Freelancer Relief Fund, COVID-19 Mutual Aid Fund for LGBTQI+ BIPOC Folks to name a few!
For my component of this ethnographic inquiry I am interested in these mutual aid funds, the people who run them, the channels and means through which they advertise themselves and are made accessible and the potential in this scale of organising to run momentum into the emergent #CareStrike scheduled for 2 April 2020. That is mobilising forces in the face of a lack of governmental support for social wellness and main concern for stock market and the Economy, big E. How are these mutual aid funds circulating resources and creating a culture of horizontal distribution in the place of government social safety nets.
Be well,
Laith
The following is a reconfiguration of the #flattenthecurve graph to display the efficacy of collective Rent Strike, pulled from @CareStrike on twitter on March 18 2020
The circulated demands of the Care Strike, pulled from @CareStrike on twitter on March 18 2020