If you do not understand the seriousness of the COVID-19 pandemic, Dennis Kosuth, a Chicago RN, makes it abundantly clear.
Dennis Kosuth is a hero.
I saw Dennis Kosuth on MSNBC as they interviewed him about the poor state of mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic in Chicago. He works for Chicago’s Provident Hospital.
Kosuth said the hospital is in a predominantly POC community. Ironically, even as the pandemic explodes, the hospital is cutting its budget and laying off nurses. He may become the victim of this immoral act.
Who is Dennis Kosuth?
Kosuth is a registered nurse, a political activist, and just trying to make a better world. He is also an important voice whose articles appear at Jacobin and other sites. His article “When COVID-19 Meets Health Inequality” is a must-read. The concluding paragraph of that article bites.
Long-term solutions to the preexisting problems plaguing our health care system must be acted upon. It should already have been a three-alarm emergency that there is a life-expectancy gap of thirty years between the wealthy and predominantly white areas of Chicago and the underfunded neighborhoods predominantly populated by people of color. This was true before COVID-19. The gap will only widen under the pandemic unless governing bodies like Cook County act to maintain and expand health care rather than contract it, and unless we rapidly dismantle the carceral system that is making the pandemic infinitely worse.
Listen to the entire interview.
