Are We Prepared for COVID-19 Hitting the Southern Hemisphere?

Maybe we'll get lucky and avoid big coronavirus outbreaks in the red areas, but I wouldn't count on it. We need to be prepared for ongoing large breakouts as the southern hemisphere enters fall and winter and starts to cool off.

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I’m not sure I agree with everything Adam Tooze said in his recent interview with Ezra Klein about the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, but I agree with this:

I think the third element is the crisis that is hitting the big emerging markets: the South Africas, the Brazils, the Nigerias, and potentially the Algerians, the Indias, the Indonesias. These are huge countries with big economies, with large American interests in them, and big geopolitical ramifications. And they are in harm’s way. Their currencies are plunging, they have large debts, and they’re going to be hit by the public health crisis on a really epic scale — especially in South Africa, where they have a big immunocompromised HIV[-positive] population.

We don’t have a handle yet on whether COVID-19 is seasonal, but at this point it hardly matters. The southern hemisphere is entering fall, which is coronavirus season no matter what, and they are less prepared to handle it than the rich countries of the northern hemisphere. Nor do they have the financial cushion that rich northern countries have. Financially, the United States is lucky: we have our own currency; we’re enormously rich; we have a highly advanced health care system; and we can afford things like a debt-financed $2 trillion rescue without even blinking an eye. The same is not true of Nigeria or South Africa or India.

If you’re a sociopath, maybe you don’t care. But you should anyway: if the economy of the global south implodes, it will have an impact on us that no puny $2 trillion bailout can fix. So if anyone is thinking about this—Donald Trump certainly isn’t, so it’s up to someone else—we should start making plans for things like temporary debt holidays; longer-term debt restructurings; plain old assistance grants on a huge scale; and ramping up production of medical supplies far beyond our own needs and timeframes.

Is anyone thinking about this? I would like to think so.

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WE CAME UP SHORT.

We just wrapped up a shorter-than-normal, urgent-as-ever fundraising drive and we came up about $45,000 short of our $300,000 goal.

That means we're going to have upwards of $350,000, maybe more, to raise in online donations between now and June 30, when our fiscal year ends and we have to get to break-even. And even though there's zero cushion to miss the mark, we won't be all that in your face about our fundraising again until June.

So we urgently need this specific ask, what you're reading right now, to start bringing in more donations than it ever has. The reality, for these next few months and next few years, is that we have to start finding ways to grow our online supporter base in a big way—and we're optimistic we can keep making real headway by being real with you about this.

Because the bottom line: Corporations and powerful people with deep pockets will never sustain the type of journalism Mother Jones exists to do. The only investors who won’t let independent, investigative journalism down are the people who actually care about its future—you.

And we hope you might consider pitching in before moving on to whatever it is you're about to do next. We really need to see if we'll be able to raise more with this real estate on a daily basis than we have been, so we're hoping to see a promising start.

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