Last week, our class watched excerpts from the 2012 documentary How to Survive a Plague. The film tells the story of grassroots activists during the AIDS crisis, and how they mobilized to demand effective treatment during the 80s. We talked about the similarities and differences between the AIDS and COVID-19 pandemics, and how we can be advocates for ourselves and our communities during this time.
Who’s Affected?
One key aspect of our conversation was looking at who is affected by these two diseases. The class pointed out that coronavirus is currently affecting people across the globe in almost every country. Because of how easily this disease is transmitted, everyone is at risk. When looking at the AIDS crisis, on the other hand, certain communities were hit harder than others. Most prevalently, LGBTQ+ people were at high risk of contracting HIVIn both cases, poor people and people of color are more vulnerable to contracting these diseases than wealthier and/or white people.
How is it spread?
According to the CDC, coronavirus is spread “primarily through droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes, or through droplets of saliva or discharge from the nose.” In areas where people are constantly in very close contact, such as major cities, coronavirus has been able to spread much quicker. AIDS is very different in that it spreads through contact with specific bodily fluids. The primary ways it’s spread are through unprotected sex and sharing needles.The class pointed out that there are two very basic human needs that allow these diseases to spread. For HIV/AIDS, it was sex. For coronavirus, it’s the need to socialize and be around other people.
What’s Being Done?
The class pointed out one scary similarity between the AIDS crisis and the coronavirus pandemic: finding a cure has been extremely difficult. With AIDS, though, the government was very slow moving in researching the disease because of the homophobia of conservative politicians. It was thanks to community activists and organized rebellion that the AIDS crisis was taken seriously.On the other hand, researchers all over the world are looking for vaccines to prevent coronavirus and medicines to cure it (or at least ease the symptoms). In addition, the government is urging protections such as handwashing and face masks, while during the AIDS epidemic, many officials did not advocate for the use of condoms, instead insisting that abstinence was the best way to prevent AIDS.
While this time, there is a very different response to that of AIDS, one thing the two pandemics have in common is that not enough is being done by the American government. The focus remains on maintaining a system that allows drug and healthcare companies to profit off of life-saving treatments, and corporations to raise the prices of goods during a time of crisis.
As the coronavirus continues to spread and the number of critically ill people continues to rise, not enough is being done to protect poor people and people on the front lines of fighting this disease and keeping the country running. Here are a few of the issues we’ve been talking about as a class:
Doctors, nurses, and healthcare workers aren’t being given proper Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) so they’re getting sick as well.
Delivery people & factory workers for companies such as Amazon and Instacart aren’t being given protective gear, and are being sent home without paid time off when they get sick.
Grocery store workers, who are in contact with hundreds of people every day, and aren’t given hazard pay.
The US economy is deteriorating and many people are losing their jobs.
Hospitals are running out of beds, causing the need for tents to be set up outside of hospitals.
Activism
During the AIDS crisis, everyone went out and protested, physically putting their bodies on the line. As much as there is to learn from this example, going out and gathering in giant groups to protest isn’t an option during the coronavirus pandemic. As a class, we’ve been thinking a lot about other ways to protest; online, you aren’t a body and you don’t take up physical space.
Here are some of the ways we’ve seen people protest during the coronavirus:
Have other ideas? If you know of other ways we can protest or support others who are, let us know in the comments!
Youth Producer Conversation Summarized by Azsaneé (Youth Doc Workshop Assistant Teacher). Activism resources compiled by Olesya