"COVID-19 has exposed how poorly prepared the U.S. healthcare system is to handle an epidemic,” said Green Party National Co-Chair Margaret Flowers, who also serves on the Board of Advisors to Physicians for a National Health Program. “We've missed the window for containing the virus through screening, testing and monitoring infected people and their contacts — as they did in China, South Korea and other countries. And so we can expect millions of cases.” Flowers also warned that “getting ill in the United States carries the extra burden of potential financial ruin. We need to move to a National Improved Medicare for All health system and paid medical leave as rapidly as possible."
The Green Party stands for Medicare for All | Green Party platform plank on Health Care
Mar 24, 2020
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They must collect thousands of signatures for the petitions in Minnesota, a dangerous task amid the current pandemic. An executive order is needed.
On March 14, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo suspended the signature-gathering process for candidates for political office in his state to reduce the spread of the novel coronavirus, while at the same time reducing the number of signatures that will be required for each office this year by approximately 70%.
Mar 24, 2020
The United States has none of the systems or infrastructure that would allow it to accomplish what China has done to fight mass infection.
The only thing more frightening than the COVID-19 virus spreading around the world is the knowledge that this country is woefully unprepared to protect people from it. The response to the epidemic would be funny if it were not so dangerous.
Mar 23, 2020
HARTFORD, CT – Governor Lamont has ordered the closing of tens of thousands of businesses around the state, effective Monday, March 23, 2020, as part of the response to the coronavirus crisis. Exempt from the order are Connecticut's military manufacturers.
The Green Party of Connecticut calls on Governor Lamont to immediately order the closing of the more than one thousand military contractors and subcontractors in the state. While politicians say that keeping military contractors in operation is needed for "national security," the real defense of our communities from a global pandemic demands these plants be closed.
Mar 19, 2020
Dear Governor Pritzker, President Harmon, Speaker Madigan, and Director Sandvoss,
For months, the Green Party has been preparing for the start of the petitioning period applicable to “new” political parties, which begins on March 24, 2020, and ends on June 22, 2020. The Illinois Green Party has held its nominating convention and has nominated Green Party candidates for the 2020 Illinois statewide ballot. (Under the Election Code, the Green Party was not eligible to participate in the state's Primary Election this year for statewide offices.)
Mar 19, 2020
ALBANY, NY – The world faces an unprecedented crisis in the form of the coronavirus pandemic. New York has become the epicenter of the outbreak in the United States, and the actions taken here will have an outsized impact on the course of the crisis.
It is imperative that New York's elected officials choose a path that empowers the working class, people of color, and low-income families, rather than the wealthy. During this crisis acts that were considered extraordinary yesterday will be enacted tomorrow. It is up to those of us in the Green Party of New York and on the Left to ensure that those measures benefit working New Yorkers, and that we push for the most comprehensive, democratic, and ecosocialist version of those measures.
Mar 16, 2020
Our economic system is not designed to assist the public in the event of emergencies. The policies of the private Federal Reserve System of banks focus only on profits of the financial and corporate sectors of the economy. Howard Switzer of the Green Party of Tennessee explains: “When we are faced with a pandemic situation, the largest concern of our leaders is not the disease, but rather the trade losses of investors who benefit from the private for-profit monetary system. Public need for money during a crisis is precisely the time the financial system fails.”
Mar 15, 2020
WASHINGTON — Green Party leaders have expressed alarm upon learning the U.S. House legislation passed on March 13 addressing the COVID-19 pandemic fails to guarantee paid sick leave for roughly 80% of workers. Citing the government’s ineffectual response in the early days of the outbreak, the Green Party is concerned that economic barriers could prevent many workers from participating in “social distancing,” one of the most effective remaining tactics for protecting vulnerable segments of the population from infection.
Mar 15, 2020
FALLS CHURCH, Va – On Wednesday, March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to be a pandemic. The uncertain nature and health impacts of the virus driving an abundance of caution has already caused a great deal of disruption globally. This disruption will likely continue and worsen in the coming weeks.
Mar 14, 2020
PITTSBURGH – Out of an abundance of caution, the Green Party of Allegheny County is canceling our planned canvassing and public events in March to help contain the coronavirus. Holding public events then going door-to-door canvassing is a recipe for spread of the virus, so we're cancelling to reduce the risk of exposure especially for the most vulnerable in our community
You can learn more about COVID-19 (coronavirus) from the CDC at: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html.
Thanks for your understanding!
Mar 14, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is disrupting nearly every facet of life in many communities. We must practice “social distancing” as one of the tactics to contain —or at least slow— the outbreak but we must also practice solidarity and mutual aid wherever conditions allow. For this public health crisis is simultaneously an economic crisis for countless people impacted by the virus and corresponding quarantines.
And the reason for that is simple: our political system (the two-party cartel) and economic system (capitalism) have utterly failed us. But it didn’t have to be this way. For years the Green Party has campaigned for:
