As a global pandemic, covid-19 is creating unprecedented healthcare challenges for all communities in Washington State. We encourage the public to take all responsible precautions in keeping themselves and others healthy during the outbreak. We also encourage people to support one another to help mitigate the worst and most immediate impacts of this virus through solidarity, care and mutual aid. We must also organize through the crisis to ensure a just recovery for those who are most vulnerable, and most affected.
COVID-19 carries a special importance to the nuclear disarmament movement because individuals and communities impacted by the research, development, testing, and production of nuclear weapons often have so many underlying factors which magnify their risks, including radioactive and toxic chemical exposures, air and water pollution, poverty, poor nutrition and institutionalized racism, etc. This can all provide the background for weakened immune systems of members of communities on the frontlines of the nuclear system: veterans and civilians exposed to radiation through above-ground nuclear testing, uranium miners, residents near abandoned mines and waste sites, and those who worked in nuclear production sites. These exposed populations are disproportionately from indigenous communities, communities of color, low-income, or rural communities, and often face significant barriers to receiving adequate health care.
Many frontline communities in WA State with nuclear-related healthcare issues have acute vulnerabilities to COVID-19 because radiation exposure compromises the immune system and the ability of the body to fight off viruses. Communities living downwind from the plutonium processing facility at Hanford as well as workers at the facility were exposed to radiation during the production phase of nuclear weapons. The legacy of Hanford on ancestral lands creates healthcare challenges for nations such as Yakama, Nez Perce, Umatilla and Wanapum.
Mining for uranium for nuclear weapons exposed communities like the Spokane Tribe. As Sovereignty Health Air Water Land (SHAWL) Society describes it: “our families on the Navajo and Spokane Reservation are at extremely high risk with limited to no access to basic PPE, medical support services and healthy food. There are symptomatic staff in both the local IHS clinic and HHS which provide support to disabled and patients with medical needs.”
Also vulnerable are our local communities of Japanesehibakusha and Marshallese who suffer lasting health issues resulting from the exposure to radiation released during nuclear detonations in their homelands.
We know that COVID-19 will have disproportionate impacts that highlight and exacerbate existing inequity in our state and country: the hardest hit will be communities of color, low-income communities and those who live paycheck-to-paycheck, those with suppressed immune systems and who already have a harder time accessing health care.
We must put the needs of people first. This outbreak starkly highlights our misplaced national funding priorities. The 2021 budget includes nearly $49 billion for nuclear weapons ,enough money to purchase 460 million test kits at an estimated cost of $100 each test with enough money left over for facemasks and other protective equipment to offset the shortage being experienced by many hospitals. It’s time to refocus our national priorities from creating threats to preventing and treating them..
The rapid spread of COVID-19 demonstrates even the previously unimaginable is possible. As we worry about overwhelmed medical infrastructure and a recession, we are seeing what Jeffrey Lewis, an arms control expert, calls a “nuclear war in slow motion.” Any nuclear attack would overwhelm emergency response capabilities, and a nuclear exchange of just 1% of the world’s stockpile could disrupt food supplies enough to cause a global famine. We can’t completely control the appearance of a new virus, but it is within our power to make sure that a nuclear weapon is never used. Our prioritization of civilization-ending weapons is alarming in the face of a pandemic projected to take millions of lives – unless we act now and divert money from ending life to saving lives.
Nuclear weapons may seem like an issue that can be addressed later, but the Doomsday Clock is only 100 seconds to midnight which means we are closer to disaster than we have ever been. the Trump Administration continues to encourage a new arms race by destroying treaties, increasing nuclear weapons spending, and building new nuclear weapons at a time when
We need to marshal all of our national resources to address COVID-19. This will mean making hard choices around funding priorities. Diverting money away from a new nuclear arms race can shift us from threatening life, to protecting life. We are all in this together, and by redirecting money slated to be spent on nuclear weapons, we can take care of those most impacted by COVID-19, now.
We call on all peace loving people to call your Member of Congress to demand funding for nuclear weapons be shifted to support health needs of impacted and vulnerable. Communities. Find your MOC’s number here: https://app.leg.wa.gov/DistrictFinder/
Use the following script to make your call:
“My name is ____ and I live in _____. I am concerned, at a time when thousands are dying aroudn the world from the COVID-19 Crisis that Trump intends to spend 46 billion more dollars on nuclear weapons. Will you commit to cuting the nuclear weapons budget to spend this money on lifesaving ventilators, surgical masks, and healthcare benefits for millions of Americans who deserve access to healthcare during the COVID19 pandemic?”