By now you know that the coronavirus is spiking again across America. While other countries have gotten the virus reasonably under control, we’ve let it flourish again because money apparently means more than human lives. Awesome.
Although the current peak is driven in part by reopening restaurants, bars and other businesses too early, there’s one community that’s been hit hard by the virus all along, even when the lockdown was in place. Prisons and jails have been hotbeds for infections for months, and contain some of the biggest and most widespread clusters of the virus in the country. This isn’t new information—it’s been widely reported on, although way under the fold, in most cases—but it’s something that still hasn’t been spotlighted enough. We’re basically condemning prisoners to infections, no matter their crime or sentence, and putting people confined in jails while awaiting their charges or trial at high risk.
John Oliver took a deep dive into the issue on last night’s Last Week Tonight, in the latest of his hilariously depressing look at how inadequate our coronavirus response has been. If you’re looking to start your week off feeling even more miserable than you normally do, go ahead and watch the whole segment in full below.