November 14, 2020

Thanksgiving Is Less Than 2 Weeks Away, and the Entire Continental US Is Trending Poorly on COVID-19

If there’s one map you show your relatives before Thanksgiving, make it this one.

Ahead of Thanksgiving, public health officials have expressed concern that the holiday will contribute to a surge in new coronavirus cases. Now, with Thanksgiving still about two weeks away, the country is already seeing those fears actualize.

According to the nonpartisan data tracking project COVID Exit Strategy, every state in the contiguous United States is either “trending poorly” or has an “uncontrolled spread” of coronavirus cases. And with a lack of leadership on COVID at the national level, the rest of the year isn’t looking so good either. Here’s the most recent map:

COVID Exit Strategy

This is a notable downtrend. Just earlier this week, Vermont was “trending better”:

COVID case trend on November 10, 2020

Wayback Machine

Here’s what the map looked like two months ago:

COVID case trend on September 14, 2020

Wayback Machine

And in August:

COVID case trend on August 14, 2020

Wayback Machine

Public health officials recommend staying home for Thanksgiving. But if you must travel or see family members, please wear a mask.

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This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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