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Dear Friend,  I hope you're taking very good care of yourself during this unsettling time. In the face of the enormity of this pandemic, individual acts of courage and compassion are more important than ever. Mutual aid is springing from grassroots, immigrant and youth groups, unions, congregations and indigenous organizations. In the absence of globally-coordinated, government-funded action, these individual and community-level efforts are making a real difference, providing critical support and saving lives. Democracy Now! is bringing you the stories and voices of the courageous people who are standing up, speaking out and lending a helping hand as the death toll from COVID-19 continues to grow in the U.S. and around the world.  Doctor Who Tests Homeless for Coronavirus Handcuffed by Police On Wednesday, we interviewed Dr. Armen Henderson, a physician and associate professor of medicine at the University of Miami, who has been working as a volunteer to administer COVID-19 tests to unhoused people in Miami. Last Friday, Henderson, who is African American, was at home loading a van with tents and other supplies to distribute, when a Miami Police cruiser pulled up. The officer got out, accusing Henderson of littering, and handcuffed him. "I want the officer held accountable," Dr. Henderson said on Democracy Now! "But outside of that, I think the bigger picture is that I was going to serve homeless individuals throughout Miami-Dade County. It's supposed to be the city and the county’s job to do this ... especially in a pandemic." Juan González Shares His Personal Experience with COVID-19 This week we also spoke to Democracy Now! co-host Juan González about his personal experience with COVID-19. González described how he struggled to get his own 92-year-old mother tested when he took her to the emergency room in New Jersey. “We have to ask ourselves why, in a country that spends so much money on healthcare, are we still having problems producing the most basic equipment," González said. "And I really believe it’s part of this whole situation of the neoliberal view of how to run the market.” He also talked about the importance of taking action on an individual level to help those who are suffering the most, highlighting the Mutual Aid Fund for New Brunswick, a GoFundMe campaign to provide direct assistance to undocumented communities—people who will receive no support from the federal government. "I firmly believe that it’s not enough for radicals and progressives to just rail against the situation," González asserted. "I think we also have to point the way to change, to give people hope and to promote grassroots efforts by everyday people." “Gangster in the White House”: Noam Chomsky on COVID-19  On Friday, we aired more of our interview with world-renowned political dissident, linguist and author Noam Chomsky, who responded to President Trump's budget cuts to the World Health Organization as U.S. COVID-19 deaths surged to another record high. He also discussed conditions in Gaza amidst the pandemic and the progressive response to the rise of authoritarianism around the world. “This is typical behavior of autocrats and dictators. When you make colossal errors which are killing thousands of people, find somebody else to blame,” said Chomsky. “In the United States, it’s unfortunately the case, for well over a century, century and a half, that it’s always easy to blame the 'yellow peril.'” COVID-19 & Indian Country: Pandemic Exposes Health Disparities Democracy Now! recently interviewed two indigenous leaders about how the coronavirus is impacting Indian Country: Dean Seneca, a citizen of the Seneca Nation and epidemiologist who spent nearly 20 years as a senior health scientist for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Navajo activist and artist Emma Robbins, director of the Navajo Water Project, a community-managed utility alternative that brings hot and cold running water to homes without access to water or sewer lines.  “One of the hardest things right now is being able to wash your hands in the Navajo Nation,” said Robbins. The Navajo Nation is the largest tribal nation in the United States and the hardest hit by the outbreak, with nearly 30 deaths and more than 830 confirmed cases. Essential or Expendable? Farmworkers Condemn Lack of Protection and Economic Help During Pandemic We also talked to Gerardo Reyes Chávez, a farmworker leader with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers in Florida, who described the crowded, unsanitary conditions farmworkers are facing amidst the pandemic, while they labor shoulder to shoulder for poverty wages. “The people who are doing these jobs are treated as expendable,” said Chávez on Democracy Now! Pandemic Is a Portal: Arundhati Roy on COVID-19 in India Award-winning writer, author and activist Arundhati Roy joined us on Democracy Now! Thursday to discuss how the pandemic is impacting India, where there is concern that President Narendra Modi is using the coronavirus outbreak to crackdown on opponents and dissidents. The country has more than 420 deaths and 12,000 infections, though the number is likely far higher due to lack of testing. Roy described the pandemic as a portal, a door opening and closing—opening to new possibilities of solidarity between people while at the same time "the powers that be ... try to increase surveillance, increase inequality, increase privatization, increase control." One Mask for Five 12-Hour Shifts: Harlem Hospital Nurses Demand Better Protection Amid Pandemic Last week, Democracy Now! spoke to Sarah Dowd, a registered nurse who was on the street outside of Harlem Hospital, where she works in a medical/surgical unit. Medical workers at the hospital were gearing up to protest the lack of personal protective equipment available to them as they fight the pandemic.  "We’re expected to use the same mask for five 12-hour shifts," Dowd stated. "And a lot of us who have gotten sick are being told to come back to work while we’re still having symptoms. And the risk to the rest of the staff and the patients ... is too high." For all of our recent coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic, visit our coronavirus topics page. Democracy Now! is committed to keeping you updated on developments related to the COVID-19 pandemic—and much more. Please visit democracynow.org anytime for the latest news. Stay safe and thank you so much for tuning in to our daily, independent news hour.   Democracy Now! Amy Goodman