TABLE 2.
A sample of media messages, related to floods and COVID‐19, illustrate a broad range of important issues
| Message | Media source |
|---|---|
| Floods are not unusual in Assam, particularly during monsoons. However, in 2020, it is not just the threat of rising waters that is facing the people of the state. The looming threat of COVID‐19 in the flood relief camps set up by the administration, threatens to push the already‐vulnerable to higher risk. “When the waters threaten to take away your life, swallow your land, your animals, the focus is to just survive. Now there will be two things threatening us.” (June 3, 2020) | https://india.mongabay.com/2020/06/with‐floods‐and‐covid‐19‐assam‐faces‐a‐dual‐threat/ |
| The workers were brought in from Florida and Texas to Michigan after the May 19 flood. Approximately 50 tested positive while in Michigan. There were claims that the workers were forced to work without sufficient personal protective gear and lived in crowded hotel rooms. (July 25, 2020) | https://www.michiganradio.org/post/group‐asks‐greater‐covid‐19‐protections‐workers |
| Mr. Chandrababu Naidu, former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh and current leader of parliamentary opposition expressed concern that the troubles of the common people in the state were multiplying day by day under the inefficient rule of the government. He stated that the government's failures and wrongdoings were exposed during the coronavirus relief measures and also floods. No relief was provided to the victims. Mr. Naidu accused the ruling party of “betraying all sections of population.” (October 11, 2020) | https://www.thehansindia.com/andhra‐pradesh/covid‐flood‐exposed‐governments‐inefficiency‐tdp‐650707 |
| Two companies brought the workers from Florida to mid‐Michigan after catastrophic floods in the spring of 2020. After a COVID‐19 outbreak among workers who helped with re‐building efforts in Midland and Bay counties, companies are facing a lawsuit. Allegedly, the companies failed to take proper workplace safety precautions, after luring the workers to Michigan with false claims about workplace safety. They improperly discharged workers who had been exposed. The lawsuit says the defendants then sent the workers home, spreading the risk of COVID‐19 to their families and to other communities. According to the lawsuit, at least 17 workers contracted COVID‐19 (two have been critically ill), and some spread it to their families. (October 14, 2020) | https://www.michiganradio.org/post/companies‐sued‐over‐covid‐19‐outbreak‐among‐flood‐recovery‐workers |
| Hyderabad flood victims were shifted to 165 rescue and relief camps. Flood victims, who exhibited symptoms that could be related to COVID‐19 were tested and some tests gave positive results. Those identified as COVID‐19 positive were shifted to government hospitals for treatment. In addition to the health camps, functioning round the clock, also 42 mobile health centers were set up, to reach out to people in flood hit areas who did not require evacuation. Doctors, nurses and other health department staff, who have been working hard for controlling COVID‐19, now stepped up to assist flood victims. (October 18, 2020) | https://www.deccanchronicle.com/nation/in‐other‐news/181020/hyderabad‐flood‐victims‐test‐positive‐for‐covid‐in‐relief‐camps.html |