[Return to Duggan Myths]
No, he did not, and in fact Hepatitis-A is still an epidemic in Detroit...hey, remember that?
 |
| "Doesn't ring a bell..." |
Remember when the media called Detroit the STD capitol of America? Seems like just as soon as the "largest Hepatitis-A outbreak in modern history" was starting to become big news, the Covid19 outbreak took over all headlines and we never heard about it again. It was big enough that even I had to go get a shot because of it...so far at least 30 Detroiters have died from it: https://www.freep.com/story/news/health/2019/09/20/hepatitis-a-outbreak-michigan/2276156001/
https://patch.com/michigan/detroit/record-high-std-rates-us-where-metro-detroit-ranks
Somehow I don't think Hep-A took its ball and went home just because it lost the limelight. Has the Detroit Health Dept. stayed fully funded throughout this twin epidemic-pandemic? Is the health department accessible to everyone? What about the problem with the lead in the water in the Detroit schools? Has that been addressed? I'm sure if these things had been addressed, Duggan would waste no time gloating about it on TV, but there is still just media silence on these issues as he heads into his 2021 reelection campaign.
In fact, that was one thing the water shutoff activists were screaming about, is the fact that there was data coming out suggesting that the Hep-A outbreak was being exacerbated by the fact that so many households in Detroit had their water shut off, preventing regular hand washing—which is primarily how Hep-A is spread. And then came Covid19, into a perfect storm.
Duggan was "on the front line" of the campaign to shut off water service to Detroiters unable to pay their water bills:
From 2014 to 2020 the city shut off water to 141,000 city accounts, and in 2019 there were 23,000 households without the basic sanitation or hygiene that comes with access to running water, in the middle of a pandemic. Duggan presides over a city where tens of thousands of people cannot wash their hands, shower, wash dishes, or do laundry.
On Covid tests used for city employees, it was found that the Abbott brand of test being used was only accurate 50% of the time, but Duggan arrogantly doubled down, saying he was “entirely confident” that it was fine, despite the FDA issuing a warning against trusting it.
Duggan was also reluctant to allow free access to testing as other cities had done, so that poor and elderly—the most vulnerable to Covid—could be tested.
And let's not forget that in April of 2020, DDOT bus driver Jason Hargrove made national news by essentially documenting on film his own Covid-caused death due to his unsafe work environment:
He filmed unmasked people coughing near him on the bus, and died of Covid 11 days later.
The president of the local transit workers’ union said that even before Mr. Hargrove died, Detroit bus drivers had already been complaining that the city was not doing enough to protect them. No less than 200 of the union’s 525 members were already in quarantine by that time. On March 17, Detroit’s bus drivers went on strike to protest the city's failure to protect them from the virus. It was only then that Mayor Duggan made any kind of move to protect the drivers (such as waiving fares, requiring passengers use only the rear doors, making sure drivers had gloves, masks, and wipes, or ensuring the buses were cleaned).
I have also been told that the city's Department of Elections failed to provide any sort of PPE or precautions for election workers in the March 2019 election, nor any contact tracing when some workers got sick.
Then, as of March 2021, Mike Duggan actually got caught refusing offers of additional vaccine doses for the city:
Once again Duggan changes his story when the media pulls his card (for once). He clearly had a backroom deal with another vaccine producer to keep out its competitors—in exchange for a donation to his slush fund of course.
Seriously though, why would he turn down ANY additional doses, when offered? It's not like he HAS to pick one brand or the other for the city to use. This is peoples' lives we're talking about here, and he is playing political games. This man is a filthy damned scoundrel. I'm also hearing that a lot of the people in line for the Cobo vaccination center are from the suburbs, or even further...I thought this was paid for with money earmarked for Detroit? Is this another political game where he uses favors to build suburban alliances? I've noticed that the line of cars to get into Cobo sometimes stretches almost to the Ambassador Bridge—and that's at night; that's about 20 blocks.
And one final note, where did all of the CARES Act money go? We got $32 million in additional relief appropriations from the federal act in 2020, which was set aside for the Detroit Housing & Revitalization Dept. to help those made homeless by the hardships of the pandemic...City Council approved it but can anyone find a report saying how it's being used? People are saying they can't get into the shelters in Detroit, and have reported having to go to shelters as far away as Ann Arbor. Meanwhile, Dan Gilbert's Quicken Loans seems to have gotten a piece of the pie...
