You can’t solve a disease with a symptom property is that disease. Logics of capital and carcerality locks in disease through packing poor black and brown folk in prisons under the guise of protecting property and society.

COVID-19 not only lays bare the consequences of preexisting social conditions, such as unwavering commitments to incarceration, a parasitic health care system that privileges the health of the wealthy at the expense of the poor and uninsured, the illegibility of unhoused people who cannot “shelter in place,” and the systemic neglect of indispensable workers. The current pandemic also exposes the state’s dependency on treating diseases with symptoms. What follows is an invitation to meditate on the consequences of treating diseases with symptoms of those diseases. Consider this a provocation to destroy that which is destructive. Some may call it “destruction of property.” But if the property is itself destructive, wouldn’t “destruction of destructive property” be the more sensible charge?

1) We can’t treat this disease if jails and prisons still exist.

Jails and prisons are among the most destructive of properties in the US and they must be demolished, not remodeled, or reformed. We cannot treat the spread of coronavirus in carceral space with the creation of “task forces.” State intervention under the guise of “prison reform” represents yet another futile attempt to treat a disease (prisons) with a symptom of that disease (policy reform). Critiques of “over-incarceration,” leaves open the possibility for incarceration to remain intact, without any demand to abolish prisons. When a system justifies its existence by creating a captive surplus population, the prospects of physical distancing are grim. Without the immediate release of detained and incarcerated people, police and corrections officers around the country remain complicit in sentencing imprisoned loved ones to death. The only way to minimize harm to those at maximum risk is to #FreeThemAll.

2) We can’t treat this disease with capitalism.

Just as carceral logics are no cure for the coronavirus, neither is capitalism. It is clear that the authors of the CARES Act don’t give a S-H-I-T about poor and racialized people. Transferring trillions of dollars to corporate power and the many industries largely responsible for the pre-existing social conditions that spawned the current pandemic is an insult to countless indispensable, not expendable workers. For example, the airline industry’s demand for instant gratification led it to spend billions of dollars on stock buybacks, while preaching fiscal responsibility.

Despite being a grown-ass corporation, the airline industry still acts like the spoiled child of the state. Whenever the industry finds itself in a jam, the fed comes to its rescue with a “too big to fail” free card. The industry now has yet another opportunity to gamble borrowed money without any obligation to repay. Banking on corporate bailouts is unacceptable. While Wall Street and the airline industry are going gangbusters on the strength of the state, workers in the gig economy are getting got. Under the guise of “flexible labor,” they are stretched to their limits performing essential work without Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), without testing, without health insurance, without hazard pay, without sick leave, and without protection from retaliation for organizing as a form of self-protection. In addition to the threat of infection, frontline workers remain highly susceptible to wage theft, exploitation, extraction and punishment for remaining in solidarity with subversive comrades.

The contributions of frontline workers exceeds the conceptual capacity of “essential.” They are not abstract, sacrificial heroes. Instead, they are our friends, neighbors, and loved ones. And this makes them indispensable. We must stand in solidarity with indispensable workers to let coronavirus capitalists know that the jig of the gig is up!