In It Together

In In It Together's final episode before a summer break, Arun Rath checks back in with the family of Keith Jacobs, who died from COVID-19 last year, to discuss the massive toll this pandemic has taken. And Arun speaks with regular guest Dr. Nahid Bhadelia, now the founding director of Boston University's new Center for Emerging Infectious Diseases Policy and Research.

After more than a year closed, the Brattle Theater is set to re-open its doors this July. We'll hear what we can expect about programming and the experience from Ivy Moylan, executive director and co-founder, and Ned Hinkle, creative director. And yes, there will be a Jaws screening. Wouldn't be the Fourth of July without one.

We'll hear about the need for investment in local minority-owned businesses, especially as we emerge from the pandemic, when Arun Rath speaks with Kofi Callender of Roxbury-based start-up organization E for All and Widline Pyrame of Fusion Dolls.

The pandemic closed churches last year, preventing people from not only worshipping in person together, but grieving together. This is especially true for churches in communities of color. We'll hear more about this collective trauma from Reverend Emmett Price and Reverend Irene Monroe, both co-hosts of the GBH podcast, All Revv'd Up.

Live local theater is getting back underway. The first performance in the Boston area will be at Arlington's Regent Theatre, where Michael Levin will perform his one-man show called "The Mom Show," about his mother's escape from Nazi Germany and how she made it to the U.S. Arun Rath speaks with Levin.

Most of the state's COVID-19 restrictions relax on Saturday, but according to a new survey, depression levels across the board remain high, even as the pandemic here in the United States improves. Host Arun Rath speaks with Dr. Roy Perlis, the director for the Center for Quantitative Health at Mass General Hospital, about the findings.

The murder of George Floyd by police nearly a year ago has forced America to reexamine issues of race in all sorts of areas. That includes healthcare, especially in the context of the pandemic. Arun Rath speaks with community health expert Dr. Monica Wang, Associate Director of Narrative at the B.U. Center for Antiracist Research, about how Floyd's murder has prompted the field of medicine to take a hard look at itself. Arun also speaks with Boston Medical Center’s Dr. Sabrina Assoumou about the disparities in healthcare access and health outcomes faced by communities of color.

We’ve been checking in with GBH's Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen since the start of the pandemic. It's been up's and down's throughout the last 14 months for arts institutions in the state, but with restrictions relaxing in about a week, there's positive news on the horizon for them as they welcome summer.

The state is getting ready to bring COVID restrictions to an end this Memorial Day weekend, and some doctors say that decision makes sense. But others are skeptical, including UMass Medical Center's Dr. Robert Klugman, who speaks with Arun Rath.

When it comes to Massachusetts communities hit disproportionately hard by COVID, Chelsea is at or near the top of the list. Arun Rath speaks with Gladys Vega, head of La Colaborativa, formerly known as the Chelsea Collective, to hear how things are going in Chelsea as the pandemic seemingly winds down.

The state is getting ready to lift pandemic restrictions, but the vaccination effort still has a ways to go, especially in hard to reach communities. Arun Rath speaks with Mass General’s Dr. Alister Martin about the GOTVax campaign he's working on through Mass General and Boston Medical Center.

MIT political scientist Evan Lieberman talks about a paper he recently co-authored that looks at how different social and racial groups perceive COVID-19 health disparities and how that data can be used in future public health messaging campaigns.

Community health centers have been an important part of the state's vaccine strategy, and with mass vaccination sites set to close, they're about to become even more vital. Arun Rath speaks with Michael Curry, head of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers.

It's been a mystery from the beginning: why do some people become much sicker - than others with Covid - and why do some people just get a mild case, or don't have symptoms at all? Nearly a year and a half into the pandemic, public health officials are learning more about why that is. Host Arun Rath speaks with Dr. Marcia Goldberg, an infectious disease expert at Mass General Hospital, about a new study that looks at that variability in COVID.

Prisons and jails have been hotspots for coronavirus. But the Middlesex House of Correction is making a novel effort to fight outbreaks. It's the first detention facility in the country to monitor for the virus in its wastewater. We'll hear more about the monitoring program from Middlesex County sheriff Peter Koutoujian.

We continue our look at how the relaxing of state restrictions will impact some businesses. Like many indoor performance spaces, the Barrington Stage Company in Pittsfield has had an up and down time of it since the pandemic shut down the Company last spring. But this summer, they're planning indoor and outdoor performances with audiences for the first time in months. We’ll hear from Julianne Boyd, the Company's artistic director, about what those performances will look like and what she's most looking forward to this summer.

Arun Rath speaks with GBH State House reporter Mike Deehan, who gives us a primer on the state's rollback of COVID regulations. And Arun checks back in with Mimi Loureiro, founder of the O2 Yoga studio in Somerville, about how businesses like hers are handling this stage of the pandemic.

The India Association of Greater Boston is nearly 60 years old. Host Arun Rath speaks with the director of Civic Engagement for the India Association, Guru Samaga, about what what local Indian Americans are doing, individually and within institutions, to help with the crisis in India.

Arun Rath speaks with Dr. Louise Ivers, head of the Center for Global Health at Mass. General, about how places like Massachusetts, where vaccinations are going well, can't be fully safe from COVID as long as the virus is active in other parts of the world.

Tom Mountain is vice chairman of the Massachusetts Republican State Committee. Like many conservatives, he was deeply skeptical - contemptuous in his words - about the threat posed by COVID-19. Until he got infected, and got sick. Very sick. He'll tell us about his painful journey from skeptic to believer and how he's now doing his best to convince other conservatives who are skeptical of the COVID vaccines that they need to step up, and get their shots.

The show continues to explore the concept of pandemic learning loss, as Arun Rath hears more about how education officials in the Somerville and Framingham public schools are working to fill learning gaps

Students have been living in an alternate reality these past 13 months as they attempt to learn in a pandemic. As we take stock of the gaps created and worsened by COVID, one teacher is advocating for a more humane approach, one that tackles student healing and trauma head on. Host Arun Rath talks about this with middle school civics teacher Neema Avashia.

With an end to the pandemic in sight, some of us may be feeling anxious at the prospect of reconnecting with people in the workplace and in social settings. Arun Rath speaks with psychiatrist Dr. Michelle Durham of Boston Medical Center and the BU School of Medicine about that kind of anxiety can be managed.

Happy Earth Day! Ray Brown of the Talkin' Birds show and podcast stops by to discuss what birds he's excited to see and hear this spring and summer. Even as the state starts to re-open, the interest in birding remains strong.

Arun Rath checks back in with Heidemarie Floerke, a German teacher at the Boston Latin School, about teaching language through slam poetry and songwriting.

Arun Rath speaks with Norris Guscott, head of the Lynn Food and Fitness Alliance and Lynn’s food security task force leader, about fighting food insecurity amid the pandemic.

Today is the eighth anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. We'll look back with Jack Fultz, a longtime training advisor for the Dana-Farber Boston Marathon team. He is also the winner of the 1976 Boston Marathon. We'll also talk about what's next for this year's marathon in October.

Arun Rath speaks with Don Cox, head of the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation, about the Food4Vets program and the increased need for food and housing in the veteran community.

Thousands of eviction cases are making their way through Massachusetts courts following the expiration of the state's eviction moratorium last year. We'll hear from the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and Greater Boston Legal Services about what rights tenants have in this process and where they can turn for help if they need it.

New Bedford is the country's largest commercial shipping port and has the largest collection of seafood processing plants in the U-S. This creates some unusual circumstances for the city. This past weekend, they held a vaccine clinic specifically geared towards those working in these industries. More are planned for this week, despite the pause on the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. Host Arun Rath speaks with New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell about all of this.

The pandemic has highlighted housing problems in and around Boston. Arun Rath speaks with tenants union organizers Jeremy DeCruz and Dan Albright, plus Denise Matthews-Turner from City Life/Vida Urbana, about evictions and their impact on immigrant communities.

We're living a virtual age, but all those zoom meetings keeping us connected may also be wrecking our self image. Host Arun Rath speaks with Dr. Shadi Kourosh, a board certified dermatologist and the director of Community Health at Massachusetts General hospital, about "zoom dysmorphia" and how we can combat it.

Arun Rath speaks with Dr. Matthias Waltz from UMass Memorial Healthcare about efforts to create better outcomes for COVID patients.

On Monday, many elementary school students headed back to school for their first week of full-time, in-person learning. Watertown was one of them. We’ll hear from Superintendent Doctor Dede Galdston about how the first day back went. But some districts - like in Chelsea - needed more time to prepare for the shift back. Superintendent Dr. Almi Abeyta walks us through what school will look like for some elementary students when they head back to classrooms next week.

Arun Rath speaks with Dan Hoffenberg, vice president with Cataldo Ambulance. Hoffenberg is managing vaccine work for Cataldo at the mass vaccination site at Boston's Hyne's Convention Center.

On Monday, thousands of students will be returning to classrooms for full-time, in-person learning. For many of them, it will be their first big step towards a new normal. But with that step comes anxiety all around. We'll hear how parents can help make that transition easier. We'll also hear how one school district is working right now to make their students comfortable with in-person learning. Then, we get the teacher perspective. Many of them are vaccinated - or getting their shots - but with cases ticking up, there's uncertainty among some of them about returning to classrooms.

Throughout this pandemic, nurses, doctors, and staff across hospitals and community health centers have been on the front lines caring for patients and their families. It's been emotionally taxing for many of them. That’s why some here in Massachusetts are now coming together to help their colleagues. Brigham and Women's Hospital has launched a new podcast called Resiliency Roadmap as a way to support nurses on the frontlines. We’ll hear from Maddy Pearson, podcast host and the chief nursing officer and senior vice president for clinical services at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and Christine Murphy, the program director of the Psychiatric Nursing Resource Service, also at Brigham.

Arun Rath speak swith Paul Sacco, head of the Massachusetts Lodging Association, about how the lodging industry has been taken out at the knees by the pandemic, and what recovery might look like, especially for smaller inns and motels.

Outdoor dining starts up on Thursday in the North End. The pandemic has been particularly hard on this Boston neighborhood, which relies heavily on tourists and sports fans for their business. We’ll hear from Phillip Frattaroli, managing partner of the Filmark Hospitality Group, which owns a handful of restaurants in the greater Boston area, including three in the North End. Phillip says he and his family are looking forward to patio season this year after a long winter.

Arun Rath speaks with Cicely Carew, the Cambridge artist behind 'Ambrosia,’ a huge hanging art installation in the atrium of the Prudential Center that’s inspired by the concept of healing amid the pandemic.

Facing another Passover in the pandemic, it seemed like a good time to check in with host Arun Rath’s rabbi, Howard Jaffe, of Temple Isaiah in Lexington. Regular listeners know him well at this point; we first talked on the show last year before our first pandemic Passover. Arun and Rabbi Jaffe talk about the ongoing virtual worship services, keeping the community together, the prospect of actually gathering again, and zoom holiday burnout.

Host Arun Rath speaks with Ambassador Meron Reuben, he's the new Israeli Consul General for New England. They talk about everything from Passover, to vaccination efforts in Israel, to how his office is providing aid locally during this time.

Arun Rath speaks with Kevin Kopchynski, astronomy educator with the Stars Over Springfield program at the Springfield Museums. He shares how the program is continuing to help people learn about space online.

Restaurant and hospitality workers became eligible for the vaccine this week. In the days leading up to then, restaurants began posting guidance directed at workers and staff on social media. This banning together comes after a tough year for the industry and in the midst of a vaccine rollout that's been less than ideal. We’ll hear from Bessie King, co-owner of Boston's Villa Mexico Cafe, about the last year and the work her and her co-owner, her mother Julie, have done to protect and support their staff. This includes helping them find and sign up for vaccine appointments.

Arun Rath speaks with Eva Millona, head of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition, MIRA, and co-chair of the Vaccine Equity Now! Coalition. Millona shares her thoughts on why vaccination rates among people of color are lagging behind rates for white residents. And she tells us what she wants to hear from Governor Charlie Baker when it comes to vaccine equity ahead of an oversight hearing set for tomorrow.

Thousands of volunteers have signed up to be members of the state's Vaccine Corps, an effort organized through UMass Medical School. Each day, they assist in everything from scheduling, to wellness checks, to actually administering the vaccines. Chancellor of UMass Medical School Dr. Michael Collins explains the work being done by volunteers of every age and background to help get Massachusetts residents vaccinated safely and efficiently.

Arun Rath checks back in with the head of UMass Memorial Healthcare, Dr. Eric Dickson, to get his thoughts on a year of COVID-19.

Arun Rath speaks with Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey to get her take on vaccine equity, vaccinations for teachers, school reopenings, and the way her job has shifted amid the pandemic.

Last spring, a group of Holy Cross students launched "COVID Chronicles," a project meant to document aspects of the pandemic through selected themes. With the guidance of two history professors, the twelve students gathered information, oral histories and visual media. Arun Rath speaks with those two professors, and with three of the students who were involved.

In a special edition of In It Together, Arun Rath introduces GBH News’ retrospective on the pandemic, “COVID-19: Covering a Slow-Moving Disaster,” produced by GBH News senior managing editor Sean Corcoran.

Arun speaks with GBH Executive Arts Editor Jared Bowen to review the last year of arts and culture, including how institutions have continued to adapt in uncertain times. Jared also shares a few feel-good stories from the past year.