Pandemic Nation

As pandemic-striken businesses return to life, employees face medical risks and uncertainty. Mark Kreidler speaks to Elvia Martinez, who works at LAX’s Panda Express.

What happens when pandemic fighters are at risk themselves with preexisting medical conditions?

Mark Kreidler speaks to Shenita Anderson, a nurse at Olympia Medical Center, a soon to be shuttered hospital in Los Angeles.

Mark Kreidler speaks with Dr. Coley King, director of homeless health care at Venice Family Clinic.

She has heard no plan for a federal relief package that might somehow lessen her burden. And, hotel worker Liliana Hernandez says, the whole notion of a vaccine getting the country back on track might be way too late for her and her colleagues. In a state of inequity, relief remains elusive.  

While 57% of Californians in a recent Public Policy Institute poll said they would either definitely or probably take the vaccine, the figure plummets to 29% among Black respondents. Systemic and pervasive racism lies at the root of that deep distrust of the system, says our guest, Michelle Burton of the Los Angeles-based Community Health Councils.

Mark Kreidler speaks with Erin McIntosh, a rapid-response nurse in Riverside, about the burnout plaguing health care workers in the final stretch of the pandemic.

CommuniCare's CEO explains how community clinics will receive and administer the vaccine to patients who don't often see doctors.

Who gets the coronavirus vaccine first -- and who decides this? Mark Kreidler talks with California health care advocate Anthony Wright.

Mark Kreidler speaks to Jenny Wong-Swanson, a Kaiser Permanente nurse in Woodland Hills, about the pandemic’s explosion.

Mark Kreidler speaks to Dr. Jeanne Noble about the new president and his impact on how the country deals with COVID-19.

Mark Kreidler speaks to Elvia Martinez, a food service worker at LAX.

Mark Kreidler speaks to Eunice Balencio, a nurse on the front lines of the COVID-19 battle.

Mark Kriedler speaks to Keisha Banks, an Events Server for the Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood, California.

Mark Kriedler speaks to Kristen Tobey, Co-Founder of Oakland's Revolution Foods.

Mark Kreidler speaks to Marlene Mendoza, a server of 32 years at LAX for HMS Host. 

Mark Kreidler speaks to Eileen Saltman, a worker at Reem’s California, a restaurant and bakery in Oakland.

Frank Lara, a teacher in San Francisco's Mission District, speaks on the challenges of distance learning as the fall semester begins.

The Sunshine State shows there is more than one way to suppress the kinds of figures that reveal the virus’s true human cost.

More than a third of Americans are showing signs of clinical anxiety or depression, a 300 percent increase over last year.

As eviction bans lift and temporary housing provisions end, what happens to those who can’t afford rent? Mark Kreidler speaks to Ken Rogers, Vice President of the National Union of Healthcare Workers.

Will a wave of teacher resignations accompany the reopening of K-12 schools across the country this fall? Will local enrollments crater? A national survey suggests it’s possible. Mark Kreidler speaks to Shannon Eizenga, Executive Director of The Gubbio Project.

A survey of 23,000 nurses found that 87 percent of respondents must still reuse disposable masks while attending to COVID-19 patients. Mark Kreidler speaks to Catherine Mithamo, a nursing home worker at facility with a COVID outbreak.  

The lights are going out in America’s rural hospitals and clinics at the moment they are most needed. Mark Kriedler speaks to Deborah Burger, co-president of National Nurses United and president of California Nurses Association.

A new study, citing historical precedent, claims 42 percent of recent layoffs will result in permanently lost jobs.Mark Kreidler speaks to Holly Ortiz, an assistant preschool director in Fountain Valley, California. More than half of her 11-member household has been infected with COVID-19, including her home health care provider parents.

The firings of Amazon whistleblowers, Tim Bray wrote, were further evidence “of a vein of toxicity running through the company’s culture." Mark Kreidler speaks to Lola Gomez, an Austin American-Statesman photojournalist that contracted COVID-19 while on assignment.

Los Angeles reports that its county’s low-income COVID deaths are triple the number of those of wealthier neighborhoods. Mark Kreidler speaks to Felicia Canales, a grocery worker at the Vons-owned Pavilions in Orange County, California.  

From health care workers to immigrant detainees, efforts to acquire protective face coverings are complicated by bureaucratic resistance. Mark Kreidler speaks to Tom Shaw, a Bus Operator at TWU Local 234 in Philadelphia.    

Mark Kreidler speaks to Dr. Jeanne Noble, Director of the Covid-19 Response Unit in the emergency department at UC San Francisco's Parnassus Medical Center. A trio of Democratic lawmakers is attempting to correct Congress’ omission of undocumented workers from the CARES Act.  

SB 943 would expand the state’s Paid Family Leave program, extending benefits to parents impacted by school closures. Mark Kreidler speaks to Reagan Duncan, a San Diego area teacher adapting to the new virtual classroom reality.    

Mark Kreidler speaks to Monique Hernandez, a nurse on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.

As uncertainties and conflicting data swirl around COVID-19, a few truths about the poor bear repeating. On today's episode: Mark Kreidler speaks to Monique Hernandez, a nurse on the frontline of the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a week of private negotiations, the state is no closer to filling empty hotel rooms with at-risk homeless people. Each week Pandemic Nation offers a roundup and analysis of news about the coronavirus.

Veteran journalist Mark Kreidler begins a new weekly column and podcast covering the coronavirus and its social impacts.