Script
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
SHIELA GEORGE: I feel like it was made too quick, I feel like it's about money.
ANDY DECIME: I am cold, I am freezing, I am like the heats on that heater behind you I practically was giving it a hug. Dude I am shivering, I am shaking, I am like I don't get it and I was fine the day before. So I'm not thinking I'm sick and absolutely I'm not thinking I got Covid.
ELIACIN:
WHEN THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC FIRST BEGAN TO MAKE HEADLINES IN THE U.S., THERE WAS A GENERAL BELIEF THAT NOBODY WAS GOING TO BE SPARED FROM ITS EFFECTS. IT WAS UNDERSTOOD THAT THE CORONAVIRUS WAS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITY DISEASE THAT WOULD IMPACT RICH AND POOR ALIKE. THIS CONCEPT WAS MADE EVEN MORE ACCEPTABLE WHEN ACTOR TOM HANKS ANNOUNCED THAT BOTH HE AND HIS WIFE TESTED POSITIVE ON MARCH 11TH, 2020, EARLY DURING THE FIRST WEEKS OF THE PANDEMIC.
ETonline: Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson sound:
Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson, announced they have tested positive for coronavirus. The actor took to Instagram to announce their diagnosis next to a photo seemingly from a medical facility. Hanks wrote Rita and I are down here in Australia. We felt a bit tired. Like we had colds and some body aches.
ELIACIN:
BUT MORE THAN TWO YEARS LATER, IT IS SAFE TO SAY THAT COVID 19 HAS NOT TREATED EVERY COMMUNITY EQUALLY. IN FACT, PUBLIC HEALTH RECORDS DEMONSTRATE QUITE CLEARLY THAT COMMUNITIES OF COLOR WERE HARDEST HIT BY THE PANDEMIC. THROUGHOUT THE COUNTRY, IN BIG CITIES AND IN THE SUBURBS, BLACK AND BROWN PEOPLE WERE DISPROPORTIONATELY IMPACTED BY COVID 19, IN TERMS OF LOSS OF LIFE, OVERALL INFECTIONS, AND OTHER SHORT AND LONG-TERM HEALTH OUTCOMES. AND HERE ON LONG ISLAND, THE PANDEMIC HIT TOO CLOSE TO HOME.
MUSIC: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade Down)
NEWS 12 Long Island: Curran:
The number of coronavirus cases in New York State doubled on Friday hitting 44, Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement this evening saying, three of the new cases are in Nassau County. The number must continue to go up because it is mathematics.The more you test, the more positives you will find. Nassau County Executive, Laura Kerrin, says that the three women ages 36-41 and 63 live in the town of Hempstead.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
ELIACIN:
HI, I'M SAMUEL ELIACIN AND THIS IS "TOO CLOSE TO HOME: HOW COVID-19 IMPACTED COMMUNITIES OF COLOR ON LONG ISLAND." IN THIS SPECIAL REPORT, I WILL EXPLORE HOW BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITIES EXPERIENCED THE PANDEMIC HERE IN NASSAU COUNTY, IN TERMS OF ACCESS TO HEALTH SERVICES, OVERALL INFECTIONS, AND THE ECONOMIC DISPLACEMENT THAT CAME WITH THE LOCKDOWNS. IN TALKING TO A VARIETY OF LOCAL COMMUNITY MEMBERS, I WILL TRY TO SHED LIGHT ON WHY COVID-19 HIT US SO HARD, WHY THERE WAS SOME RELUCTANCE TO GET VACCINATED, AND HOW THE CRISIS IS A REFLECTION OF THE ONGOING RACIAL DISPARITIES THAT EXIST ON LONG ISLAND IN TERMS OF PUBLIC HEALTH.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade down)
ANDY DECIME:I was out for two weeks. On the second week I started to come around a bit. So I started feeling like yeah I am good I can go to work. I was good for a half hour. If I just moved around the house for a half hour, make something to eat, make some tea, get something to drink, I'd walk back to the living room, exhausted.
ELIACIN:
ANDY DECIME AN ELMONT RESIDENT HAD COVID-19 AND WAS BARELY ABLE TO GO ABOUT HIS DAILY LIFE.
ANDY DECIME: All I did was walk to the kitchen. I'd come back exhausted. Like I just walked from Arizona to here. I was exhausted and I was like, I can't go back to work. Like, I couldn't. A few more days went by. Progressively, I started feeling a little bit better. So I went from roughly a half hour, then I was good for forty-five minutes, an hour.
I still was in no condition to come here for ten hours. It's like increment. Then I really started like, okay, you know, still now it's only up to three four hours and then I start feeling like yeah, I'm not out of the woods yet. But then on the third week, as I came in, but I was scared to come in because even though I started feeling better, I don't know,I didn't want to get Richie sick.
ELIACIN:
DECIME WAS ABLE TO RETURN TO WORK AND RUN HIS BUSINESS AT MOC AUTO CENTER IN MINEOLA. UPON RETURNING TO WORK HIS MECHANIC RICHIE WOULD ALSO GET COVID-19.
ANDY DECIME: I didn't want to come in and contaminate anybody else. So now I'm working from home. I'm staying home. He would call me, checked out this car, it needs this. I'd make the phone calls, and I was down for like three and a half weeks.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
ELIACIN:
AT THE TIME, ACCORDING TO THE JOHNS HOPKINS CORONAVIRUS RESEARCH CENTER, THE NUMBER OF CONFIRMED CASES IN NASSAU COUNTY STOOD AT 221,880 WITH 3,322 DEATHS. DECIME AND RICHIE CONTRIBUTED TO THE NASSAU COUNTY AVERAGE OF 26.3 NEW DAILY CASES WITH 11% BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN AND 17% LATINO.
WHILE BOTH MEN RECOVERED, MANY IN THE BLACK COMMUNITY WERE NOT AS FORTUNATE. DR. MARTINE HACKETT THE
DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC HEALTH PROGRAMS AT HOFSTRA UNIVERSITY, BELIEVES THAT THE
PANDEMIC HAD A DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT ON COMMUNITIES OF COLOR.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade Down)
DR. MARTINE HACKETT: One thing we know with the Covid-19 pandemic is that the cases, hospitalizations, and deaths disproportionately affected communities of color on Long Island, and across the country. Part of this has to do with the living conditions that people are under. We know that as a communicable disease, a disease that spreads from person to person, that people who live in crowded housing conditions, who don't have the option of working from home, who have to take public transportation are more at risk.
ELIACIN:
FRANCISCO MORENO A UNIONDALE RESIDENT AND TRAVEL CLAIM ADJUSTER WATCHED HIS FATHER GET VERY NERVOUS. HE IS A MECHANIC FOR A MAJOR AUTO DEALERSHIP IN HEMPSTEAD WHO BRIEFLY LOST HIS JOB.
FRANCESCO MORENO: It didn't put that much strain on the family except for my father since he lost his job for about a month. 'Cause dealerships, obviously you know their contact with customers and stuff like that, they're in their cars with close space. So, he was kind of worried. If he was going to have a job for a year or just for one month. But thank God it was for just one month.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
ELIACIN:
MORENO'S FATHER DIDN'T SUFFER LONG-TERM UNEMPLOYMENT, BUT THAT WAS NOT THE CASE FOR MANY IN THE BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITY. THE U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS, WHICH DOES NOT PUBLISH STATISTICS ACCORDING TO ETHNICITY FOR COUNTIES AS SMALL AS NASSAU, REPORTS THAT IN THE MONTH OF APRIL OF 2020, THE UNEMPLOYMENT RATE IN NEW YORK STATE WAS 14.5%. THE NUMBER OF UNEMPLOYED PERSONS BY ETHNICITY WAS: WHITES 14.2 %, BLACKS 16.7%, AND LATINOS OR HISPANICS 18.9%. MANY WERE NOT AFFORDED THE OPPORTUNITY TO WORK FROM HOME. JOSIAH PIERRE AN AFRICAN AMERICAN PETTY OFFICER IN THE NAVY ALSO BRIEFLY LOST HIS JOB.
JOSIAH PIERRE: My military orders were just fully canceled for a brief period and time. You know, my civilian job. I work from home doing health care IT. I was out of work for an entire month. Throughout that entire month I had to claim unemployment.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade down)
DR. HACKETT: I think from an even bigger picture you can look at the idea that, you know, jobs, you know that were lost.
ELIACIN:
DR MARTINE HACKETT SAYS THAT PEOPLE OF COLOR NOT ONLY EXPERIENCED JOB LOSS BUT WERE NEGLECTED AT THE START OF THE PANDEMIC.
MARTINE HACKETT: Also and the types of jobs that could be done from home versus the types of jobs that had to be done in person.
I think the bigger story that I can think about with this is just from that. Those early, you know, first few weeks was that there was sort of a lack of attention to the communities that were the most affected and what could be done to help people to protect themselves.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
ELIACIN:
PEOPLE OF COLOR HAVE EXPERIENCED A HIGHER NUMBER OF DEATHS AND DESPAIR IN THEIR COMMUNITIES. THE CDC REPORTS THAT THE NUMBER OF CONFIRMED CASES IN NASSAU COUNTY IS 423,242 WITH 3,850 DEATHS AS OF MAY 6, 2022. THE JOHNS HOPKINS CORONAVIRUS RESEARCH CENTER DETAILS THAT THE NASSAU COUNTY AVERAGE DURING THAT TIME IS 60.4 NEW COVID-19 DAILY CASES PER 100,000 PEOPLE WITH 11% BEING BLACK OR AFRICAN AMERICAN AND 17% IN THE LATINO COMMUNITY.
DR. TARIKA JAMES: The burden of illness is higher in the black and brown community. Why is it higher in the black and brown community is the question? The reason why it's higher could be many things. One, black and brown people don't have access to the best of everything needed to have a healthy lifestyle. Don't have access to healthy foods, don't have access to, sometimes to health care.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade Down)
ELIACIN:
DR. TARIKA JAMES IS THE CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER FOR THE LONG ISLAND FEDERALLY QUALIFIED HEALTH CENTERS. SHE BELIEVES THAT THE BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITY ALREADY FACED MANY HEALTH CHALLENGES BEFORE THE PANDEMIC ARRIVED.
DR. TARIKA JAMES: Most of our black and brown people are uninsurable because they are immigrants. So they're not getting access to services and top-of-the-line services as quickly or as early in life as their white counterparts. So that sets us up automatically at a little bit of a disadvantage health-wise.
ELIACIN:
THESE ONGOING AND CHRONIC HEALTH CARE DISPARITIES RESULTED IN A CRISIS FOR THOSE RESIDENTS IN THE COMMUNITY WHO ALREADY HAD PREEXISTING HEALTH CONDITIONS.
DR. TARIKA JAMES: More black and brown people, disproportionate numbers of black and brown people have health risk, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, cancers, HIV. They have it in higher rates in general. That's a backdrop for worse outcomes of Covid.
ELIACIN:
EARLY IN THE PANDEMIC PEOPLE OF COLOR WERE LEFT TO FEEL LIKE SECOND CLASS CITIZENS. THEY DIDN'T HAVE EASY ACCESS TO BASIC SERVICES OR COVID-19 TESTS. ONCE AGAIN, DR. HACKETT.
DR. MARTINE HACKETT: Early
on with the testing and the lack of availability of testing. So, this is like,
you know, April 2020, you know, when testing for COVID was available in places
like Jones Beach and or at doctor's offices and they were, if you can remember
there were lines to be able to, you know, cars at places like Jones Beach for
people to get tested. But this, you know, was I guess good if you had time and if you had a car to
get there, you know? And so, one of the things that early on in that pan... in
that same time period, that people it..., you know, realize, I certainly am one
of them, is realize that the...in terms of where the cases were, so early on too
they were publishing the zip codes of the places where the cases were being
determined. And so, what happened was that that was disproportionately places
like Hempstead, like Freeport and Roosevelt. And so what happened was that the testing in those sites weren't available for
the people that live there. So, even though the testing was already high, it
was likely even higher because this was just the people who were able to have
access to tests. And so, the federally qualified health centers, which are
located in those neighborhoods had to advocate, to be able to get access to
tests.
ELIACIN:
COVID-19 TESTS WERE HARD TO COME BY EARLY IN THE PANDEMIC. WHEN THE COVID-19 VACCINE BECAME AVAILABLE TO NEW YORK STATE THE VACCINATION RATE IN THE BLACK AND HISPANIC COMMUNITY WAS LOWER THAN IN THE WHITE COMMUNITY. THERE WAS AN EFFORT THROUGH RADIO AND TV COMMERCIALS BY NYC HEALTH AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, TO ENCOURAGE BLACK PEOPLE TO GET VACCINATED.
NYC Health Commercial: Community Vaccine Stories/ Brooklyn version 2
My people, my black people. I am telling you; no one is paying me to do this. Let's go out and get vaccinated. I know the misconceptions are there, but I'm telling you there is reallynothing to be afraid of. I have a friend who's a doctor and she's black and she's like, listen, you better get this vaccine. And I trust her. I got my vaccine in March of this year.Yes, I did get a side effect for a day but it was nothing in comparison to when I had COVID. I'm a perfectly healthy woman. I have nothing, no issues, no diabetes, nothing at all that. You could think of. I didn't think I could get COVID. But hey, I got it.It was horrible, Like having the flu 10 times over. Thank God, I didn't have to go on the ventilator but the pain. It's not worth it. But I'm urging you. My people, I am begging you please. Let's not have regrets. Let's go out and get vaccinated. Visit NYC.gov/vaccinefinder or call 877 backs for NYC.
ELIACIN:
THIS WAS ONE OF MANY COMMERCIALS BY NYC HEALTH AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS TO PUSH FOR PEOPLE IN THE COMMUNITY TO GET VACCINATED. HOWEVER, MANY IN THE BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITY DID NOT TRUST HOW QUICKLY THE COVID-19 VACCINES CAME OUT. SHIELA GEORGE A UNIONDALE RESIDENT HAD HER DOUBTS.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
SHIELA GEORGE: I don't trust it. I feel like covid was made in a lab and distributed to the world. I don't want to put myself as a conspiracy person but I do feel like it's just convenient that you know this virus is come and affected the whole world and now we all have to go pay or us pay but they're making money off of it you know.And you know, we have to all be vaccinated and you know like every couple of weeks or so or something new. So no, it definitely doesn't seem like a coincidence.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade Down)
ELIACIN:
DR. JAMES BELIEVES THAT THERE ARE MANY FACTORS TO CONSIDER WHEN SPEAKING ABOUT COMMUNITIES OF COLOR NOT TRUSTING THE COVID-19 VACCINES.
DR. TARIKA JAMES: There are
really deep conspiracy theories and they have their own opinions about it.
Being a government, you know, apply it against them or apply to do something to
track them. You know, you hear that kind of talk and you know, that some of it
is not true and it's just based on hearsay or based on what they saw on YouTube
or somewhere that makes them have those concerns which I can relate to.Like, hey this vaccine hasn't been out for very
long we didn't even go through the normal channels of testing this thing out.
Normally vaccines take years and years before they get approved by anybody. So,
the FDA approved this thing, but then less than five months of all the research
or six months of the researchers.So it was just a fast turnaround, it was a fast turnaround to have it. Be
immediately tested on humans. Usually, these things go through animal trials,
first for many years, then they go through clinical, you know, controlled
trials, and then they get out, get approved. And that can take like seven years
sometimes.And so, to turn this thing around in months, really didn't sit well with even
the most educated person.
DR. SANDRA BONAT IS A MEDICAL DOCTOR FOR VIP STARNETWORK. THIS IS AN ORGANIZATION THAT PARTNERED WITH PERFECTING FAITH CHURCH TO BRING COVID-19 VACCINES TO THE COMMUNITY. SHE DOES NOT BELIEVE THAT BLACK AND LATINO RESIDENTS ARE AGAINST VACCINATIONS, BUT ARE LEARY ABOUT HOW FAST THE VACCINE WAS PRODUCED.
DR. SANDRA BONAT:
It's just that discomfort with this vaccine because like you said, some people are uncomfortable with how fast it came out. People are uncomfortable with technology being new and that's not supposedly knowing enough about it. And so, it's definitely, you know, valid. People have valid concerns, you know, a lot of, a lot of people have distrust, you know. Especially certain communities and people of color have distrust in the medical system in general. Rightfully so.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
ELIACIN:
THE BLACK AND LATINO COMMUNITY WAS FORGOTTEN IN THE BEGINNING OF THE PANDEMIC. DR. ISMA CHAUDRY THE CO-CHAIR OF THE NASSAU SUFFOLK HEALTH EQUITY TASK FORCE HELPED TO REMOVE VACCINE TREPIDATION IN THE BLACK AND LATINO COMMUNITY BY HELPING TO EDUCATE THEM IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGES.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade down)
DR. ISMA CHAUDRY:
So, we started off by providing webinars with subject matter experts and faith-based communities. That was, and communities at large, faith and non-faith-based community. And in those, we addressed these concerns. Talked about it very openly. Now, the faith and non-faith-based partners brought in their communities to the webinars. We were remote. So, there were no person-to-person interaction.
We were able to address that as well, literacy as far as the material that was good, that was being disseminated on vaccine information, making sure that that information was in English, and Creole, and Spanish. So, understanding the language barrier.
From nothing we had a huge success.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
ELIACIN:
DEBORAH PAYTON-JONES LED THE CHARGE TO GET PEOPLE VACCINATED IN THE ROOSEVELT AND FREEPORT AREA. SHE ORGANIZED MULTIPLE COVID-19 VACCINATION AND TESTING EVENTS THROUGH PERFECTING FAITH CHURCH, AND BY PARTNERING WITH NORTHWELL HEALTH AND VIP STARNETWORK. SHE PROMOTED THESE EVENTS BY WORD OF MOUTH IN ORDER TO KEEP EVENT ATTENDEES FREE OF FEAR ABOUT IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOM ENFORCEMENT RAIDS.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade down)
DEBORAH PAYTON-JONES:
The opportunity to have individuals, be able to come in and service the community, the needs of the community, whether the community realizes it, that It's a need.Or whether or not by providing the services we then create the dialogue so that people see: "oh, my community is really helping itself in becoming what, you know, what Dr Fauci and all the others are trying to do with herd immunity."But herd immunity will only last if indeed we all work together and so that's what we're trying to do.
ELIACIN:
WHILE SOME WERE ON THE FENCE ABOUT GETTING THE COVID-19 VACCINE, COLIN JOHNSON ATTENDED PERFECTING FAITH CHURCH'S VACCINE DRIVE AND SAW NO REASON NOT TO GET VACCINATED. IT WAS A COLD SATURDAY MORNING. EVERYONE WHO WALKED INTO THE HUGE AUDITORIUM WORE HEAVY WINTER COATS BECAUSE IT WAS VERY COLD OUTSIDE. THERE WERE FOUR NURSES SEATED TEN FEET APART AT THEIR OWN TABLE READY TO ADMINISTER COVID-19 VACCINES AND BOOSTER SHOTS.
COLIN JOHNSON: I used to get walking pneumonia from working outside. Sometimes, two, three, four times a year. I would have it every year and this Italian guy told me to drink a glass of wine. I said I don't drink. He said drinking a glass of wine is going to help. It helped me but for five years.And but ten years ago, twelve years ago, I start taking a flu shot... I don't get the flu no more. I get the flu shot and once they were saying, we could take the flu shot...a covid shot. I'd already take my covid shot last year...October after I had my flu shot and I made up my mind to come President's Day...to get my boost and I'm here today getting it over and done with.
ELIACIN:
JOHNSON BELIEVED THAT HE WOULD SEE MORE PEOPLE AT THE VACCINATION EVENT.
COLIN JOHNSON:
I am kinda liked shocked there is not more people here.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
ELIACIN:
MOST COVID-19 MANDATES HAVE BEEN LIFTED. BUT ARE WE DONE WITH THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC? EPIDEMIOLOGIST, DR. CHANAPONG ROJANAWORARIT, BELIEVES IT'S PREMATURE TO DECLARE THE PANDEMIC IS OVER. HE WARNS THAT DECLARING THAT WE ARE IN AN ENDEMIC PHASE MAY CREATE A FALSE SENSE OF SECURITY IN THE POPULATION
DR. CHANAPONG ROJANAWORARIT:
We are still in the middle of pandemic. So I... I would say that, you know, that's why there are some recent, a lot of academician, a lot of epidemiologists like trying to do the petition on thatlifting of the inter..you know, all the protective intervention and also like be careful with the use of the term endemic to replace the term. If it is a pandemic, because people would feel like, oh, now it's become harmless. But it's not. It's still the same disease. But, you know, it's kind of mentally, like, you know, people just mentally like adjust to it ,right?
But anyway it's still harmful being endemic. Doesn't mean that it's harmless. And, you know, we see that, you know, don't feel like okay, even though we got omicron, we are not going to die. And that is one reason that a lot of people feel like "I'm not gonna need like booster shot".
ELIACIN:
DR ROJANAWORARIT DRAWS ATTENTION TO THE IMPACT OF LONG-COVID ON THE POPULATION.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade Down)
DR. CHANAPONG ROJANAWORARIT:
But don't forget that we see no correlation between, you know, the level of the symptoms that you develop during you get covid and the long Covid. , Some people like, you know, some people get COVID with and they got a very mild symptom, they're not, they some of them are even asymptomatic. They don't even have any like, serious symptom at all, but later on, they develop the conditions like long covid.
ELIACIN:
COVID-19 CONDITIONS HAVE IMPROVED IN THE BLACK AND BROWN COMMUNITY ACCORDING TO THE JOHNS HOPKINS CORONAVIRUS RESOURCE CENTER 76.38% OF THE NEW YORK POPULATION IS VACCINATED. THE MINORITY COMMUNITY OF HEMPSTEAD, NEW YORK IS AT 70%. DR. HACKETT BELIEVES THAT NEGLECTING THOSE IN NEED IS A MISTAKE AND IGNORING THEM MAY PROLONG THE PANDEMIC.
DR. MARTINE HACKETT: And when we don't recognize those who are the most vulnerable, we really are doing a disservice to the ability to get out of a situation like a pandemic. When there are people who are going to be more highly affected, it's not like they're people that you know, you'll never come into contact with or you know really you know, shouldn't care about.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov
ELIACIN:
THE BLACK AND LATINO COMMUNITY OF NASSAU COUNTY, FOR EXAMPLE, HAS NARROWED THE COVID-19 VACCINATION GAP.
BUT THERE IS STILL LOTS OF WORK TO BE DONE.
THE MANDATES HAVE BEEN LIFTED AND MANY BELIEVE THAT THEY NO LONGER NEED TO CONSIDER VACCINES BECAUSE WE ARE NO LONGER IN A PANDEMIC.
AS DR. ROJANAWORARIT WARNS, THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC ISN'T OVER.
CURRENTLY, POSITIVE COVID-19 RATES ARE CLIMBING UP AGAIN. IN TIME WE MAY RETURN TO MASK AND VACCINE MANDATES.
THE VIRUS MAY NOT BE THROUGH SURPRISING US.
THANK YOU FOR LISTENING TO "TOO CLOSE TO HOME: HOW COVID-19 IMPACTED COMMUNITIES OF COLOR" I AM SAMUEL ELIACIN.
Music: Serenity by llya Kuznetsov (Fade out)