2020-11-01 National Geographic Interactive

Dispatch:
jordan

BY CYNTHIA GORNEY

AT F I R ST T H E government shut down nearly For refugee and other
everything: borders, businesses, schools, civil- marginalized children,
ian presence on the streets. Tanks and army such as these girls
trucks backed up an around-the-clock lock- from Jordan’s Dom
down—no exceptions, even to shop for food ethnic minority com-
and medicine. Amman is built on hills, and munity, schools and
from his kitchen, photographer Moises Saman help centers provide
could hear the echoes of citywide sirens, the support lifelines. But
kind used for air raid warnings. He stayed those facilities closed
for months during
the pandemic.

inside with his family until the curfews began

to ease, during prescribed daylight hours only,

for certain approved purposes only. Then he

94 went to find the places where refugees live.

About 750,000 recent refugees are in Jor-

dan now, grouped into designated camps or

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC scattered into settlements and neighborhoods. They ASIA

come from as far away as Somalia and Sudan, but the JORDAN

vast majority are Syrians escaping civil war. Photograph-

ing inside makeshift dwellings and urban apartments

last spring, often in the company of UNICEF workers,

Saman saw that the terrible scenarios initially envi-

sioned in the settlements’ crowded quarters—the OUTBREAK RESPONSE
coronavirus spreading uncontainable sickness and

death—had been averted. Jordan’s strict lockdown mea- Jordan’s COVID-19 outbreak
sures, along with aggressive contact tracing, appeared dates from March 3, when
to have kept the pandemic at bay: Only 15 COVID-19 its first confirmed case was
deaths were confirmed as of late August. reported. Strict government
policies began on day 16
The lockdown’s aftermath, especially for people desper- of the outbreak, and an
ate enough to have fled their home countries, was more around-the-clock curfew
complicated. Layers of hardship can accumulate until was imposed on day 19 for
it’s hard to separate one from another. The pandemic three days. The toll by day
100: nine reported deaths.

slammed the economy, wiping out informal work that Day Government response
many refugees depend upon. The abruptly closed schools 1
and community centers had been safe places of sup- None Strict

port for refugee children—especially girls, for whom an

ongoing education is the surest protection against early

marriage. When lessons moved online and began airing

on national television, children with no computer access

were trying to complete schoolwork and take exams on

their household’s only screen: the family mobile phone.

Smartphone homework uses data; replenishing it costs

money. To the list of donation items made crucial in this

pandemic—soap, buckets, pencils—UNICEF added a very Day 24
modern form of aid: data allowances, loaded from afar, 100 deaths
to help determined children stay in school. j

TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO AND IRENE BERMAN-VAPORIS, NGM STAFF
SOURCES: OXFORD COVID-19 GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TRACKER; EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL

95

In the Irbid Camp settlement, home to some of the more than two million Palestinians living
in Jordan, national health ministry workers find an obliging participant during a day of random

COVID-19 testing. By late summer, with severe lockdowns eased, this country of more than 97
10 million people had recorded only 15 deaths from the coronavirus.



L E F T: For Syrian contents of a UNICEF precautions before
refugees, pandemic donation box. Their his rounds, this Doc-
repercussions added father’s work as a tors Without Borders
one more burden to laborer, like much of nurse layers up inside
an already tough exis- the informal work done an Amman hotel that
tence. In the Mafraq by refugees, vanished rents rooms to house
settlement, a mother during the shutdown. recovering postsurgical
watches her sons with B E L OW : Taking new hospital patients.

99

When Amman’s Grand al Husseini Mosque opened after months of lockdown, so many people arrived
that an overflow crowd gathered outside to worship. Both inside and out, individual rugs were carefully

distanced. Concerns about safety, and requirements for social distancing, overrode the 101
Islamic instruction that group prayer be conducted shoulder to shoulder.

A breeze, a rooftop, and at least one thing over which he has control: A young Jordanian takes many homemade. To encourage a form
a quarantine moment for himself. During lockdown the Amman skies were often dotted with kites, businesses gave out kites printed with

DATA S H E E T

Price of a
Pandemic:
Poverty Spreads
Around the Globe

By the end of 2020, about 100 million
additional people are projected to find
themselves in extreme poverty, living on
less than $1.90 a day. Millions more are
slipping into less extreme poverty tiers.

Continued lockdowns could worsen
these already grim projections in 2021.

INFOGRAPHIC BY 104

ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ

m of recreation that didn’t require exposure to crowds, 103
their logos and an admonishment: stay home.

Each country’s red, yellow, and blue bars show the change in 0 PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42
population share across three poverty tiers. All bars start in early %2 4 6 8
2019 and are projected to December 2020. See key for details.

BELIZE. Dependent on tourism, COUNTRIES Iraq BELIZE Zimbabwe
thousands lost jobs because RANKED BY Sao Tome and Principe
of travel bans. Those living on THE LARGEST Honduras
$1.90 a day could rise from 14 COMBINED
to 24 percent by year’s end. CHANGE IN Sudan
ALL THREE Vanuatu
LIBERIA. From 2000 to 2019 POVERTY
Liberia made progress provid- TIERS
ing safe water, education, and
electricity to the poor. Those Botswana LIBERIA
gains are now in danger. Congo
Solomon Islands
PERU. Without a strong social SYRIA
safety net, neighbors pooled Nicaragua
resources in Lima to buy enough PERU
food; employment under lock-
down was strictly limited. TIMOR-LESTE
Haiti
TIMOR-LESTE, SAMOA. Pacific
island nations have low rates of Namibia
infection. But without tourism
and trade, over a million islanders South Africa
may fall into extreme poverty.
Mexico
SYRIA. Four out of five Syrians
live in poverty after years of Algeria
war and displacement. Fewer Fiji
jobs and higher food costs
made their dire situation worse. Ecuador

SOUTH SUDAN. Five decades Kyrgyzstan
of war shape the poverty rate
more than COVID-19; 12 million Lesotho
go hungry each day and 4.2
million children are homeless. Albania Bolivia
Jamaica
NIGERIA. Food costs rose as
much as 50 percent even as St. Lucia
already high unemployment
rates increased, fueling unrest Tonga Sierra Leone
in Nigeria during its lockdown. Chad
Brazil
MOROCCO. West African
migrants found themselves Iran Comoros
stuck and jobless here, unable Sri Lanka Micronesia
to enter Europe and with little
official aid during lockdowns. SAMOA

PHILIPPINES. Millions depend El Salvador
on remittances from workers Guatemala
outside the country. In May
lockdowns cut those lifelines by MOROCCO
19 percent, compared to 2019. Montenegro

Colombia
Cabo Verde

Kiribati

Paraguay

Eswatini

Kosovo PHILIPPINES
Tunisia Georgia
Mauritania

Gabon

Cameroon

*BASED ON A MIDYEAR ANALYSIS OF LOW- AND MIDDLE-INCOME COUNTRIES; 0% 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26 28 30 32 34 36 38 40 42
DATA UNAVAILABLE FOR INDIA, PAKISTAN, AND SENEGAL. PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION

ALBERTO LUCAS LÓPEZ, NGM. SHELLEY SPERRY. DATA SOURCE: LAKNER, C., ET
AL., “HOW MUCH DOES REDUCING INEQUALITY MATTER FOR GLOBAL POVERTY?”
JUNE 2020. FINDINGS ARE THOSE OF THE AUTHORS, NOT WORLD BANK.

PERCENTAGE OF POPULATION 100

44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84 86 88 90 92 94 96 98 %

The worst locust outbreak in decades—
especially in the Horn of Africa—wiped out
crops in Africa, the Middle East, and South
Asia, deepening poverty and food crises.

South Africa’s government struggled to SOUTH SUDAN
keep basic food prices from spiking as more
families joined the new poor in its cities. Africans are grappling with recession
for the first time in 25 years; millions
Angola get by on less than $1.90 a day. In South Sudan four out
of five people lived in
NIGERIA extreme poverty even
before COVID-19 hit.
Yemen
In Yemen COVID-19 travel
restrictions raised the
number of malnourished
children by 20 percent;
the number is expected to
reach 2.4 million this year.

Zambia

Indigenous families in Guatemala have been unable PUSHED INTO POVERTY
to sell their goods in marketplaces and often are cut
off from health and welfare services in rural areas. The devastating effects of COVID-19, combined with other natural and economic
disasters, play out differently in each country. Many wealthier nations have been
44 46 48 50 52 54 56 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72% relatively insulated; some of the world’s poorest countries are struggling the
most. In this visualization, the longer the colored bars, the bigger a country’s
projected jump in poverty rates from early 2019 (pre-pandemic) to late 2020.*

1.90Living on $ person/day or less $3.20 or less $5.50 or less

Country

Percentage of population Projected percentage
in this poverty range of population at the
in early 2019 (before end of 2020 (during
COVID-19 pandemic) COVID-19 pandemic)

THREE THRESHOLDS OF POVERTY
The World Bank categorizes poverty into three tiers

based on data provided by individual countries:
$5.50 a day, a threshold typical of middle-income
countries; $3.20 a day, as seen in lower-middle-
income countries; and $1.90 a day in the world’s
poorest countries (considered extreme poverty).

4 BILLION $5.50

PEOPLE IN OR LESS PER
POVERTY PERSON PER DAY

In 2021 the world WORST-CASE
could see 218 million SCENARIO
to 306 million more
people fall below PRE-PANDEMIC
the $5.50 a day FORECAST
measure of poverty
typical of nations
such as Colombia,
Peru, and Serbia.

3 BILLION

2 BILLION $3.20

OR LESS PER
PERSON PER DAY

Most of the 246
million to 318
million people
projected to fall
below the $3.20
a day poverty
line live in South
Asian countries,
including India
and Bangladesh.

1 BILLION $1.90

OR LESS PER Dusk, rain, anxiety: As
PERSON PER DAY the government begins
announcing sweeping
In 2021 some 111 pandemic orders in
million to 149 mil- March—school closures,
lion more people an international flight
than expected ban, a nighttime
could fall below curfew—residents hurry
the $1.90 poverty to find shelter from
line, a level typical the rain in the crowded
of the world’s Kibera district.
poorest countries
such as Chad,
Ethiopia, and Mali.

0 2005 2010 2015 2020
2000

SOURCE: WORLD BANK

A WORLD GONE VIRAL 11.20

D I S PATC H

COVID-19 stalks victims in Nairobi, from
affluent compounds to the cramped

informal settlements where hundreds of
thousands are especially vulnerable.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY 111

NICHOLE SOBECKI

Musician Daniel Owino
Okoth, aka Futwax,
sings at his home in
Kibera with his son
(and apprentice
keyboard man) Julian
Austin, four. They’re
doing a rendition of
Futwax’s song “Have
You Sanitized?” A
catchy public service
message in the local
language called Sheng,
the song pleads with
Futwax’s fellow Kenyans
to look after them-
selves and each other
during the pandemic.



Dispatch:
KENYA

BY CYNTHIA GORNEY

F R O M T H E K E N YA N C A P I TA L , two voices on
Nairobi and the pandemic.

DA N I E L OW I N O O KOT H : My aka name is Futwax.
I’m a recording artist, a sound engineer, a
community leader, and I was learning music
production. I have a family: a son and a wife.
In Kibera we have many stories to tell about
how we are living our lives, you know? We
tell them through music, through art, and I
was doing gigs, traveling outside the county,
performing in schools. Teaching people about
114 Kibera, about ghettos around the world.
Things were good when the corona was not
around. I was hoping to do music videos, but
then the corona came.
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC
NICHOLE SOBECKI: Kibera is one of more than a hundred AFRICA
informal communities, as I call them, in Nairobi. I know KENYA
people use the word “slum,” but these are named places
that are deeply creative and entrepreneurial. Kibera OUTBREAK RESPONSE
is one of the biggest in Nairobi, and on a normal day
commercial streets would be bustling with businesses, Kenya’s COVID-19 outbreak
restaurants, hotels, and shops selling vegetables and dates from March 14, when
meat and used clothing. Energy and hustle. Nairobi its first confirmed case was
is built on hustle. I’ve called this city home for nine reported. On March 27, the
years, and it’s a very exciting place to be. Futwax is government implemented
a great example: He’s a former Mr. Kibera—that’s an a nighttime curfew from
annual contest they hold. If you know Kibera, you know 7 p.m. to 5 a.m. The toll by
Futwax, and early into the pandemic, he realized this day 100: 121 deaths.
was going to be a very real issue for his community.
Day Government response
DA N I E L : We can’t travel, so it messed up my gigs. And 1
here in Kibera, we don’t have “social distance.” We share
toilets. We share entrances and exits of houses. We share None Strict
where we iron our clothes after washing. We don’t have
supermarkets; we share kiosks. We saw people who were
taken away by ambulance, people from the slums who
were put into government isolation centers, you know?
So I decided to take responsibility in my own hands. I
went to the management at Kibera Town Centre.

N I C H O L E : The Town Centre opened a few years ago, in Day
the heart of Kibera. It’s a community-operated space— 100
clean water, laundry, bathrooms, skills training, access
1 23
deaths*

*SEVEN-DAY AVERAGE

TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO AND IRENE BERMAN-VAPORIS, NGM STAFF. SOURCES: OXFORD COVID-19 GOVERNMENT
RESPONSE TRACKER; EUROPEAN CENTRE FOR DISEASE PREVENTION AND CONTROL

B E L OW : Wearing team- the world, they lost Nairobi apartment
logo hazmat suits, months of matches and building. The exclu-
these footballers from training to the pan- sive Muthaiga Country
the Ngando Youth demic. B O T T O M : For Club, where they usu-
Sports Association this father and son, ally golf, announced
volunteered as a self-quarantine means a temporary closure
disinfecting brigade. practicing swings last spring, “to keep
Like athletes around from the roof of their our country safe.”

Determined to help propel Kenya’s vigorous fashion industry despite pandemic restrictions, stylist
Wambui Thimba models in her apartment for roommate and photographer Barbara Minishi. Thimba’s

ensemble is a creation by Kenyan designer Laviera, who explains the garment on Instagram: 117
“You really don’t have to do much with a statement blazer. It does all the work for you.”

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC to credit and computers. It’s also a gathering spot, with a
surrounding market, so they’ve set up speakers outside
for music and messages. Now Futwax is often on the
decks there or walking through the community with a
megaphone, talking about the coronavirus and how to
keep one another safe.

DA N I E L : The center has a recording studio where I was
learning music production, and at the beginning of the
pandemic, they closed it. But I said we could record
corona radio jingles in different languages. They said
OK, if you are careful to bring people in only one at a
time and disinfect in between. So with people who
speak Luo, Luhya, Swahili, Kisii, and Nubian—we have
many languages here—I recorded them saying: Please
wear a mask! If you are sneezing, kindly sneeze on your
elbow or arm! If you are talking with someone, kindly
talk from a distance!

N I C H O L E : His own song is really catchy, and it’s been
118 being played not only in Kibera but around other parts

of Nairobi as well. He understands people’s concerns
here and speaks Sheng, among other languages. Sheng
is Nairobi’s urban language, a dynamic Swahili-based
slang that can vary neighborhood by neighborhood,
month by month. We often see imposed public health
messaging, outsiders trying to come in and educate a
community—but actually, what he’s doing resonates
so much more powerfully.

DA N I E L : People who said they didn’t want to sanitize,
to wear a mask—this hurt me in the heart. I’m asking
people: What responsibility are you taking as a citi-
zen? As a businessman, when you are serving your
customers, are you telling your customers to pay the
electronic way? Do you have a handwashing station?
So I went into the studio and expressed it in lyrics.
I’m sensitizing the community, mixing my languages,
some good Swahili, some English—and I’m talking that
Sheng. A mama mboga is a small businesswoman who
sells vegetables. A wochi is a watchman. Wewe means
you, like, “Hey wewe, Nichole!” j

“Have You Sanitized?” by Futwax (chorus)

Have you sanitized, mama mboga wewe?
Have you sanitized, wochi wewe?
Have you sanitized, businessman?
Have you sanitized, ghetto gal, ghetto boy boy?
Have you sanitized, president, policeman, traffic police?
Have you sanitized, preachers preachers?
Have you sanitized, worldwide worldwide worldwide
worldwide worldwide?

Like other major cities, Torode leads a work- Eugene Ochieng, 12,
Nairobi is home to shop on immunity. and friends turn an
deep extremes of COVID-19 rules have her alley into a ballet floor.
affluence and poverty. teaching mostly online Home computers are
B E LOW: In a suburb now; a few students rare in crowded Kibera;
of grand homes and still visit in person. here, the dancers’
high-end shopping, B OT TO M : Their studio coach is a borrowed
yoga instructor Oriane shut for quarantine, cell phone on stilts.

119

In the dim light of their temporary lodgings in a friend’s storage room, Patrick Mwangi and his wife, Regina,
huddle with daughters Lucy, one, and Peace, five. Their Kariobangi North home, and Patrick’s samosa stall,

were bulldozed in a mass eviction to make way for development. Between that blow and the 121
pandemic, “everything was shattered,” Patrick says. “Since then, I have nothing.”

In full protective gear,
Sterling Johnson sani-
tizes a Bay Area Rapid
Transit train at a facility
in Concord, California.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY PARI DUKOVIC

RETHINKING RU BY M O S S S O M E H OW found the
OUR SOCIETY strength to drop to her knees in
prayer. Although severely weak-
How a Virus ened herself from the virus, she
and Social Unrest cried out to God to plead for the
Became a Test life of Adolphus Moss, her husband
of Our Humanity of 32 years.

COVID-19 has changed how we live He was deteriorating rapidly.
and work, shattering some of our A nurse had just called from a hos-
most treasured rituals. But along with pital in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, to
the worldwide protests for social warn that even with a fully engaged
justice, it also has reminded us of the ventilator, Adolphus could no lon-
desperate need to address inequities ger breathe.
in our society—and to better protect
“Hear my cry, O Lord. Spare his
the most vulnerable among us. life,” Ruby repeated desperately.
Several minutes into her prayer for
ESSAY BY 123 a miracle, her answer was delivered:
“I’m sorry. He didn’t make it,” said a
PHILLIP MORRIS voice on the other end of the phone.

A graveside ceremony was held
for Adolphus Moss at Fourth Creek
Baptist Church Cemetery in York,
Alabama, in April. Without fan-
fare or a public commemoration
of his life, Moss, 67, a deacon in his
church and respected civic leader
in his rural community, was ush-
ered into the ground. His entire
service lasted 10 minutes.

“I wasn’t able to give my husband
the kind of home-going service he
deserved,” says Ruby, who has writ-
ten a small legacy book honoring
her late husband. “We were told
10 people could attend and that
two would be funeral officials. It
seemed like we were in a whole
different world. It didn’t seem real.”

The year 2020 has brought
unimaginable change to the way
we live, and the way we die. The
dying die alone. Survivors grieve
in solitude. The death ritual has
changed beyond recognition. The
Irish wake, with its tradition of an
open coffin surrounded by people
singing, hugging, and toasting
the departed, is now severely cur-
tailed. The long-celebrated African-
American custom of funeral repasts
after home-going ceremonies—a
practice dating back to slavery—
has largely come to a halt. Ritual

body washings of the deceased, A N E ST I M AT E D 1 .9 M I L L I O N tourists

widely practiced by Eastern and descended on Rio de Janeiro, the ocean-

Middle Eastern faiths, are per- side metropolis, for a week of partying in

formed in protective equipment, February. The revelers likely were not thinking

if at all. Final breaths now are rou- about the plight of the poor as they consumed

tinely taken without the comfort caipirinhas, the national drink of Brazil, and

of a familiar touch or parting hug. frolicked along the famous beaches of Copaca-

COVID-19 has turned death into bana. But the tens of thousands of people who

the loneliest journey of the shared gathered at the Sambadrome Marquês de Sapu-

human experience. caí, a downtown stadium, to watch a succession

“Funerals are enormously of 13 parade ensembles on the last Sunday of

essential in navigating grief,” said Carnival were treated to a celebration of poor

William Hoy, clinical professor of Brazilian women.

medical humanities at Baylor Uni- Unidos do Viradouro, a prestigious samba

versity. “A Zoom funeral is not the school, used its performance to pay tribute to

same. I fear there will be a heavy impoverished Black women laborers known

price to pay for our inability to rub as the washerwomen of Salvador, Brazil, who

shoulders, shed tears, and mourn were descendants of enslaved Africans. In the

in the same physical space.” furiously contested parade competition, Unidos

Hoy pointed out that “some do Viradouro was judged the best in show. Its

124 survivors who lost family during performance was celebrated by an international

the 9/11 terrorist attacks have yet audience, which sensed, perhaps, an affinity for

to recover from the fact that the and connection to the vulnerable and the poor.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC bodies of loved ones were never The feel-good moment ended abruptly.

found or properly laid to rest. The Brazil recorded its first case of COVID-19

grief-stricken absolutely require the same day. A 61-year-old businessman who

the human connection.” recently had visited northern Italy went to a São

It has become painfully clear Paulo hospital complaining of fever, cough, and

that the virus has altered life as we a sore throat. He was Latin America’s patient

know it. zero. His infection signaled to disease specialists

Along with leaving a staggering that the coronavirus already was likely sweeping

body count, the virus also has sto- across South America. Medically and economi-

len the most basic treasures of our cally vulnerable hosts for the virus, such as the

shared experience. Well-established washerwomen, or laundresses, now commonly

routines involving work, education, known as lavadeiras, and millions of others

and family life are strangely dis- crowded into Brazil’s favelas, suddenly were

figured, daily habits capsized. The at dire risk.

ceremonial mile markers that reg- If humanity is to ultimately prevail over

ister achievement have been shred- COVID-19 and viruses yet to come, the poor

ded. Since March, we frequently and the socially disenfranchised—the washer-

have engaged in unusual behaviors, women—must be included in the safety net that

such as panic shopping for toilet sustains us all. ( 1 ) Brazil was second only to the

paper or quarreling with strangers 1. United States as of late August in total number
over the probity of wearing face Globally, of infections and confirmed deaths.
masks in public. 61 percent
of people COVID-19 is a cunning virus. Those who suffer
Structural inequalities and mis- work in the long-standing social inequities steeped in class,
aligned cultural values of societies informal caste, race, and wealth are especially vulnerable.
around the world are being exam- economy It exploited preexisting conditions. And when it
ined and judged. What is essential in such jobs intersected with the civil unrest that exploded
work? Who is an essential worker? as domestic in the United States in the summer, overlapping
And why are the working poor dis- helpers, crises unfolded. While a novel virus attacked
proportionately on the front lines street lungs, a much more familiar virus continued to
and so inadequately protected? vendors, wage war on Black lives. After watching George
delivery
drivers,
and day
laborers.

Floyd slowly die under the knee of a Minneap- 2. neither did the deadly resolve of
olis police officer, the world reacted with fury A Black the virus.
and resolve. From the Middle East, Europe, and Lives Mat-
the most unexpected parts of rural America, the ter protest Weeks later, the annual hajj was
chant “Black Lives Matter” was heard. ( 2 ) occurred in reduced to skeletal proportion to
40 percent counter the inestimable health
The statement brought global recognition to of U.S. risk posed by the five-day religious
the concept that life is interconnected, sacred, counties, ceremony. The pilgrimage, which
and must be protected. A cross section of demo- in 60 coun- all physically and financially able
graphics and widely diverse cultures decided tries, and Muslims are obliged to make once
to no longer stand silent in the face of systemic on every in their lives, constitutes one of the
continent five pillars of Islam.
except
Antarctica. Normally, upwards of two million
pilgrims make the journey to Mecca
police abuse and latent white supremacist each year. This year the crowd was
limited to a thousand people. The
views. That’s when statues began to topple and virus’s ambush of a world religion

long-revered names were removed from univer- The future of work won’t be fully
remote, but it won’t be clustered
sity buildings. in offices, either. “It’ll be a hybrid,”
says Martine Ferland, CEO of
It all revealed something simple that we now Mercer, a human resources firm.
Smaller offices will be hubs for
have to confront: In order to survive this virus, occasional in-person collabora-
tion, while enhanced digital
and others in waiting, we must tools—such as better video
chatting—will support workers
become a more fair and just col- at home. And more emphasis
on balancing productivity with
lection of societies. An obvious personal needs will allow employ-
ees to organize their work hours
truth has been exposed: In viral RETHINKING to fit their schedules. Flexibility,
warfare, humanity is as strong as Ferland says, will be the
its weakest link. Our collective OUR SOCIETY ultimate job perk. — DA N I E L S TO N E
survival depends on an ability
to develop a far greater appreci- BALANCING
WORK, LIFE

ation for the direct relationship

between universal health and

social justice. It also requires

a willingness to take decisive

steps to alleviate the never

ending pandemic of crushing

poverty that is the Achilles’ heel

of the planet.

SOME UNDERE STIMATED that is embraced by nearly two
billion people laid bare its sinister
the virus and considered mode of attack. It targets not only
it manageable if not benign. The world the bodies of victims but also the
has watched the ebb and flow of its attacks and spirit of those forced into separa-
often reacted tragically. As infection rates sky- tion and isolation.
rocketed, Bishop Gerald Glenn, 66, a prominent
evangelical pastor in Chesterfield, Virginia, A devoutly religious man in
exhorted his congregation on the fourth Sunday Columbus, Ohio, posted a song
in March not to fear the virus. Like many ecumen- on Facebook last summer that he
ical leaders, Glenn, a former police officer, didn’t hoped would cheer and comfort
heed the advice of Virginia governor Ralph many of his lonely and elderly
Northam and others who warned against gather- friends. My father, who turned 78
ings of more than 10 people. in June, used the occasion of his
“I firmly believe that God is larger than this birthday to pick up his ever present
dreaded virus,” Glenn told his parishioners. “If acoustic guitar. He stood in front
I had to deliver my own eulogy, I’d say, ‘God is of his computer and recorded him-
greater than any challenge you and I face.’ That self performing a song he wrote 30
would be my epitaph.” years ago. He called the song “God’s
Glenn died from COVID-19 three weeks later.
His religious faith never appeared to waver, but

ILLUSTRATION: RACHEL LEVIT RUIZ A T E S T O F O U R H U M A N I T Y 125

been good to me.” It was a song of 3.
praise and gratitude. COVID-19
has exac-
Frank Morris, who once pas- erbated
tored a small country church in the the hunger
foothills of Appalachia, was dis- problem
traught about the reality that he no in the U.S.:
longer could safely attend weekly Over 54 mil-
worship services or celebrate his lion people,
birthday with loved ones. That including
didn’t stop him from trying to con- 18 million
nect with others. children,
may not
After viewing the video, I asked have
my father why he made it and then enough to
chose to share it. His answer was eat. From
simple. March to
June, U.S.
food banks
distributed
1.9 billion
meals.

“I wanted to reach out to peo-

ple who are worried or sick and

let them know that I was thinking

about them and that they are not

alone. I wanted them to remem-

126 ber the Psalms of David: ‘I have

not seen the righteous forsaken or

their seed begging bread,’” he said,

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC paraphrasing a scripture I’ve heard

him quote frequently.

Hopefully, his words are more

than scriptural cliché. Perhaps

viral death has presented us with

a wake-up call we will not ignore.

The catastrophic health threat that

now exposes our weaknesses as a

species also illuminates our con-

nection. That is the silver lining

of the moment. Under the threat

of plague, we have been given the

opportunity to reconsider how com-

munities and societies depend on

one another, despite long-standing,

artificial divisions. ( 3 )

It’s not hyperbole to say we are

all pieces in a global chain of dom-

inoes. Some of us are much more

susceptible, but all are dangerously

at risk of falling.

F E W A M E R I C A N C I T I E S have WE ARE ALL PIECES IN A GLOBAL CHAIN OF
been hit as early and fero- DOMINOES. SOME OF US ARE MORE
ciously by the pandemic as
Detroit. The city has endured the SUSCEPTIBLE, BUT ALL ARE DANGEROUSLY
kind of attack that is capable of AT RISK OF FALLING.
incinerating hope. Once the auto
capital of the world, the Motor City
declared bankruptcy in 2013. But

Angel Chavez stocks
fruit at a weekly

farmer’s market in
San Francisco.

long before that crisis, it had for decades suf- Its riverfront downtown seemed on
fered the desperation of being one of America’s the verge of roaring to life with a
poorest large cities. Motown was on its way resurgence of high-end restaurants
back, though. and pricey condominiums. Blighted
neighborhoods written off as lost
Passionate local residents breathed life into were attracting developers and
their beloved city, investing in Detroit’s neigh- well-heeled urban pioneers. Then,
borhoods as others sought comfort elsewhere.
A T E S T O F O U R H U M A N I T Y 127

in mid-March, COVID-19 struck.NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC the age of a pandemic, assumed the risk of a
The disease instantly exposed all dangerous job.

of the preexisting conditions that “Jason cared deeply about his job,” said Desha
made Detroit vulnerable. Johnson-Hargrove, his wife. “He wasn’t mak-
ing millions of dollars, but he felt that he was
Thousands of the city’s impov- directly responsible for the safety of his pas-
erished, mostly African-American sengers, and he always attempted to connect
residents lacked running water with them. Everyone was greeted with a ‘good
in their homes because of unpaid morning, sir,’ or ‘good morning, ma’am.’ That’s
water bills. How could they wash the kind of person we’ve lost.”
their hands to help ward off
the virus? Just like legions of public transit operators
in crowded cities such as Tokyo, New York, or
Within weeks of the pandemic’s Mumbai, Hargrove didn’t have the luxury of
spread, more than 40 percent of city working from home. Many of his riders were
residents employed before the virus laborers themselves, headed to low-wage jobs
struck had lost their jobs, many per- that demand a physical presence in a factory,
manently. Based on a University of grocery store, or nursing home. The buses
Michigan survey with more than became rolling petri dishes.
700 respondents, Detroit’s unem-
ployment rate by late April was W E K N OW W I T H C E RTA I N T Y that select
nearly 48 percent—more than dou- groups of people will continue to remain
128 ble that of the state overall. Death at high risk of getting sick or dying from
marched in like a parade. the virus for the simplest of reasons: They don’t
have access to health care or, like Jason Har-
The tragic story of Jason Har- grove, they work in essential frontline jobs where
grove offers a cautionary tale of exposure is all but certain. In the United States,
the interconnectedness of strangers African Americans and Latinos have suffered
and how death stalks even the most disproportionate rates of fatalities from health
pedestrian encounters. issues often labeled preexisting conditions, or
simply because the nature of their work forces
A married father of six, Hargrove them to leave their homes.
drove a public bus for the city of The same is true globally. Each time we enter a
Detroit. His job was considered grocery store, we stare into the eyes of a desper-
essential in a city where nearly 20 ate mother or of others who are unable to shelter
percent of residents rely on public in place. That’s the interconnection that we sud-
transportation. Early in March, denly recognize: Some of our most vulnerable
Hargrove grew worried. He told are our most essential.
his wife and work colleagues that “In too many countries the social contract has
he was concerned that the job had been broken, and the very global institutions
become risky. established to reinforce rights, equality, inclu-
sive growth, and global stability have contrib-
His worst nightmare material- uted to the convergence of crises the world now
ized, he said, when a middle-aged faces,” said Sharan Burrow, general secretary
woman boarded his bus, stood
behind him, and coughed repeat- IN DETROIT THE DISEASE INSTANTLY
edly. She made no effort to cover EXPOSED THE PREEXISTING
her mouth.
CONDITIONS—POVERTY, UNEMPLOYMENT—
In a Facebook post on March THAT HAVE PUT THE CITY IN JEOPARDY.
21, Hargrove angrily vented at the
unidentified woman: “I feel vio-
lated. I feel violated for the folks
who were on the bus when this hap-
pened,” Hargrove said in the video.

Eleven days after the video was
posted, Hargrove died in an inten-
sive care unit in a Detroit hospital.
He was a frontline worker who, in

of the International Trade Union Confedera- 4. vulnerable have become even
tion, which represents 200 million workers The world’s more crucial.
in 163 countries and territories. top 10
hunger hot O N A H OT J U LY DAY, Vince
The breadth of global poverty was, of course, spots are Cushman, a manager for
staggering long before the arrival of COVID-19. Yemen, the the Greater Cleveland Food
Democratic Bank, was drenched in sweat and
Nearly half of the world’s population lives in Republic of directing traffic in a municipal
poverty, according to Oxfam, an international the Congo, parking lot. Few downtown office
charitable organization focused on alleviating Afghanistan, workers were driving into the city
global poverty. The combined wealth of the Venezuela, because of the virus, so the large lot
world’s 2,153 richest people exceeds that of West African had become a staging area for a
4.6 billion people. Coronavirus has exacerbated Sahel, weekly food distribution serving
the horror show in ways still to be determined. Ethiopia, about 2,000 families in the Cleve-
Sudan, land area each Thursday.
South For eight years Cushman has
Sudan, Syria,
and Haiti. One positive aspect of schools
closing may be how districts are
In July Oxfam estimated that as many as 12,000 innovating to improve learning from
home. Although equal access to
people a day could die from COVID-related hun- tech remains a barrier, tools will be
designed that may bridge divides.
ger by year’s end. That number could exceed the K-12 students will use technology
to help with homework, set goals,
number of deaths from the disease itself. and measure progress. And college
students may find campus to be
New hunger spots proliferate, optional, Arizona State University
president Michael Crow says. ASU is
not only in distressed coun- one of a number of schools evolving
into a new “national service univer-
tries such as South Sudan and sity,” ballooning its enrollment to
provide high-quality and low-cost
Venezuela but also in middle- RETHINKING education on a larger scale. —DS
income countries such as India,
South Africa, and Brazil. (4) OUR SOCIETY worked at what he calls one of the
Millions who barely survived busiest food banks in the United
before the pandemic are now NEW WAYS States. He considers his job a public
TO LEARN service. He said he believes com-
munity service is a hallmark of
at risk. The United States is not Cleveland. That’s one reason he
was distraught when he contracted
immune from hunger. With COVID-19 in March; from where,
he’s not sure. He missed nearly six
businesses forced to shut down weeks before he recovered.

and schools relegated to remote “We’ve been through a lot of hard
times. That’s why in time of crisis, I
learning, households rarely believe we respond better than a lot
of places that haven’t had to consis-
have been more stressed and, tently handle adversity. We also are
careful not to judge people in their
in some cases, food insecure. time of need,” Cushman said.

The Kaiser Family Founda- “I always tell my volunteers, we

tion Health Tracking Poll in

May found that 26 percent of

Americans reported that since

February, they or a household member had

gone without meals or relied on charities or

government programs for groceries—includ-

ing 13 percent who said they had visited a food

bank or pantry for supplies.

“The awful truth is that food insecurity is

exploding here in our own backyard,” said

Oxfam America CEO and president Abby Max-

man in a press announcement.

“Every town has people who are going to 5.
bed hungry right now. Those who were on the In just
edge before are now struggling to stay afloat. one month
In Mississippi, nearly a quarter of all residents early in the
are experiencing food insecurity; in Louisiana, pandemic,
over a third of all children are facing empty nearly 20
cupboards.” percent of
U.S. adults
As many U.S. communities struggle to sur- reported
vive intact, ( 5 ) those who look out for the most losing
wages as
a result of
COVID-19.

ILLUSTRATION: RACHEL LEVIT RUIZ A T E S T O F O U R H U M A N I T Y 129

never know the circumstance that percent of these parents said they were concerned
caused someone to get in a line for that their children would fall behind academi-
food. I don’t care if they drove into the cally. Meanwhile 56 percent of parents in high-
parking lot in a Lexus, you don’t know income households harbored the same fears.
if they’re homeless and living out of
that car. Our job is to treat them with “We already know that—all else being equal—
dignity and civility with the under- students on average benefit academically and in
standing that we’ve been given an their social and emotional development from
opportunity to serve them,” he said. being in school,” said Aaron Pallas, chair of the
Department of Education Policy and Social
But it’s not just the hunger of Analysis at Teachers College of Columbia Uni-
desperate families that worries versity. “Even planned interruptions, such as
educators around the world. The summer vacations, can slow students down,
likelihood that children are suffer- and these interruptions may hit students from
ing unrecoverable setbacks in their working-class and impoverished backgrounds
education is a critical concern. harder than middle-class children and youth.”

A March poll by the Associated Despite the pandemic shuttering schools
Press-NORC Center for Public and workplaces and reshaping our daily lives, a
Affairs Research found that as U.S. reconsideration of history continues. The planet
schools switched from in-person overflows in currents of racial unrest, social
classrooms to remote instruction, uprisings, and continued calls for immediate
130 parents in households earning less redress of social inequality.
than $50,000 annually were par-
ticularly worried about the future F O L LOW I N G T H E D E AT H of George Floyd,
prospects for their children. Some 72 the 46-year-old African American who
NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC

A worker pre-
pares for the day

at a wholesale
produce center
in San Francisco.

died after being arrested in Minneapolis on sus- 6. rights movement and the over-
picions of passing a counterfeit $20 bill, one of A labor turning of entrenched systems of
the largest protests in U.S. history began in ear- group esti- legalized racism.
nest. In the five weeks after his death in May, 15 mated that
million to 26 million people in the United States the equiva- Now another grave crisis per-
participated in public protests, according to sev- lent of 400 sists with the relentless attacks
eral published polls, and millions of others million jobs of the virus. It demands a univer-
around the world joined in solidarity. were lost sal response. COVID-19 initially
worldwide attacked our most vulnerable and
“The scale of protest we have witnessed is because of then gathered strength by standing
unprecedented,” said Deva Woodly, associate COVID-19, on the shoulders of our weakest to
professor at the New School for Social Research which could strike indiscriminately. Cases of
in New York. “These are coordinated efforts that push a the virus continued to surge in the
are happening everywhere, in cities, suburbs, half billion U.S., Brazil, India, and other parts
and rural areas. More than 40 percent of the people into of the world. The virus ruthlessly
counties in the United States have had a Black poverty. targeted preexisting health condi-
Lives Matter protest.” Women tions, and massive social inequali-
and young ties fueled a global inferno.
A breaking point more than four centuries people are
in the making was reached when the world particularly The lesson for our future is clear:
was forced to confront the brutal truth: Black hard-hit. Demanding change and working
lives haven’t mattered. Floyd’s case finally for global justice and fairness are
stripped the privilege of ignorance from the humanity’s best hope for survival.
blithely unaffected.
We are all connected to the Black
His life may not have mattered to some. His washerwomen of Brazil. We’re uni-
death did to many. Young people from rural versally tethered to unheralded and
America, affluent white students, and multi- essential workers such as Jason
tudes of everyday people joined in solidarity Hargrove, who continued to drive
with founders of Black Lives Matter and civil a Detroit bus until days before he
rights activists from around the world in the call died of COVID-19.
for racial and social justice. The ties that bind
us together as humans were forged in the air so At great human, financial, (6) and
cruelly stolen from Floyd. social cost, the virus illuminates the
inextricable ties that bind us all.
COVID-19 has radically altered many of our Those long rendered invisible have
social behaviors, but will it change the values shown to be indivisible.
of our cultures? Lessons of modern history are
encouraging. During the past century, great “Jason always took deliberate
advances in human rights and social progress measures to make sure his passen-
occurred in the immediate aftermath of horren- gers were safe and that his bus was
dous death and tremendous social unrest. sanitized,” Desha said of her late
husband. “He was interested in the
American women won the right to vote in protection of his passengers, and in
the wake of the devastation of World War I return, his passengers would pro-
and the influenza pandemic of 1918. The twin tect him from unruly riders. They
crises opened the American labor market to all understood that they were on
women and exposed gender inequities that the bus together.”
would no longer stand when the war ended and
influenza abated. Death has placed an unforgiving
mirror to our face. We’re all on this
The United Nations, dedicated to maintain- bus together. j
ing peace among nations and promoting human
and social rights, was formed shortly after World Phillip Morris is a Cleveland-based
War II. It continues to serve as a referee of global journalist who often explores issues
conflict and disagreement. of race, class, and culture. Pari
Dukovic is an award-winning pho-
Black American soldiers returning from the tographer known for an informal
same war against tyranny and fascism served documentary style that’s both atmo-
as an early and powerful catalyst for the civil spheric and colorful.

A T E S T O F O U R H U M A N I T Y 131

B E LOW: Elaine Fields
had been married to
Eddie Fields for 45
years when he died
from COVID-19 com-
plications last April in
Detroit. R I G H T: Detroit
Sufi Muslim leader
Salim Joseph was hos-
pitalized with COVID-19
before dying in April
of kidney failure.
Among his mourners:
son Yusuf Joseph (in
white) and grandson
Humza Joseph.

11.20

A WORLD GONE VIRAL

D I S PATC H

In three hard-hit urban areas, a
photographer records bereaved peo-
ple’s stories of losing their loved ones

to COVID-19 or its complications.

PHOTOGRAPHS BY 133

WAYNE LAWRENCE

In Louisiana the extra where his 35-year- church is located in St.
pandemic burden on old brother, Marsha John the Baptist Parish,
Black people—a third Chaney, lived, Derrick which for a time had
of its population but Chaney and fiancée the nation’s highest per
two-thirds of its COVID- Lyndsay Fagan take a capita COVID-19 death
19 deaths—extends moment after Marsha’s rate. Both Jasmine’s par-
beyond the cities. funeral. R I G H T: Pastor ents died of the virus
B E L OW: In Greensburg, Antoine Jasmine’s last April, hours apart.

134 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C



Dispatch:
united states

BY CYNTHIA GORNEY

HOW MANY NUMBERS have you tried to absorb “She was more than
in the months since this began? How many a number—she was a
case tallies, risk percentages, per capita infec- person,” says Detroit’s
tion rates, daily updates in the counting of Biba Adams, here with
the dead? her daughter, Maria
Williams, and grand-
A pandemic is a story told in torrents of daughter, Gia. Adams’s
numbers. In the newsroom of the Detroit mother, Elaine Head,
Metro Times, where she worked as a writer, died of COVID-19 com-
Biba Adams took in one number after another plications last spring, at
as the new coronavirus spread—out of China, the age of 70. “Still rel-
across Europe, into the United States, into atively young, if you’re
Michigan. During the second week of March, in good health,” Adams
says. “She could have
lived another 20 years.”

136 health authorities confirmed the first COVID-

19 cases in Detroit. A few days later, Adams’s

mother developed a cough.

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC Wayne Lawrence met Biba Adams in June, as he visited

three U.S. cities photographing the pandemic-bereaved:

women and men who told him about losing a loved one

to COVID-19 or its complications. By that time the virus

had killed Adams’s mother. It killed her aunt too, and

her grandmother. Radio and television programs put

Adams on the air, and whenever she spoke, she was direct

about both her grief and her fury. If political leaders had

behaved differently starting with the earliest warnings,

Adams said over and over, then her family members—

her mother was a 70-year-old working woman, part of a

law firm, a lover of gospel music—might be alive today.

“To lose one’s mother is one thing,” Adams said in a

phone conversation in late July, as the U.S. pandemic

death totals were pushing past 150,000. “To lose her

as one of 150,000 people is even more painful. I don’t

want her to just be a number. She had dreams, things

she still wanted to do. She was a person. And I am going

to lift her name up.”

Elaine Head. That is the name of Biba Adams’s mother.

All the portraits Lawrence made, in these centers of con-

centrated COVID-19 damage, are of the individually

bereaved—because their faces, like the names of the

dead, are as important as the numbers. The young man

in a tie, with his arm around his fiancée, is a Louisiana

chemical plant boilermaker named Derrick Chaney; he

says his big brother Marsha Chaney was 35 when he died

of COVID-19 in a hospital intensive care unit. Counting

Marsha and Derrick, nine siblings were in the family

home, in the small town of Greensburg, northeast of

137

The COVID-19 death
of Bronx, New York,
pharmacist Yves-
Emmanuel Segui
desolated his family:
wife Gisele (center)
and daughters Morit
(at left) and Chloe.

B E L O W, L E F T: “I was the Brooklyn building B E L OW, R I G H T: Alice
always there for him, where Flor’s brother Halkias’s husband,
but I couldn’t save Juan Vazquez lived. Michael, 82, died
him from this horri- Long disabled by of complications
ble disease,” says Flor diabetes-related ampu- of the virus in May.
Betancourt (at right), tations of both legs, The Greek-American
with her mother, Ino- Juan died of COVID-19 couple ran Brooklyn’s
cencia Vazquez, inside complications in April. Grand Prospect Hall.

A B OV E , L E F T: Kevin facility, nearing the end the virus. Tony died
Mofield and Shatifia of a five-year sentence. in March of multi-organ
Cooke mourn his wife A B OV E , R I G H T: In New failure and complica-
and her mother, Tiffany Jersey, COVID-19 tions of sepsis; Laura
Mofield, who had infected Tony Whalen, says she wants to get
COVID-19 symptoms 45, his wife, Laura, and the death certificate
when she died in April their child Maji (at left). amended to clarify
at age 43. She was in a Only Maji’s brother, that COVID-19 took
New Jersey correctional Cai (at right), escaped her husband.

B E LOW: The virus hit and composer Del- beloved social clubs,
New Orleans hard. Ellis feayo Marsalis (below) dons finery to welcome
Marsalis, Jr.—pianist, is one of Marsalis’s six back a member who
saxophonist, professor, sons, four of whom are survived COVID-19. The
patriarch in a jazz celebrated musicians. festivities are somber,
dynasty—died there last R I G H T: Debra “Mid- though: Club founder
April of COVID-19 com- Night” Washington, Ronald Lewis, 68, died
plications. Trombonist from one of the city’s from the virus in March.

140 N AT I O N A L G E O G R A P H I C



Baton Rouge. Marsha was a truck driver. He’d been a

high school football star, studied engineering in college.

“We didn’t have friends,” Derrick says. “We had us. He

was, like…the pick of the litter, the chosen one. He was

the one who kept everybody together.”

The two young women with their mother’s arms

around their waists—those are the Segui sisters, Morit

and Chloe. Their father, Yves-Emmanuel Segui, had

emigrated from the Ivory Coast, where he trained as a

pharmacist. Daily life there is in French; in New Jersey,

as he raised his family, Segui kept failing the English-

language pharmaceutical licensing exam. Every time he

failed, he began studying again to retake it. The reason

the New York Times could headline the obituary “Indomi-

table Bronx Pharmacist,” after COVID-19 killed him at 60:

On his eighth try Segui passed the exam, and he finally

had found a pharmacy job, to which he commuted by

bus and train from Newark, three hours each way.

The woman in a white sweater, her head erect as she

142 weeps—that’s Elaine Fields, whose husband, Eddie, was
68 when he died in April in a Detroit hospital. He was a

retired General Motors plant worker, an excellent bowler,

a classic car aficionado restoring a 1949 DeSoto. The

woman whose pandemic mask bears the face of a beau-

NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC tiful little girl—that’s Detroit police officer LaVondria

Herbert, married to Detroit firefighter Ebbie Herbert.

They’re the parents of Skylar Herbert, gymnast and

math whiz. June 3 would have been her sixth birthday.

She was their only child.

Tragedies are commonplace, a song by the late gospel

artist Walter Hawkins begins. All kinds of diseases. Peo-

ple are slipping away. When Biba Adams collected her

mother’s possessions from the hospital, she found the

printed lyrics folded up in Elaine Head’s wallet. Hawkins

wrote the song many years ago; it’s about gratitude, not

disease, and the chorus thanks Jesus. But the lament

in its verses presages a virulent modern contagion, a

rickety national health system, and a deeply stratified

society, all working together to smite with extra ferocity

America’s racial minorities and the poor (graphic, right).

People can’t get enough pay. No place seems to be safe.

The lyrics aren’t precisely true, amid the pandemic of

2020. Some people can get enough pay. Some places are

safe, or at least safer than others. And some tragedies

are not common at all.

Adams framed the lyrics and hung them on her dining

room wall. In July she finally was planning the memo-

rial for her mother; she wanted it in her own backyard, GRAPHIC: MATTHEW W. CHWASTYK,
where masked guests could listen to Hawkins’s song and IRENE BERMAN-VAPORIS, AND
reminisce. She’d ordered a package of live butterflies to TAYLOR MAGGIACOMO, NGM STAFF;
release into the air—her mother would have liked that, KELSEY NOWAKOWSKI
Adams thought. “I need to have this service,” she said. SOURCES: MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT
“I need to close this passage.” j OF HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES;
LOUISIANA OFFICE OF PUBLIC
HEALTH; NEW YORK CITY HEALTH;
NEW YORK TIMES; OXFORD COVID-19
GOVERNMENT RESPONSE TRACKER

NEW
YORK

MICHIGAN New York
Detroit
Although demographic data are preliminary and
incomplete, it’s clear that COVID-19 is disproportion- UNITED STATES
ately affecting communities of color and service-sector
workers. Three cities reflect the toll of the pandemic. LOUISIANA

NOrelweans

DETROIT COVID-19 cases More than a third of Detroit’s residents are
METRO AREA by race living in poverty. The city is 79 percent Black,

OAKLAND LAPEER Each dot = 35 cases, with many residents in the essential workforce.

by county Preexisting health issues include a diabetes

ST. CLAIR African American rate that’s twice the national average.

White Government response 53,674
Other
Unknown cumulative confirmed
cases in the metro area
None Strict
through July 31, 2020

LIVINGSTON MACOMB 10 mi 1,603 1,315 4,992
WAYNE 10 km Michigan D.M.A. cases
Detroit reported deaths
cases*

March 1, 2020 July 31, 2020

NEW ORLEANS ST. TAMMANY Poverty, unequal access to health care, and
METRO AREA high-density housing affect the Black popula-
tion’s risk. In Black-majority Orleans Parish, the
poverty rate for families is 17.8 percent—well
above the 10.1 percent national rate.

ST. JOHN ORLEANS 2,267
THE BAPTIST Louisiana cases
ST. JAMES

New Orleans

ST. BERNARD

ST. CHARLES 1,037
N.O.M.A. cases

JEFFERSON MissisPsLiApQpUEMINES March 1 July 31

COVID-19 cases by race 10 mi i 33,750
Each dot = 35 cases, 10 km
by parish 9,877 cumulative confirmed
New York cases in the metro area
African American State cases
White 1,485
Other
Unknown reported deaths

NEW YORK CITY BRONX 5,426 The New York City neighbor-
QUEENS N.Y.C. hoods reporting the most
COVID-19 cases by race cases cases also had the highest
or ethnicity† numbers of Blacks and Hispan-
Each dot = 50 cases, MANHATTAN ics, essential services workers,
by borough and households with high rent
compared with income.
African American
Hispanic 229,834
White
Other cumulative confirmed
Unknown cases in N.Y.C.

5 mi 23,002

5 km reported deaths

STATEN BROOKLYN March 1 July 31
ISLAND

*SEVEN-DAY CASE AVERAGE. ON JUNE 5, MICHIGAN RELEASED DATA ON PROBABLE CASES.
†MICHIGAN AND LOUISIANA DO NOT RELEASE CASE DATA BY ETHNICITY FOR COUNTIES OR PARISHES.



L E F T: The Detroit store who raised six children B E L OW: Detroit police
Abdelfattah Abedrabbo in Dearborn with wife officer LaVondria
founded and ran Azizeh, Abedrabbo Herbert’s mask bears
with his family carries died from complica- her daughter’s name
discount household tions of COVID-19 at 65 and face. Skylar, whose
goods—with tacos for last April. Azizeh and father, Ebbie Herbert,
sale in the parking lot. daughter Sara mourn is a firefighter, did not
A Palestinian immigrant near his burial site. reach her sixth birthday.

CODA

Finding Ways to Plant Hope

146

C OV I D - 1 9 A M B U S H E D U S , replacing a string quartet performing Giacomo At the end of the UceLi
familiar situations with disorient- Puccini’s Crisantemi. The name means Quartet’s performance,
ing, deadly unknowns. So much has chrysanthemums, a flower Italians use air from big fans made
changed. Too much keeps changing. to express loss and mourning. the plants in the opera
house sway and rustle—
How welcome it is, then, to see some- Artist Eugenio Ampudia hoped that which, with some
thing that’s totally unexpected … but greening the opera house would make imagination, sounded
good in every way. Whimsical. Beau- it feel “alive, even when there are no like nature’s applause.
tiful. Overflowing with life. people.” An unseen human audience
did benefit: After the concert, the plants EMILIO MORENATTI, AP IMAGES
Spain was struck early and hard by were given to Barcelona health workers.
COVID-19 and locked down for three
months. In June the easing of restric- Reviews were glowing. As one col-
tions was celebrated with a concert umnist wrote: “In a year with so much
at Barcelona’s Gran Teatre del Liceu. darkness and such intense suffering,
an act of kindhearted absurdity can lift
In attendance: 2,292 live plants. us up.” — PAT R I C I A E D M O N D S
The verdant audience was treated to

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