Member-only story
Six Months In
An Oral History of Pandemic Life Told by Black Essential Workers
From grocery store clerks to mental health counselors to mail carriers, Black essential workers describe living during the pandemic
This story is part of “Six Months In,” a special weeklong Elemental series reflecting on where we’ve been, what we’ve learned, and what the future holds for the Covid-19 pandemic.
After working a long day, loading trucks at an HVAC company in East Point, Georgia, J. Waters quickly peruses her local grocery store’s shelves for food and cleaning supplies. In her area, the poverty rate is over 20%. Health conditions are highly prevalent. Hospitalizations are up. As Covid-19 consumes the public consciousness, so do the nearby killings of Ahmaud Arbery and Rayshard Brooks.
The global pandemic is creating a devastating pattern of Covid-19 cases in communities of color. Once referred to as “the Great Equalizer,” data has shown that the virus’s reach is not isolated from social and economic inequalities. Across age groups, Black Americans are almost three times as likely to get sick, and twice as likely to die, from Covid-19 compared to white Americans. Against the backdrop of a national reckoning with police brutality, the…
