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A Year in Pandemia

COVID-19 has upturned every aspect of our lives and forced the world to reckon with its systemic inequities. Travel back through a year of unforgettable loss — but also courage and resilience — to see how the world has forever changed in the aftermath.

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U.S. Cities Continue To Shelter-In-Place As Coronavirus Spread Is Expected To Peak
This timeline puts into perspective the significance COVID-19 has had on us, the struggles we face to contend with a pandemic and perhaps illuminates what we want in a better future.
Susan sits on a bright blue wooden lawn chair. She's sitting leaned back, with her legs folded and her arms crossed. Patches of sunlight light different parts of her body as she smiles with a gaze slightly off from the camera.
Despite her background as an emergency room nurse trained to respond to bioterrorism attacks and Ebola, Susan contracted COVID-19 March 2020 and continues to experience symptoms months later.
COVID Survivors_Jennifer
She contracted COVID-19 through community spread at the start of the outbreak in New York in March. Because of her preexisting conditions, she was hospitalized for several days and after two months she is still housebound and recovering.
Gail sits at a wooden picnic table. She's looking off to the side. Behind her is lush, forest scenery.
She survived COVID-19. Now, she's on a mission to fight COVID-19 in her community with facts.
COVID Diaries_Ryan
Ryan, a fitness professional, began experiencing COVID-like symptoms June 2020. Months later, an MRI scan revealed lung damage compared to that of a smoker's lung.
Monica sits at a chair next to a window lighting her face. She's sitting with one leg folded on the chair.
After 17 weeks of unexplainable, ongoing symptoms, Monica was diagnosed with COVID-19-induced lupus and is still fighting for workers' compensation despite catching COVID-19 at work.
Side photo of an Indigenous man who is smiling inside an office. He is wearing his long hair in a ponytail and wears a striped button down shirt.
California Native American leaders fear the deaths that have shadowed their communities this past year have been undercounted.
(LEFT) ER nurse Adwoa Blankson-Wood pictured near the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, wearing scrubs and a surgical mask; By October, Blankson-Wood was required to don an N-95 mask, protective goggles, a head covering and full PPE to interact with patients.
Most of the time, I was able to frame conversations within the context of the virus and not race, telling patients that we were doing our best, trying to be the heroes they kept calling us. But I was dying inside .... It was easier to find solace in my job, easier to be just a nurse, than to be a Black nurse.
A man (left) and a woman (right) in masks work in a woodshop with coronavirus safety regulations in place such as clear plastic barriers between stations.
After record growth, L.A.'s creative economy has suffered much with the coronavirus crisis. Now, recovery is uneven, and experts say reducing red tape is a critical element of survival.
Perez takes a break during his therapy. He could barely breathe when he was admitted to Los Angeles County’s Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in early June of last year.
Vicente Perez Castro, a 57-year-old cook from Long Beach, could barely breathe when he was admitted to Los Angeles County’s Harbor-UCLA Medical Center. At a certain point, the doctors told his family that he wasn’t going to make it. Months later, here he was — an outpatient at Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center in Downey, the only public hospital in the county whose main mission is patient rehab.
Protesters stand outside Otay Mesa Detention Center during a "Vigil for Carlos" rally on May 9, 2020 in Otay Mesa, California.
Who takes responsibility for vaccinating detainees? “I don’t know,” said California’s surgeon general. Facing such confusion, some county officials are sending doses to immigrant detention centers, while others are awaiting state guidance.
Farmworkers who harvest and pack bell peppers in the Coachella Valley listen to Montserrat Gomez explain the benefits of the covid vaccines.
Even though farmworkers are vulnerable the coronavirus, many hesitate to get the vaccine, worried the shot could have severe side effects or signal their whereabouts to immigration officials. Immigrant advocates in the Coachella Valley and other farming regions are visiting workers to try to allay their fears.
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