No, COVID Isn’t “Over,” and the Need for Continued Community
This March marks four years since the COVID-19 pandemic was officially declared. Public health failures and government inaction have forced communities to take matters into their own hands. On today’s show, we look at two groups steeped in the values of community care. First, we’ll hear about the Auntie Sewing Squad, which distributed over 350,000 hand-sewn masks to communities in 2020-2021. Then, we’ll speak with...
How Ollas Populares fed Buenos Aires through a pandemic (Encore)
We travel to Buenos Aires with reporter Rosina Castillo who immerses us in the culture of a local community arts organization who saw a need in their community and took action during the height of the pandemic. La Casona de Humahuaca transformed their operations to host “ollas populares” or community kitchens to help support their community and make it through the toughest parts of COVID together, all the while learning more about...
Pandemic and Profit (Encore)
On today’s show, we’ll revisit the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic by looking at two alternative supply chains for masks during the fallout from the Trump administration’s failure to prepare. We’ll be speaking with the ProPublica reporter David McSwane about his book Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick. The book details the shadowy supply chain of brokers...
Pandemic and Profit
To mark the three year anniversary of the official start of the Covid-19 pandemic, we’ll be looking at two alternative supply chains for masks that emerged in the fallout of the Trump administration’s failure to prepare. We’ll be speaking with ProPublica reporter David McSwane about his book Pandemic, Inc.: Chasing the Capitalists and Thieves Who Got Rich While We Got Sick. The book details the shadowy supply chain...
Ollas Populares- Lessons from Lockdowns
Reporter Rosina Castillo takes us to her Buenos Aires neighborhood. There, a community arts organization called La Casona de Humahuaca hosts an olla popular, a community kitchen, to feed hundreds of hungry neighbors during pandemic lockdowns. In turn, La Casona learns more about their own identity and purpose while transforming how they operate. And, we sit down with architect and urbanist, Belen Desmaison. She explains how the...
Medical Apartheid and the COVID-19 vaccines (ENCORE)
The world is struggling to contain COVID-19, as variants continue to emerge in countries where the virus is spreading unchecked, killing thousands. Not only could widespread vaccination campaigns help slow the emergence of new variants, they would save countless lives. So why can’t countries in the global south access the novel COVID-19 vaccines? We take a deep dive into the WTO and international patents and we talk about the...
Part 2 of The Pandemic Inside: COVID-19 and Prisons (Encore)
Making Contact · Part 2 of The Pandemic Inside: Covid-19 and Prisons In a two-part series, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to release inmates in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. For Part 2, we talk about why vaccines aren’t an effective solution to ending COVID in prisons, and we also look at how re-entry has become harder...
Part 1 of The Pandemic Inside: COVID-19 and Prisons (Encore)
Making Contact · Part 1 of The Pandemic Inside: Covid 19 and Prisons – Encore In this encore episode, we look at how COVID-19 has torn through prisons and how organizers are trying to push state and local governments to release inmates in order to contain the spread of the pandemic. In part one, we focus on California. We take a look at why a prison, like San Quentin, is such a perfect environment for infectious diseases,...
Medical Apartheid and the COVID-19 vaccines
Making Contact · Medical Apartheid and the COVID-19 vaccines The world is struggling to contain COVID-19, as variants continue to emerge in countries where the virus is spreading unchecked, killing thousands. Not only could widespread vaccination campaigns help slow the emergence of new variants, they would save countless lives. So why can’t countries in the global south access the novel COVID-19 vaccines? We take a deep dive...
Life During COVID
Making Contact · Life During COVID The COVID 19 pandemic has transformed all of our lives in some way. But some are feeling the impacts more than others. Take healthcare workers, for example: As the United States surpasses 38 million COVID-19 cases and 637,000 deaths as of August 28th, 2021, many healthcare workers continue to be overloaded by caring for COVID-19 patients. Globally, COVID-19 has presented unique challenges, leading to...
