When Your Roommates Want to Party During COVID
We are almost reaching the year mark when it comes to how long many of us have been stuck inside at home. And if you live with roommates, that space can feel smaller and smaller as time goes on. But what happens when roommates have different ideas about what it means to be safe during COVID? That’s the question KQED’s Adhiti Bandlamudi has been wrestling with. She usually reports on Silicon Valley, but today she brings us a first-person account of what it’s like being a Millennial with roommates she never imagined she’d be stuck with in a pandemic.
‘They Didn’t Listen to Us’: ICE Detainee Who Waged Hunger Strikes for COVID-19 Protections Gets Virus
COVID-19 has spread like wildfire inside a jail north of Sacramento that also holds immigrant detainees. Now, about half of all the people locked up there have tested positive for the virus. KQED’s immigration reporter Farida Jhabvala Romero spoke with one of them, a 20-year-old asylum seeker, who’s been fighting to improve conditions inside.
What Happens When We Prioritize Efficiency Over Equity in Vaccine Distribution?
So many of the problems in getting the COVID vaccine to Californians stems from a lack of leadership and coordination at the national level, with the federal government depending on local health departments to implement systems. In a state with 58 counties, all with different systems, the result has been chaos and confusion. This week California officials announced a change in the tier system that determines who gets the COVID vaccine. With a few exceptions for essential workers, age is now the primary factor, as it’s considered the easiest to manage. But what happens to other vulnerable people when efficiency is prioritized over equity? To help us understand where we stand with vaccine rollout in California, we turn to KQED science reporter Lesley McClurg.