Covering COVID-19 Through a Social Justice Lens

Introduction

We made it a point at News Beat podcast to cover the real-life impact the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic had on the most marginalized among us. Here's a compilation of several episodes chronicling its disparate ramifications on communities of color, those at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder, and the incarcerated, among others.

In late 2019, a mysterious, pneumonia-like disease began infecting people in Wuhan, China. In a matter of months it swept across the globe, and ultimately, brought all of civilization to its knees.

The World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11, 2020, and governments and municipalities developed strict mandates in response—with large segments of the population sequestered inside their homes, businesses shuttering, and economies screeching to abrupt, devastating halts.

Although we'll likely never know COVID-19's exact origin— natural zoonotic transmission or a lab leak—to date, hundreds of thousands of people worldwide have been infected and millions have died due to health complications caused by the insidious virus at its core, known as SARS-CoV-2.

Listen to our podcast episodes examining how the coronavirus disproportionately impacted marginalized communities:

News Beat Coronavirus Coverage

News Beat

Death Sentence: COVID-19 Cases Are Soaring in Jails & Prisons

The warnings were clear: COVID-19 would spread like wildfire in jails and prisons. It has. The top COVID-19 clusters across America are overwhelmingly jails and prisons, and efforts to reduce jail populations have stalled amid a surge in infections. Among the hardest-hit is San Quentin State Prison in California, which is responsible for about a quarter of the state prison system’s COVID-19 infections and almost half its deaths.

Guests: Danielle Harris, managing attorney for the San Francisco Public Defender's Integrity Unit. Emily Widra, research analyst at the Massachusetts-based Prison Policy Initiative. Sharon Dolovich, professor of law at UCLA School of Law, and director of the UCLA Prison Law & Policy Program. She also serves as director of the UCLA Law COVID-19 Behind Bars Data Project.

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How Racism Fuels Higher Coronavirus Death Rates

While the coronavirus has indiscriminately ravaged communities across the nation, African Americans died at disproportionately higher rates. Those who studied racial health disparities weren't surprised, considering that African Americans suffer inordinately from chronic conditions—symptoms linked to systemic racism, and a deleterious physiological process dubbed "weathering" three decades ago.

Listen Now:

How Racism Fuels Higher Coronavirus Death Rates

[EXCLUSIVE] San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin Talks Bail, Sentencing Reforms & COVID-19

We spoke to Boudin—a career public defender who became San Francisco's top prosecutor (and was recalled in 2022)—about embracing reforms as district attorney of a prominent U.S. city and combating COVID-19.

When Epidemics Collide: Coronavirus, Criminal Justice & Poverty

As the coronavirus pandemic exposed long-standing inequities in the United States, marginalized communities suffered the worst from the consequences of a broken economy, neglect, and a decaying social safety net.

Coronavirus Behind Bars: Florida + Effects Of Visitation Bans

For weeks, Florida resisted bans on nonessential workers, as many other states across the country urged residents to stay home. We interviewed a staff attorney with the ACLU of Florida about efforts there to protect the state's incarcerated population.

Coronavirus Behind Bars: Crisis In New York

On March 13, the foremost expert on healthcare in correctional settings appeared on this podcast and warned of a "perilous and looming threat" inside these facilities. Rikers Island soon had more than 200 coronavirus cases and recorded its first COVID-19-related death. Advocates warned that anyone held in the jail was in mortal danger.

Expert Warns Of ‘Perilous’ Coronavirus Threat In Jails & Prisons

One of the foremost experts on correctional health services warned of a “very perilous and looming threat” inside American correctional facilities amid the coronavirus pandemic outbreak.

Death Sentence: COVID-19 Cases Are Soaring In Jails & Prisons

The top COVID-19 clusters across America were overwhelmingly jails and prisons, and efforts to reduce jail populations stalled amid a surge in infections. Among the hardest hit was San Quentin State Prison in California, responsible for about a quarter of the state prison system’s COVID-19 infections and almost half its deaths. Read more.