Multimedia Reporting (Summer 2020)

 

Host intro: With Covid-19 putting most human research to a halt, labs across the tri-state area are struggling to reopen their facilities. James Kyreakedes spoke to a research assistant about the impact the pandemic has had on their lab.

 

Ambi: nat sounds of typing on a keyboard

 

Track: I’m here with Zuzanna, a research assistant at a memory lab at Rutgers University, looking at biomarkers of Alzheimer’s disease. She is finishing a lab report, typing away in her suburban New Jersey home.

 

ACT: ZUZANNA: At the end of March all of our research activities were shut down completely until further notice. So, everybody has had to work from home, myself included. It’s been…there’s definitely been a lot of changes.

 

Track: Without any face-to-face interactions, her work day looks very different.

 

ACT: ZUZANNA: It’s definitely been a big transition for me personally, um I’m not used to just looking at data for 5-6 hours a day. It’s been a little exhausting honestly.

 

Track: Her lab was faced with new challenges since the pandemic, working with a high-risk population.

 

ACT: ZUZANNA: My job before was mostly testing and working face-to-face with the older participants usually in their 70s and their 80s, they’re now the most vulnerable population. So, we have had to plan what we’re going to do, essentially for the rest of the year, because we’re not sure when we’ll be able to see these participants in person again.

 

Track: Although skeptical, her lab is still hopeful about resuming research with the right precautions in place.

 

ACT: ZUZANNA: We’re definitely taking into consideration their age and the fact that even just getting to our location is going to be putting them at risk. So, for the past few weeks we are trying to plan a different testing site. We’re thinking of maybe moving our testing to a church nearby where there is a lot of room. So right now it’s really just a waiting game.

 

Track: Aside from the difficulties imposed by working with a high-risk population, the lab is going to have a hard time designating research assistants to test the participants.

 

ACT: ZUZANNA: Usually, in a research lab, half of the staff were undergraduate students who were looking for some research experience, but because all of these classes are now going to be remote, even in the fall, we lost almost half of our staff.

 

 

Track: Although some research has been put to a halt due to COVID-19, other research has been prioritized.

 

ACT: ZUZANNA: I do plan on pursuing a career in research, so this has definitely been an eye-opener for me. We have had a lot of budget cuts at our lab and I know that moving forward there is going to be an emphasis on Covid-related research, and maybe in the future even other medical research as opposed to what I am looking at now, which is memory and neuroscience.

 

Track: As of now most research activities at Rutgers University are on hold. Everyone is patiently waiting as we track the spread of Covid19 and wait for new information.

 

For Baruch College, this is James Kyreakedes in Sayreville New Jersey

Pedro Aviles
Radio Script

Host intro: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a catastrophic effect on many New York businesses, with around 17 million people unemployed or furloughed from work according the burau of labor. For months, food businesses were only allowed to provide take out or delivery services. As the city slowly re-opens, now in stage four, the financial impacts and concerns about people not following social distancing rules has placed Hassane Soumahoro, a Sweetgreen employee under pressure. Pedro Aviles has the story. 

AMBI: Sweetgreen cash register typing sounds 

Track: I’m here with Hassane at one of the busiest Sweetgreen’s in the middle of Manhattan at 61st street. Since the shutdown, with few people commuting into their Manhattan offices, this location has seen a major slowdown in lunchtime customers and has had to implement new safety rules to stay open.

ACT: When the lockdown started, we didn’t let anyone in the store, and it was only online orders. After phase 2 we had to wear face masks, only six people are allowed in the store. Its only pickup, you can order in the store and the pickup is separated so there is no congestion.

Track: One of their recent sales to attract customers didn’t go in their favor as uncooperative people gathered outside. 

ACT: Unfortunately we had a sale and a lot of people popped up, so we kind of got a violation for that, we had way more than 3 people outside of our store at the time, it was definitely hard to tell the people you can’t stand there when you have to pick up your food you know.

TRACK: The stress buildup from work and trending social media videos of people not wanting to follow face mask rules inside stores has placed Hassane in a state of frustration.

ACT: You know is weird because It goes down but as soon as you step outside it keeps rising back up, like what the hell is going on, is like people walking by with corona passing it on. Is also crazy that people are not wearing masks I’ve been to a couple of protests I haven’t gotten corona yet but I think that’s because were always wearing some masks, like we walk past stores and see people seating down eating with no masks, see people walking no masks, see people riding bikes with no masks, like come on man there’s a whole pandemic going on.

Track: As for his future he is uncertain of what awaits, he has hopes on graduating from Brooklyn college and getting a degree in media—a precarious/unstable industry even under the best of circumstances. 

ACT: I feel unsecure, is going to be ridiculous especially because I’m going to do media. I’ve been applying for some new jobs, but it is tough to get a new job in my field. 

TRACK: During the height of the pandemic, Hassane and his fellow employees were all given a dollar an hour raise, but that is set to expire this month and he is worried that some people will need to be let go. For Baruch College, this is Pedro Aviles in Manhattan

https://soundcloud.com/pedroavls/audio-project

Host intro: The experiences and challenges of psychotherapists working remotely during the coronavirus pandemic has brought extremely rapid change, going from meetings in person to meetings taking place by phone or video which may make it harder to connect than in a face-to-face meeting. Working remotely with clients has exposed psychotherapists to a range of new and testing circumstances with reduced interpersonal cues. Here is Yuleisy Fernandez with the story.

AMBI1: Birds outside the window sound

AMBI2: Birds outside the window and rain sound

TRACK: Due to the social distancing I am conducting an interview over the phone with Jessica Lorraine. Jessica is a Psychotherapist at the Center Western Queens. As a person who practices psychotherapy Jessica explains what social distancing means to her on a societal level.

ACT: We are social creatures by nature and we need social connections with other people. There seems to be some confusion between social distance and social isolation, where individuals felt that social distance meant “ I need to be locked up in my apartment or my house”. Considering in New York City many people live in small spaces. They felt that they had to be locked up and stayed away from people. And that was not necessarily the case. Now that we have more knowledge we understand that it meant which is to maintain a distance from other individuals.

TRACK: Jessica is worried that quarantine could have serious long term effects on people. It’s not hard to imagine the way the virus has impacted all as a whole.

ACT: From a psychological perspective it has been proven that long term effect of quarantine right who have very negative effects on individuals; Creating symptoms of anxiety, depression, anger, loneliness, feelings of frustration, boredom and so is really important as mental health technicians to really assess every individuals.

TRACK: In this tangle of stress Jessica has managed to adapt to work from home and how her patients feel since many of the meetings are taking place by phone or video, which may make it harder to connect than in a face-to-face meeting.

ACT: I like to tell my clients that this is a new experience for everyone! It was a very unique time because for the first time my clients and I are going through the same exact things. So in tele mental health, insurance company actually waived a lot of rules they had before to approve it due to the pandemic. For example we are able to have video calls through WhatsApp.

TRACK: Now that New York has entered stage four of re-opening, Jessica will be returning to work physically, but not all of her clients will be assess in person.

ACT: I will be returning to work on Tuesday. Ahm, some of my clients have expressed interest in returning saying “that I really prefer in person”. And what’s really important is to have a conversation and a dialogue with them on how they feel and if they feel comfortable. Some of them didn’t feel comfortable, the ones that don’t feel comfortable will continue to receive tele mental health services.

TRACK: With a lot more remote therapy on Zoom and other kinds of applications. Looking to the future and beyond the pandemic, there is a sense that the practice of psychotherapy has been profoundly and lastingly changed. For Baruch College, this is Yuleisy Fernandez in Brooklyn, New York.

 

https://soundcloud.com/yuleisy-fernandez-286950692/wednesday-02-28-pm-3-wav