The Year Apart
These stories of grief, love and hope show how COVID has forever changed the lives of New Yorkers
There was life before the coronavirus arrival a year ago. And there will be life after it s gone. This is the story of the months in between.
Katie Sullivan Borrelli and Peter D. Kramer, USA TODAY Network - New York
Published
7:32 pm UTC Feb. 28, 2021
There was life before the coronavirus arrival a year ago. And there will be life after it s gone. This is the story of the months in between.
Katie Sullivan Borrelli and Peter D. Kramer, USA TODAY Network - New York
Photo by David McIntyre Ira Lee, owner of Twisted Soul, a fusion restaurant located near Vassar College on Raymond Avenue. Twisted Soul is only offering pick-up service during the pandemic. This time last year, Poughkeepsie was at an inflection point. Just before the COVID-19 pandemic descended, the city was buzzing with development, new businesses, and growth. The community was also bolstered by the civic and social support of a cadre of dynamic nonprofits, and it seemed that a long period of economic struggle was at last subsiding. Then, you know, COVID. Progress in Poughkeepsie, however, has not been derailed, thanks to the people who have pushed too long and hard to let the city backslide. The past year has been emotional and exhausting, but Poughkeepsie s stakeholders have found a way to fight through. They just work harder.
.Peter Carr/The Journal News
I spent April 3 photographing COVID testing preparations. The health-care center had painted lines 6 feet apart and the staff had PPE, before masks were in wide public use. On the drive home, in Blauvelt, I saw a circle of women standing in the rain. I stopped and, when I got close, saw they were reciting the Rosary. After their last Amen, they walked back to their houses. Their church, St. Catharine s Church, had been closed by the coronavirus, one told me. Their quiet prayer in the rain under towering trees was a stark contrast to the health center where they were busy finding ways to make things work.