Stories
Maintaining a safe distance can be especially painful when someone you know or love is grieving. You want to reach out with a hug or a handshake; share tears and laughter at a funeral or some other celebration of life. But now that the governor has issued his order for Vermonters to stay home, people…
Read MoreWelcome To Rhode Island, Now Go Quarantine
Corey Williams says he knew earlier on in the COVID-19 crisis that he couldn’t stay in Brooklyn. He and his wife have a four-month-old daughter, and they’re worried her heart condition puts her at increased risk. So, earlier this month, they decided to leave. “We had to come to terms with the fact that we…
Read MoreDaily life has changed drastically as Mainers take steps to slow the spread of the new coronavirus. Preparing and maintaining needed services for homeless clients has proven to be a challenge for shelters, who are dealing with limited space, supplies and a dramatic decline in the numbers of volunteers. On a recent morning, Katie Spencer…
Read MoreWith elderly populations especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 virus, nursing homes and assisted living centers in Vermont have drastically limited access for visitors. For the Austins, a couple that began dating just after World War II, it’s the first time they’ve been apart. “He was 20 and I was 16 when we met in church,”…
Read MoreWith New Hampshire schools now closed, teachers are facing an unprecedented challenge: how to teach their students remotely for at least three weeks. Schools are figuring out how to get meals and computers to students in need, and teachers are trying to figure out how to keep students engaged while isolated at home. NHPR’s Sarah…
Read MoreResearchers in Connecticut and on Long Island are among the brainpower working overtime to produce a vaccine for the coronavirus. Those vaccines could be months – if not, years – away. But they say this is not unchartered territory. The lessons learned in past epidemics are now influencing how scientists are fighting the spread of…
Read MoreHow do you get ready for something when you don’t exactly know what it is? That’s been the recent scenario in many communities, as people learn more about the new coronavirus and try to prepare for a potential quarantine at home. In the last few weeks in western Massachusetts, like elsewhere, shoppers have packed the…
Read MoreMaine Schools Step Up Hygiene And Emergency Practices In Response To Coronavirus Concerns
There are still no reported cases in Maine of COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus. But as cases have increased nationwide, state and local officials have started to prepare. Schools around the state are stepping up their hygiene and emergency practices in preparation, with some even using the situation as a learning experience.…
Read MorePolice In Western Massachusetts Keep Knocking On Drug Users’ Doors Until They’re Ready For Help
Emily Ligawiec, 29, has to sign visitors in to her recovery program in a grand Victorian house run by the Gandara Center in Holyoke, Massachusetts. She’s been living there since getting out of a detox program last fall. She had to give up her phone for two weeks and only recently got car privileges. “We…
Read MoreAs deaths and new infections from the novel coronavirus rise, mainly in China, scientists are working as fast as they can to develop a vaccine that might stem the epidemic. Time is not on their side. If scientists are unable to create a vaccine before the virus spreads further and begins mutating, their efforts won’t be as effective…
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