2/03/22: One Detroit - COVID-19's Impact on Communities

This Week on One Detroit:

Making a Choice: How Detroiters Feel About Face Masks for COVID-19

How protective is wearing a face mask, and why do some choose to wear it while others don’t? Producer AJ Walker and community journalist Daijah Moss take to the streets for American Black Journal to talk with Detroiters about their thoughts on wearing a mask to protect against COVID-19. They hear from residents who choose to wear a mask to protect against other diagnoses or comorbidities, residents who feared getting the virus because then they couldn’t work or go to school, and some residents who felt protected from the virus without a mask.

Plus, they sits down with the State of Michigan’s Chief Medical Executive Natasha Bagdasarian to talk about the Omicron variant surge, when and where people should mask up, and what types of mask will provide the most protection.

COVID Long-Haulers: The People Still Suffering from the Virus

As the United States and Michigan continue to face some of the highest COVID-19 with the Omicron variant since the start of the pandemic, the long-term effects of the virus for many who have already contracted it is still relatively unknown. More than two years into the pandemic, millions of people — COVID Long-Haulers — continue to deal with lingering symptoms months after first contracting the virus. Medical research on the topic is ongoing, but what have they discovered so far and what’s still to learn?

One Detroit’s Bill Kubota connects with experts from Henry Ford Health System, The University of Michigan Medicine team, and the Detroit Medical Center, along with patients still trying to shake the illness themselves, about the ways people’s bodies are still being ailed by COVID in the long-term.

How COVID’s Disruptions Have Impacted Children’s Mental Health

Children certainly have gone through a lot since the COVID-19 pandemic started; all the up and downs, schools switching from open to closed, sometimes on a whim. American Black Journal Host Stephen Henderson sits down with The Children’s Center CEO & President Debora Matthews and Chief Clinical Officer Carlynn Nichols to learn just how this pandemic has impacted children and their families, and how the impacts felt by children and adults are more different than we think.

Matthews and Nichols share how mental health services have fluctuated throughout the pandemic, the effects that school closures have on a child’s social, emotional and academic skills, how heightened screen time can drain a child’s mental battery over time, and the resources the Children’s Center offers to families to help.