Image via Chelsea Handler

Written by Jackson Bird

As we collectively adjust to a new normal, we’re focusing this week’s reFRESH on unique takes and important perspectives on the pandemic.

What we’re checking out…

This week’s New York Times Magazine cover story featured the stories of essential workers, in their own words and with their own self-taken photos.

Deborah Barfield Berry wrote for USA Today about how some people of color will be among the hardest hit by the coronavirus due, in part, to generations of systemic healthcare disparities.

“The virus is an equal-opportunity crisis … but the impact and the burden of it is not going to be shared equally.’’

Dr. Ashwin Vasan, public health expert and assistant professor at Columbia University

Ash-Lee Woodard Henderson dove deeper on this topic in Essence, focusing specifically on black people in the rural south.

From lack of running water on reservations to virtual domestic violence prevention strategies, the 2020 Aspen Healthy Community Fellows discuss challenges facing already underserved communities and the solutions they’re implementing on the frontlines.

In response to the uptick of domestic violence predicted under lockdown, France has implemented a system for women who need assistance––including code words for pharmacists and dedicated hotels for shelter.

A lot of major companies are stepping up in this time of crisis, but many, crucially, are not. Just Capital created a corporate response tracker so you can see exactly how the top one hundred public employers in the U.S. are responding to the pandemic.

Meanwhile, GoFundMe––America’s answer to healthcare and disaster-relief––has a new role: saving small businesses.

Unsurprisingly, teachers have been true MVPs this month as many have had to adjust to teaching and supporting their students remotely––and some are getting pretty creative. Like the math teacher pictured below or this administrator who found a way around social distancing guidelines to let a student know in-person that she was valedictorian.

You know that image of the coronavirus with its spiky, red proteins that you see on every single news segment about the virus? Did you ever wonder who created it? We didn’t either, but it turns out the CDC has in-house medical illustrators and the process of making this now ubiquitous image is fascinating.

We wish every landlord were like Mario Salerno.

Our reFRESHing Talk of the Week is Stacey Abrams explaining to Rolling Stone how the coronavirus outbreak will uniquely impact people in the south as well as the effects it will have on the general election.

The latest from our speakers…

Rob Gore was featured on CNN, sharing his experiences as an ER doctor fighting the coronavirus outbreak in Brooklyn.

Susan McPherson spoke to NBC News about reframing “social distancing” as “remote connecting.”

Veterans at remote connecting Ann Friedman and her Call Your Girlfriend co-host Aminatou Sow have an upcoming book that’s now available for preorder! Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close comes out July 14th.

In the latest episode of Death, Sex, and Money, Anna Sale featured the stories of essential workers.

Jamil Smith’s latest for Rolling Stone is about how even a global pandemic can’t stop President Trump’s obsession with ratings.

Amanda Phingbodhipakkiya built a website that randomly generates suggestions for self-care. Check it out: quarantinerx.com

Shannon Watts wrote for Refinery29 about why Americans are hoarding guns for the pandemic and who’s egging them on.

Aimee Allison, Alicia Garza, Pat Mitchell, and Ai-jen Poo all wrote pieces for CNN’s Women’s History Month project featuring trailblazers throughout history who gives us hope.

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