As part of our News Impact Project, we are compiling a list of local news stories from around the country on the COVID-19 health crisis that have made a positive impact on their local communities, through motivating changes that help make the community safer, allowing community members to engage on important issues, and providing community members with important information they need to know to keep themselves and their families safe and well.
3/25 – The Post and Courier, “Downtown Charleston restaurant new to delivery accused of charging $18 for $2 frozen pizza”
3/26 – The Post and Courier, “The Conway hospital sues its patients more than any other hospital in SC”
3/27 – Chicago Sun-Times, “Undocumented immigrants face coronavirus, looming jobs crisis with no real safety net”
3/27 – ProPublica Illinois, “Not All Schools Can #KeepLearning”
3/27 – Spotlight PA, “Businesses tied to Gov. Tom Wolf, top Pa. senator close after questions about how they qualified as ‘life-sustaining’”
3/30 – Tampa Bay Times, “The Helpers: SPC professor creates 3D-printed face shields for medical workers”
4/1 – Tampa Bay Times, “Ron DeSantis said New York stay-at-home order caused flights to Florida to spike. But did they?”
4/2 – Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Virus a sudden setback for school laboring to lift children’s lives”
4/4 – The Boston Globe, “Residents and families angry and helpless as coronavirus overwhelms nursing homes”
4/5 – The Boston Globe, “Why I don’t feel safe wearing a face mask”
4/5 – Indianapolis Star, “Health experts are calling Indiana an emerging coronavirus hot spot. But how bad is it?”
4/6 – AllOnGeorgia, “COLUMN: Without Reforms, Jails Could Become Epicenter of COVID-19 Outbreaks”
4/6 – Wisconsin State Journal, “Read all about it: Minimal risk of COVID-19 coronavirus transmission from newspapers”
4/7 – The Bismarck Tribune, “Officials unveil mobile app to help with COVID-19 contact tracing in North Dakota”
4/7 – [Video] NBC Washington, “‘It’s Like a War Zone’: Grocery Store Employees Urge More Protection on the Front Lines”
4/8 – South Florida Sun Sentinel, “In their own words: On the front lines of South Florida’s coronavirus fight”
4/8 – Tri-County Independent, “Pursuit Field Hockey Creates “Quarantine Challenge””
4/9 – Detroit Free Press, “I let my wife cut my hair. I might never go back to a barber again”
4/9 – Sioux Falls Argus Leader, “Smithfield workers asked for safety from COVID-19. Their company offered cash.”
4/9 – The Texas Tribune, “In East Texas, thousands of Easter lilies with no place to go”
4/10 – Los Angeles Times, “One by one, nurses got coronavirus at a Silicon Valley hospital while management kept quiet”
4/10 – TAPInto South Plainfield, “South Plainfield Senior Center Makes Homemade Fabric Masks for Seniors and Community”
4/11 – Focus Daily News, “Moms Rally After Virus Cancels Couple’s Wedding”
4/11 – The New York Times, “Opinion: Life and Death in the ‘Hot Zone’”
4/11 – Susquehanna Independent, “Seamstresses step up as governor urges universal masking”
4/11 – Tampa Bay Times, “Florida’s count of coronavirus deaths is missing some cases”
4/12 – The Almanac, “Socially distanced celebration: Well-wishers mark 100th birthday in Mt. Lebanon”
4/12 – Bucks County Courier Times, “Coronavirus infection numbers in Pa. nursing homes, assisted living mostly secret”
4/12 – Nevada Independent, “Even before COVID-19 pandemic, Nevada’s withered unemployment insurance system struggled to handle workload”
4/13 – Cosmopolitan, “I Shop Your Online Grocery Orders and It’s Scary Out There”
4/13 – TAPInto South Plainfield, “Homeschooling Children With Special Needs During COVID-19 Quarantine – Parents Speak Candidly About the Challenges and Realizations”
4/13 – Tioga Publishing, “Local farms holds dairy drive-up donation”
4/14 – Fox 6 Now, “‘Everybody is concerned:’ Former union rep claims at least 6 COVID-19 cases at Patrick Cudahy”
4/14 – San Francisco Chronicle, “Families left in dark as coronavirus races through Bay Area nursing homes”
4/15 – Focus Daily News, “Mansfield ISD, Church, Restaurant, Non-Profit feeding Kids”
4/16 – Jewish Exponent, “11-Year-Old Sews ‘Superhero’ Masks For Charity”
4/16 – The Baltimore Sun, “Dysfunction in Baltimore police homicide unit went unaddressed as killings hit historic levels”
4/16 – TAPInto South Plainfield, “Residents and families angry and helpless as coronavirus overwhelms nursing homes”
4/16 – Town and Country, “Domestic Violence Calls, Incidents Rise In MontCo During Covid-19 Crisis”
4/17 – Los Angeles Times, “Coronavirus strikes California hospital workers hard, including 175 cases at UCLA”
4/17 – Mississippi Clarion Ledger, “Emails show Phil Bryant, Brett Favre ties to company linked to welfare embezzlement scandal”
4/17 – NorthJersey.com, “A family was told their dad at Paramus vets home was rebounding from COVID. He had died hours earlier”
4/17 – Perry County Times, “Schools bridge lonely divide with food and more”
4/17 – The Philadelphia Inquirer, “Philly’s women- and minority-owned businesses say they’re getting the shaft on emergency coronavirus loans”
4/17 – Times Observer, “Our Opinion: Be careful with testing kits”
4/17 – TribLive, “Tarentum woman recovering from crash injuries sews hundreds of masks for others”
4/18 – Lehigh Valley Live, “‘She can’t leave me if she wanted to’: Williams couple, in self-isolation, marks 50 years.”
4/18 – Los Angeles Times, “U.S. factories in Mexico are still open. As the coronavirus spreads, workers are dying”
4/19 – The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, “Tourists using transient rentals to bypass Hawaii quarantine restrictions prove hard to track”
4/19 – The Mercury, “Chester County meat production plant takes proactive steps to protect employees during pandemic”
4/19 – The Mercury News, “Coronavirus: “Nightmarish conditions,” infections, abuse in facilities owned by Bay Area nursing home operators”
4/19 – The Post and Courier, “SC health department warned lawmakers for years: Budget cuts ‘jeopardized’ its pandemic plan”
4/19 – Aberdeen News, “Aberdeen hospitals ready for potential surge”
4/19 – ProPublica, “Health Officials Recommended Canceling Events with 10-50 People. Then 33,000 Fans Attended a Major League Soccer Game.”
4/20 – The Philadelphia Sun, “Hey Philly: Free or low cost Internet and wifi; cell phone companies offering payment extenions and plans”
4/20 – The Reporter, “Chris Freind: The silver linings of this pandemic”
4/20 – Searchlight New Mexico, “The purge before the surge”
4/21 – Billy Penn, “Philly is testing about half as many people as needed to safely reopen, per one measure”
4/21 – The Boston Globe, “Baker orders schools stay closed through the end of the school year”
4/21 – The Boston Globe, “State firms lagged in receiving federal coronavirus rescue money”
4/21 – Jackson Sun, “What we know (and don’t) about stay-at-home orders”
4/21 – Lehigh Valley Live, “‘Pictures for Patients’ a way to inspire hope without visiting Lehigh Valley rehab hospital”
4/21 – The Philadelphia Tribune, “Philly families search for a safe place to stay as city quarantine hotel rooms go empty”
4/21 – The Pine Bluff Commercial, “Civil Rights lawyers file complaint against Arkansas officials over COVID-19 in prisons”
4/23 – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Health officials can track where coronavirus is spreading by interviewing patients. Some in Milwaukee say that never happened.”
4/24 – Focus Daily News, “Local Mansfield restaurants Feel The Bite From COVID-19”
4/24 – Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, “Mayor won’t say how many Patrick Cudahy plant workers have coronavirus as OSHA opens investigation into safety practices”
4/24 – Spotlight PA, “CUT, NOW CRUCIAL: Pa. slashed its ranks of contact tracing nurses. Now, they are pivotal to reopening, but only a fraction remain.”
4/25 – Arizona Daily Star, “More than 50% of Tucson COVID-19 deaths have been in nursing homes”
4/25 – Los Angeles Times, “Younger blacks and Latinos are dying of COVID-19 at higher rates in California”
4/25 – USA Today, “Coronavirus at meat packing plants worse than first thought, USA TODAY investigation”
4/26, The Goshen News, “Goshen College celebrates ‘unforgettable class of 2020‘”
4/26 – Modern Farmer, “How Five Friends Are Saving Their Tulip Farm From COVID-19”
4/26 – Times West Virginian, “WVU Medicine’s COVID-19 guidelines on debt collection raises concern for patients”
4/27 – The Washington Post, “When coronavirus strikes, kids make the news”
4/27 – The New Yorker, “Twenty-four hours at the epicenter of the pandemic.”
4/27 – The New York Times, “Top E.R. Doctor Who Treated Virus Patients Dies by Suicide”
4/27 – San Francisco Chronicle, “‘There was not a protocol for this’: How our photojournalists are covering coronavirus”
4/28 – Abilene Reporter-News, “Abilene’s storybook characters miss visitors, but encourage health safety”
4/28 – The Herkimer Times Telegram, “Essential workers can get child-care aid”
4/28 – Modern Farmer, “Hundreds of USDA Meat Inspectors Are Getting Sick”
4/28 – USA Today, “Coronavirus leads to meat shortage, milk being dumped”
4/29 – The Aspen Times, “Visitation rules prompt sharing social-distancing message”
4/29 – Daily Citizen, “Waupun Little Leaguers ‘Support the Sponsors,’ pay it forward amid COVID-19 pandemic”
4/29 – East Bay Times, “Coronavirus: Why would anyone open a restaurant during a pandemic?”
4/29 – Gannett Texas, “Coronavirus outbreak in Texas: A daily look at life across the state”
4/29 – The Herkimer Times Telegram, “Nurses at Utica hospital could face layoffs”
4/29 – The New York Times, “‘Patients Have Panic in Their Eyes’: Voices From a Covid-19 Unit”
4/29 – The New York Times Magazine, “‘A Terrible Price’: The Deadly Racial Disparities of Covid-19 in America”
4/29 – Tampa Bay Times, “Florida medical examiners were releasing coronavirus death data. The state made them stop.”
4/29 – The Telegraph, “Nashua football coach organizes food drive for those in need”
4/30 – Los Angeles Times, “Elite private schools are receiving federal loans — including one attended by Secretary Mnuchin’s children”
5/2 – Atlanta Journal-Constitution, “Infection control lapses, short staffing put senior care homes at risk”
5/2 – Charleston Gazette-Mail, “COVID-19 tore through a black Baptist church community in WV. Nobody said a word about it”
5/2 – Modern Farmer, “Farmers Expect They’ll Have to Euthanize More Pigs, Despite Trump’s Order”
5/2 – Palm Beach Post, “Florida’s path to pandemic: Warnings ignored, labs slashed, expertise lost”
5/2 – Syracuse.com, “As he struggled to breathe, CNY nursing home wouldn’t test for coronavirus, family says; a national problem”
5/3 – The Philadelphia Inquirer, “‘Tinder boxes’: Secret data reveal how COVID-19 swept through Philadelphia nursing homes”
5/4 – Concord Monitor, “Concord High junior is creating online system to help classmates pick courses”
5/4 – Concord Monitor, “Former Olympic champ Jenny Thompson takes on new opponent”
5/4 – Concord Monitor, “Home-buying is still going strong in N.H. even though it’s gotten more complicated”
5/4 – Memphis Commercial Appeal, “The ’emotional toll’ of COVID-19: Will mental health issues spike for medical workers?”
5/5 – Asbury Park Press, “Coronavirus NJ: Hard-hit nursing homes failed infection control, staffing | Investigation”
5/5 – The Charlotte Observer, “Despite COVID-19 threat, inmates were sent to public buildings to work. Now they’re sick.”
5/5 – LoHud.com, “Coronavirus NY investigation: Nursing homes unprepared for pandemic, failed at infection control”
5/5 – Los Angeles Times, “Scientists say a now-dominant strain of the coronavirus could be more contagious than original”
5/5 – Searchlight New Mexico, “Most New Mexico nursing homes violated infection control standards before coronavirus”
5/6 – The Baltimore Sun, “Baltimore-area school nurses are helping health departments track and contain the coronavirus”
5/8 – Searchlight New Mexico, “As COVID-19 sweeps through the Navajo Nation, a hospital is accused of endangering lives”
5/9 – Spotlight PA, “Pa. had early plan to protect nursing homes from the coronavirus, but never fully implemented it”
5/9 – Syracuse.com, “As coronavirus threatens nursing homes, NY state struggles for a strategy”
5/10 – Tampa Bay Times, “How Florida slowed coronavirus: Everyone stayed home before they were told to”
5/10 – Visalia Times Delta, “Fair food drive-through hopes to return next weekend after health dept orders shut down”
5/12 – The Oregonian, “Coronavirus outbreaks in Oregon senior care homes continue to spread as broad testing remains unlikely”
5/13 – NJ.com, “Coronavirus has killed dozens in state prisons. How N.J. failed to stop it.”
5/14 – Chicago Tribune, “Many cities around the globe saw cleaner air after being shut down for COVID-19. But not Chicago.”
5/15 – The Intelligencer, “Records provide incomplete glimpse at COVID-19 deaths in Bucks nursing homes”
5/16 – Modern Farmer, “Native American Farm Working to Keep Community Fed During Pandemic”
5/28 – The Maui News, “Rural area census forms are delayed by pandemic”
6/4 – Focus Daily News, “Red Oak Man, Lucas Cates, Life Forever Changed By COVID-19”
6/23 – Focus Daily News, “You Might Survive COVID-19, But Can You Live?”
10/14 – Des Moines Register, “Iowa Mourns”
Send Us Your Stories
If you are a journalist, editor or other newsroom member with an impactful story to share on the current health crisis, send us your stories for inclusion in this blog post. Some stories may also be featured in our Index of Impactful News.
Please contact Alliance Reporter, Trends & Insights, Jennifer Peters with questions or for more information.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
