WINNER OF FIVE SOCIETY OF PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS D.C. AWARDS
Confederate Symbols Removed Page 16 Vol. 56, No. 20 • March 3 - 10, 2021
Surviving the Pandemic a Year After the Unthinkable Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
5 A few students at Tyler Elementary in Southeast have returned to in-person learning and there is a demand for additional slots while classroom sizes are capped at 11 students. (Roy Lewis/The Washington Informer)
One year ago, the COVID-19 pandemic caught many Americans off-guard, forcing changes that no one could have anticipated. With more than 500,000 in the U.S. dead, and about 28.5 million infected, most remain skittish despite medical science advances that now include three government-approved coronavirus vaccines. Whether directly affected or not, many agree that pre-pandemic norms are probably forever lost. A multitude won’t soon, if ever, forget the toll exacted by the coronavirus.
A DOCTOR IN TRAINING, UNDER PRESSURE
“At the time COVID hit, I was a second-year medical student at University of Medicine and Health Science in St. Kitts. I was trying to schedule my board exams and living with my uncle and grandmother in South Florida,” stated Eboni Peoples, an American Medical Student Association Reproductive Justice Scholarship winner. “One day early in the pandemic, my grandmother’s blood pressure shot up to over 200. As a med student, my family was looking to me
COVID Page 20
Civil Rights Icon Vernon Jordan, Jr. Dies at 85
Third Vaccine on the way but Few Doses Coming to Region
Vernon Jordan, Jr., the former National Urban League president and civil rights leader, has died at 85. His daughter, Vickee Jordan Adams, confirmed his death on Tuesday. “My father passed away last night at around 10 p.m. surrounded by loved ones, his wife and daughter, by his side,” Adams noted in a statement. A lawyer and Washington power broker, Jordan was born in Atlanta on August 15, 1935. He attended the DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind., where he was the only African-American student in his class. According to his biography posted by The HistoryMakers, Jordan participated in the student senate at DePauw and won
D. Kevin McNeir WI Editor
CDC Says Virginia to Receive 13th Highest Among States; Maryland Further Behind
Stacy M. Brown WI Senior Writer
5 Vernon Jordan, Jr.
JORDAN Page 35 (Shevry Lassiter/The Washington Informer)
Trucks from production plants in Kentucky and Tennessee carrying Johnson & Johnson’s [J&J] COVID-19 vaccine rolled out Monday, March 1 headed across the U.S. by road and air after the Food and Drug Administration approved the medication on Feb. 27 which only requires a single dose instead of two shots. However, based on data released by the Centers for Disease Control, the Greater Washington region lags
far behind other states in the U.S. in terms of the total number of doses they’ll receive. The DMV region will receive 125,300 doses with Virginia expected to receive 69,700 doses – the 13th highest distribution across states. Maryland will be given 49,600 doses while D.C. anticipates receiving 6,000 shots. Just two states and U.S. territories will receive fewer doses than the District. The U.S. Food and Drug Admin-
ROLLOUT Page 38
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