A health care staffing company with strong political connections has been paid more than $40 million by the state of Georgia to supply medical workers to fight COVID-19. Jackson Healthcare, a private company based in Alpharetta, was asked by state officials for help in March. That’s when Phoebe Putney Memorial Hospital and the city of…
By Max Blau Carolyn Dorondo couldn’t escape the smell of garbage. There were days last year when she couldn’t go outside due to the smell. Some nights, the stench wafted into her Ball Ground home, awakening her from a restful sleep. The odor grew so foul that Dorondo, along with other residents of Cherokee County,…
By Madeline Laguaite Malisse Haarl got a marriage proposal during a kayaking trip on the Chattahoochee River, and she and her fiancé started planning their wedding soon after. The couple envisioned a beautiful wedding in Asheville, N.C., this October. Now, Haarl, who lives in Atlanta, and her fiancé are still planning — but this time, for a backyard…
By Max Blau The Georgia nursing homes hardest hit by COVID-19 are scattered across the state, from the southwestern farm belt to the Blue Ridge Mountains. But the five with the highest number of total coronavirus cases have one thing in common: They’re run by the same company. PruittHealth, one of the South’s largest nursing…
The federal Environmental Protection Agency has removed lead-contaminated soil from more than 30 properties in west Atlanta as part of a major cleanup of the area. But there is early evidence that some contaminated properties won’t get the same treatment. The yard of Terboris Barnes contains a substantial amount of lead, but Barnes recently learned…
By Judi Kanne The COVID-19 pandemic has proved a perfect storm for eating disorders, experts say. Lockdowns to limit the spread of infection have made Americans more isolated from one another while increasing their anxiety. Psychologists say the emotional impact of that has driven many people into binge eating and weight gain, while for some…
A required 10 p.m. cutoff for serving alcohol in bars has put Georgia’s best-known college town in the cross-hairs of a COVID-19 debate. Should states or local governments shut down bars to curb the coronavirus surge? Short of that, should they limit bars’ hours? The Athens-Clarke County Commission recently passed an ordinance requiring that bars…
By Madeline Laguaite Many students choose to take it easy during their summer break. But instead of spending the remaining days of her summer vacation sleeping in, Sombal Bari is on the phone for hours at a time to stop the spread of COVID-19 through her job as a contact tracer. Bari, from the southwest…
Deaths of Despair is a term that describes fatalities from alcohol and drugs as well as suicide. Such deaths are nothing new, of course, but an array of social and economic factors influence where and when they are most common. The American Communities Project, with funding from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundations, explores these…
David was working as a laborer at a North Georgia construction site in May when he began to feel body pains and chills. A Latino from El Salvador, David, who requested anonymity for this article, was eventually admitted to a hospital with a severe case of COVID-19. His brother, who like him does not have…