Forced Apart: A Virus Creates New Divides

A global public health crisis in the form of an invisible virus, now officially divides us from each other. We’ve learned to call it ‘social distancing.’ But the coronavirus is creating or reopening many layers between us and them.

There are divides between workers: some must show up while others work virtually and millions more have lost their jobs as businesses shutter and the economy grinds to a halt. Families see divides as they decide how many generations can safely live under the same roof. And the government creates divisions as national, state and local leaders have different responses to the pandemic. 

For this episode, Trey speaks with Dr. Damir Huremović, author of “Psychiatry of Pandemics: A Mental Health Response to Infection Outbreak.” He also speaks with playwrights Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen, who wrote and produced “Coal Country,” a play about the 2010 Upper Big Branch Mine explosion, which was recently produced at The New York Public Theatre. 

This episode of Us & Them is presented with support from the West Virginia Humanities Council.

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