LA Times Columnist Gustavo Arellano On Why Southern California is Covid’s American Epicenter

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KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 2 February 2021

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Early on in the pandemic, Southern California drew praise for its aggressive social distancing policies that helped contain the spread of the coronavirus. But now the region is the American epicenter for COVID-19 and what Los Angeles Times columnist Gustavo Arellano calls a cautionary tale for the dangers of lifting restrictions too quickly. He says the reasons for the backslide are in large part structural: the disease is "tailor-made" for Latino and other tight-knit communities who tend to work on the front lines and live in multigenerational households. But Arellano also blames those he calls "pandejos" -- who, like "covidiots," willfully ignore public health advice. We'll talk to Arellano about his recent story for The Atlantic, called "The Pandejo Movement Destroyed California’s Pandemic Progress." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:32.1	From KQED.
0:37.1	Music From KQBD Public Radio in San Francisco, I'm Nina Kim.
0:48.6	Coming up on forum, we'll look at how the recall effort against Governor Gavin Newsom appears to be gaining traction,
0:54.9	even among some members of Newsom's base, as they question his leadership following a slow and rocky vaccination rollout
1:01.2	and worry he's lifting stay-at-home orders too soon. But first, we'll talk to L.A. Times columnist
1:07.3	Gustavo Arellano about how the coronavirus was quote tailor-made to hurt tight-knit
1:12.7	Latino communities who tend to work on the front lines and live in multi-generational
1:16.7	households. His new piece for the Atlantic calls out people who willfully ignore
1:21.3	public health advice. That's all next on forum, join us. This is Forum.
1:28.3	This is Forum.
1:33.3	I'm Mina Kim.
1:37.3	Gustavo Arayano's recent piece for The Atlantic about the terrifying toll COVID is taking on Latinos in Southern California begins poignantly.
1:47.1	He writes, every Saturday night from my doorstep, I witness the agony and stupidity that is the coronavirus in Southern California.
1:55.5	I live in Santa Ana, a supermajority Latino city that has recorded 18% of all COVID-19 cases in Orange County and 18% of related deaths, despite making up just 10% of the county's population.
2:10.2	Gustavo Arellano is a L.A. Times columnist. Thank you for coming on the show.
2:14.4	Thanks for having me.
	...

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