 | | Nicolle Nordman worked for Weight Watchers for 18 years before she was abruptly fired over Zoom.Lucy Hewett for The New York Times |
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On Wednesday’s show, we spoke with three women — Nicolle Nordman, Analía Rodríguez and Nakitta Long — about their experiences living with unemployment as a result of the pandemic. These interviews were conducted a few weeks ago; below, our reporters give an update on how our guests have been doing in the time since. |
‘I have no idea what’s next’ |
Ben Casselman gives an update on Nakitta Long, 44, who was laid off from an automotive manufacturing facility in North Carolina. |
Back in March, when I first began speaking to people who had lost their jobs in the pandemic, I heard the same questions over and over again: “How am I going to pay rent? How am I going to feed my family? What will I do if the bank takes back my car?” |
By the time I talked to Nakitta Long, in late May, those questions were much less common. The federal government had stepped in with billions of dollars in aid, including $600 per week in unemployment benefits for jobless workers. While the system was plagued with problems — delays and bureaucratic hurdles that kept many waiting for weeks — tens of millions of people like Nakitta are now relying on the aid as a lifeline. |
Ms. Long is living the answer. Still out of work, she is caring for her 3-year-old, considering whether to eliminate her car payment and worrying about her state and federal unemployment support lapsing. |
“I am not getting much sleep. I have no idea what’s next,” she said. “So many people are mentally and emotionally checking out, and I do not want to be one of those people.” |
She said she had been seeking professional counseling to address her mental health, which had been helping. “I know I’ll be able to bounce back. I’m just not sure how long that will take and what sacrifices I will have to make.” |
Calling the unemployment office … for 11 weeks |
Sabrina Tavernise gives an update on Analía Rodríguez, 45, who lost her job as an airport bartender in Florida and was forced to pawn her wedding ring. |
Analía’s husband was in a motorcycle accident last year, in which he sustained brain injuries and lost a leg. He had taken care of her for many years, so she felt it was her turn to do the same. |
When the pandemic hit, Analía was laid off. After 11 weeks without any income, she was finally able to secure unemployment benefits. Now, she is behind on her health insurance, trying to figure out how to pay for her husband’s surgery and a $500 deductible for an M.R.I. She is not sure how they will get the money. |
 | | Analía and and her husband Gyula.Analía Rodríguez |
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Job hunting after nearly two decades at the same company |
Julie Creswell gives an update on Nicolle Nordman, 53, who lives in Illinois and was laid off from Weight Watchers over a roughly three-minute Zoom call. |
The tip that landed in my inbox was more than a little intriguing: “Weight Watchers Mass Layoffs on Conference Call.” That’s how I was introduced to Nicolle Nordman. In our first conversation, it was clear she was still somewhere between shock and anger at being abruptly fired by the company where she had worked for 18 years. Now, Nicolle is sending out job applications every week and spends most days worried about her children. |
“It makes me nervous,” she said, thinking about her children in states where coronavirus cases were on the rise, like California, where her immunosuppressed daughter lives. Nicolle is financially supporting her daughter, who cannot work during the pandemic. “She is the one that keeps me awake at night worrying,” she said. |
Just wait until you hear the P.S. 22 Chorus |
 | | Gregg Breinberg and the P.S. 22 Chorus in 2019.Gregg Breinberg |
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On tonight’s installment of A Bit of Relief, we hope to bring you some comfort through the music of the P.S. 22 Chorus. The show’s editor Wendy Dorr explains how this episode came together. |
About a month ago, when so much was happening in the news, nothing was feeling joyful. It was hard to imagine how to bring listeners relief. |
I remembered some videos I had seen over a decade ago of the P.S. 22 Chorus and their dynamic director, Gregg Breinberg. The chorus, founded in 2000, is made up of fourth and fifth graders on Staten Island, N.Y. I literally can’t get through one of their videos without crying. The diversity of students, their facial expressions, their harmonizing and swaying — it’s an explosion of emotion every time. |
Every year, Gregg loses a majority of the chorus, because the fifth graders graduate to middle school. This year, in the middle of a pandemic, this passage felt especially poignant. Gregg found a way to commemorate their graduation remotely — a story we’ll be telling in tonight’s episode. |
 | | The P.S. 22 Chorus performs a graduation tribute.YouTube |
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Thursday: The presidential election is likely to be decided by a handful of battleground states that President Trump won in 2016. Using our latest polling data, Nate Cohn explains how voters in those states view the candidates now. |
Friday: Texas’ governor was insistent about reopening. Then the coronavirus cases soared. Manny Fernandez takes us inside the dilemma in Texas. |
That’s it for The Daily newsletter. See you next week. |
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