These coal communities are protecting sick miners from COVID-19 and pushing Congress for more support

Local staples in Latino neighborhoods like carnicerias, liquor stores, tienditas, and gas stations are standing strong on the front line to continue to provide essentials people need during the coronavirus. As other supermarkets are ransacked, these businesses make sure to remain well-stocked with policies that limit the number of items and customers. Locals testify to the importance of having a corner store that anchors the community together during this crisis.

Volunteer groups in Georgia are making cloth masks for non-coronavirus patients at local hospitals so that personal protective equipment can be reserved for medical staff in direct contact with COVID-19 patients. Although these masks do not provide the same kind of protection as medically regulated masks, they do serve as a back-up and thousands have been delivered to area hospitals.

To allow patients to still see their doctors during the coronavirus pandemic, insurance providers have eliminated some of the barriers for providers to be reimbursed for telehealth appointments. This change in policy has helped doctors in Maine grow their telehealth practices in ways that may outlast the pandemic.

A coalition of local groups in the Cowichan region focused on the welfare of vulnerable populations during COVID-19 opened five tenting sites that have provided people experiencing homelessness with safety, meals, and access to service. The temporary solution, pending the opening of 100 units of housing to open in 2021, has uncertain financing after its initial $392,000 phase. But, almost immediately, the well-managed sites have had a visible effect: many fewer people wandering the streets.

Amid the pandemic, medical researchers and an abortion-rights advocacy group in the U.S. are working to make the abortion pill available via mail. Although there is ambiguity surrounding the rules and regulations of how the pill must be distributed to patients, some doctors have helped efforts by agreeing to register with F.D.A.-approved manufacturers and a handful of states are allowing the pill to be mailed after an in-person ultrasound has been conducted.

The CARES Act was meant to help small businesses, including hospitals, find financial stability during the coronavirus pandemic, but confusing guidelines and a lack of oversight have impeded the success. This reality has been especially difficult for rural hospitals, some of which "have left millions in relief aid untouched, spiraling deeper into debt for fear that the wrong decision could force them to return money."

In an effort to help get accurate information to the communities who are being disproportionately impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, a program called Live Chair Health has started to train barbers "on chronic issues that disproportionately affect Black communities" and teach them "how to have conversations with their clients about the diseases." Aside from providing COVID-19 information, the initiative has helped patrons access primary care and address other medical issues such as high blood pressure.

The Ajo Center for Sustainable Agriculture has helped the town of Ajo in Arizona distribute affordable and nutrient-dense food to the community after the coronavirus pandemic created a significant financial strain on many families. Additional support has come from the town's participation in the Environmental Protection Agency's program Local Food, Local Places which "provides technical support and expertise to help towns leverage food systems to boost economic development."

To help address burnout for child welfare workers in Knox County, Ohio, Knox County Job & Family Services has launched a two-pronged approach that aims to offer wellbeing services to employees. Although the Covid pandemic impeded the rollout of these self-care services and resources, feedback has been positive.

Community health workers with North Carolina Formerly Incarcerated Transition Program (NC FIT) counsel people recently released from jails and prisons to help them get the care they need for mental and physical health problems. The program closes some but not all of the gaps left by the state's inadequate Medicaid coverage and prison health services. Banking on the trust that comes with shared experiences, the formerly incarcerated health workers can connect people with medication-assisted treatment for substance use, covid-related treatments, and mental health care, all common ailments post-incarceration.