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This has been something major that's going in the history books for sure, and you have spent the last year covering this. It's something that I'm never going to forget. It's definitely been a life changing experience. I would say as a journalist going through this pandemic here in New Orleans, this has actually taken a huge toll on my mental health. And then not only that, but then there was this whole conversation of racial injustice happening in our country, right and as a person of color that on top of like this pandemic, it's been a lot and you're just trying to survive like everyone else. Yeah, it's been pretty crazy. I think as a journalist, you go into every story, obviously wanting to put the most into it. But this is something that's also affecting me. This is also impacting my family and so I think that mentally this has actually taken a huge toll. I mean, none of us thought, you know, when I left to go home and not go back to the office in March, I was like This will be over in like, two months and it wasn't most days if I could just wake up and get myself ready. I feel like that's an accomplishment, because everything we're doing is not normal. It's also impacting you. This has also your city, your country, your people also being dramatically impacted by this virus. And so to see that and for myself as a Latina, Um, but also covering, like the Navajo Nation, sing communities of color. Being disproportionately affected by this pandemic has been really tough were like an island, the Navajo Nation. So of course, if you have record breaking numbers all around us, it will come into that nation or that area. And that's what's happening today from March. I've been covering the Navajo Nation pretty consistently. You're wanting to give them a voice and give them a platform. But also there is this virus and you're being impacted as well. But also you're seeing your own people being impacted at way higher rates, and I don't feel like enough coverage is being done on those communities. E. We're not getting it. As a journalist, I want my community to know that I am here to cover them. I am here to give them a voice, but it's hard because I feel like when you look specifically at the Navajo Nation, which are the country's first people. These are people who have always, unfortunately lived in Third World conditions. But now when this pandemic do will it highlighted that right, like it's highlighting these racial injustice. I mean, this is pretty much historical trauma, and that historical trauma these communities have experienced is now being highlighted on a grander span. Even when you look at the vaccine now, I think because of the historical things that have happened in this country, there's a lot of mistrust for health care workers who even work on the reservation. And I think just in general there's mistrust amongst the government, unfortunately, and health care because of the historical traumas or the experimental events that have happened in these communities before. The one thing that I consistently hear is just again, like the government, like, murdered and massacred our people like how are we supposed to trust this government that did these things to natives? The reason why we did it was to bring confidence to the vaccine, and I know people were saying, Well, we're not gonna take it unless you take your president okay, I took it. It's growing that relationship. It's building that foundation with these communities that these people need, right? And so I think that, you know, when you look at the Navajo Nation, I've come to realize that one of the difficult things for for native doctors is that extra layer of them having to do the work to remind their people that like, yes, I am a doctor and I'm Navajo. But I'm here to help you. And I'm not here to hurt you, to be able to cover this community to the extent we were able to cover it and to highlight some of the positives to highlight, you know, when they were able to curb the spread of the virus. So when they got there first vaccines. It's been an honor. I mean, one of the biggest honors of my life. We have gotten hit hard by this pandemic, and, uh, we're looking forward to see the numbers decrease as we get Mawr and Mawr off our Navajo citizens vaccinated. What I'm going to remember is the relationship that I built with this nation of our country, and I think that when covering any community, whether It's the black community, the Latino community, the Asian community. You have to build trust in these communities. And looking back on this, what I'm going to take away is that relationship that I built with the Navajo Nation and how they trusted me. And I was able to give justice to this community. And and not only that, but shine light on the positives of this community as well. I am happy knowing that I did what I could to bring change to these areas. Looking back now, in my last 2.5 years, there's just one of the biggest honors of my life was being able to cover the nation this closely, And not only that, but have them except me and invite me in. We've done 15 tests total. 14 of those have come back negative. This obviously being the only one that came back positive, my earliest memory of the pandemic or when co vid was starting to become really. I was at the state Capitol in Baton Rouge, and it was the first covert case that had been confirmed, and I have been hearing that there was a covert case in our area so I had remember kind of finding the press secretary to confirm this information, and in fact, it was in our area. And then here we are in 2021 who would have imagined the amount of deaths in cases that have been across the world. Some of the stories that I told or some of the people that I met it was mind boggling. I remember we were about midway through the pandemic a couple months in, and there was a mother and her three sons. All died. They had their services together and all of them tested positive for cove it. Those were the stories that I thought were crucial, involving people that had experienced first hand the devastation of covert 19. I can think of 3 to 4 husband wipes that have passed away because of Cove it So yeah, it is challenging, but I think you're focused on your here toe show that this is a reality that so many people are dealing with, and that's your jobs. You effectively communicate that to the public way, and there's so much heartbreak. But there is a little bit of hope. While there has been so many debts. There has been a lot of survivors, thousands and thousands of survivors. So it is important to tell those stories. A story that really moved me a line was the story involving a 22 year old girl who had special needs and accomplished her dream of graduating high school, no Asia garrison, all smiles and full of joy. She, despite all of this, was so positive there was no graduation. It was like a drive through thing, and so many kids were disappointed. But her story of being 22 years old and being able thio accomplish her dream was pretty incredible, never giving up, having faith and when times get hard, keep the ones you love most close to your heart. I got so many comments and text from people that it was something that they need it and lifted them up in the middle of this pandemic. Stories like that, I think, really were also important to We've also done a lot of stories about music. The heartbeat of New Orleans is music, and there's been multiple musicians that I've spoken to that have had thio get on unemployment or try to get on unemployment. It's not the same working out of my savings. Now I am on unemployment, but you know, it's like that. That only goes so far and it's gonna apparently into. So there's no place for them to really performed how they used Thio. So they're struggling all across America. But here in New Orleans, they've been hit very hard. I think you know, you have to be optimistic because the right now that's while we can be. But I think it'll depend on vaccinations and how truly effective they are. And if the federal government and local governments are able to roll them out effectively, you've gotta remain hopeful and positive. Yeah, The two testing sites in Palm Beach County have reopened their phone lines this morning to begin scheduling appointments. At first, when the pandemic started, we knew it was a big story, and as a journalist, most people know when big stories happened. You're covering it every day, but this has been a nonstop sing for over a year now. So as the days went on, the weeks went on and we had a new, different Covitz story every day. I knew that this was huge. I knew that that this was gonna be something major in my career and also obviously happening in our country. As a journalist, you're writing part of history, and you get to tell the stories that are happening as they happened. One of the most important things that I feel that I have covered so far through the process has been the first few vaccines. About 2400 doses of the cove in 19 vaccine will be administered between today and tomorrow here at the Mid Florida Credit Union Event Center in Port ST Lucie. When we first started to get those doses within the counties that we cover, I got the opportunity to go to different hospitals and see them administer those vaccines to the doctors and the nurses and the staff, which were priority in our state here in Florida. But I just felt like that was such an honor and a neat thing to be a part of, and it really makes you appreciate your job regardless of all these things that are going on. Those are important topics to cover and information that that is necessary. Thio, you know, provide for the public. I'm asthmatic, and when I do get sick. A small cold typically really affect me. So I knew that if I got covert, it would be good for me. So I was super careful, but I remember it was a Friday Right before Fourth of July weekend. I thought I had allergies. It was a work day. By the end of the day, I started to feel really tired. I worked morning shift, so I thought, Okay, well, you know, maybe I just had a long day By the time I woke up Saturday morning, I mean, my whole body just a cooked and hurt. I've never felt like that before. Sometimes people describe it as the flu with the body aches. I've had the flu before. This was a totally different feeling. When I say body aches, I mean your body just takes. It was so hard for me to get out of bed. And I knew in that moment that I had it. I started to get a fever that Saturday night, and I called my boss and I let her know right away I was quarantined immediately. The people that I was around, I obviously notified them right away. Luckily, nobody around me got it except me. But it was hard. I mean, after the fever, the body aches. I had trouble breathing. There were nights where I almost thought that Joe See, maybe you're having a panic attack because I would wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air. I ended up getting an oximeter reader for my finger, and my levels were pretty low. So I ended up going to the hospital and I stayed there for little. They monitored me. And when I came back home, I mean, I think I just realized how lucky I was that even what I got wasn't as bad as what some people are experiencing. The biggest long term symptom that I've had is just ah, lot of tiredness, like two months after three months after you just felt like you ran a marathon. That's the best way I can describe it is you just feel like you ran five miles. I thought that the chest pain that I was having was just residual lung aches. Maybe from all of the issues that I had, because I had a lot of coughing trouble breathing on the bright side, being a journalist who got co vid and and got it as bad as I Got It again. Other people have had it worse, but I see things differently now, And when I go into my stories and I hear other people's experiences, I think that I have a lot more compassion for people and a lot more understanding for what they're going through. In a time when the events taking place across our country can feel quite heavy, it's moments like this that are worth celebrating on. There are positive stories that we do get to cover, and the most recent one that I covered is spoke of. Regional Hospital released their 1000 Covic patient from the I C U, which was a huge step for them. There are big things that happen all the time. This has been something major that's going in the history books, for sure, and to have spent the last year covering this, um, it's something that I'm never going to forget. I know it's something in probably one day going to be sharing with my kids, and it's been an honor to also be able to help people. What I do every day is try to get all of the accurate information to inform the public. And so during this time it has been so important to be able to do that. And I know it's something that I will never forget to have been a part of all of it and to help the people in my community. Reporting in Albuquerque Marissa Armas A Weighty Action seven News reporting I'm Aubrey Killian Wds You News reporting in Jupiter Josie Car Binary Wpbf 25 News.