{"id":761,"date":"2020-11-22T21:53:25","date_gmt":"2020-11-23T02:53:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/gdjfall20\/?p=761"},"modified":"2020-11-29T11:13:03","modified_gmt":"2020-11-29T16:13:03","slug":"sam-krystals-story-draft","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/gdjfall20\/index.php\/2020\/11\/22\/sam-krystals-story-draft\/","title":{"rendered":"Sam Krystal&#8217;s Story Draft"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>During the Covid-19 pandemic, the South Sudanese immigrant community of Nebraska have been hit hard, trapped in poor working conditions in an uncertain economy. According to data from The Atlantic\u2019s Covid Tracking Project, Black or African American Nebraskans account for 6% of Covid-19 deaths, though they only make up 5% of Nebraska\u2019s population. As of November 18<sup>th<\/sup>, 2020, less than 1 in 10 Black or African American Nebraskans with Covid-19 sought hospitalization.<\/p>\n<div class='tableauPlaceholder' id='viz1606666365057' style='position: relative'><noscript><a href='#'><img alt=' ' src='https:&#47;&#47;public.tableau.com&#47;static&#47;images&#47;So&#47;SouthSudaneseNebraskaDraft4&#47;Sigma2&#47;1_rss.png' style='border: none' \/><\/a><\/noscript><object class='tableauViz'  style='display:none;'><param name='host_url' value='https%3A%2F%2Fpublic.tableau.com%2F' \/><param name='embed_code_version' value='3' \/><param name='site_root' value='' \/><param name='name' value='SouthSudaneseNebraskaDraft4&#47;Sigma2' \/><param name='tabs' value='no' \/><param name='toolbar' value='yes' \/><param name='static_image' value='https:&#47;&#47;public.tableau.com&#47;static&#47;images&#47;So&#47;SouthSudaneseNebraskaDraft4&#47;Sigma2&#47;1.png' \/><param name='animate_transition' value='yes' \/><param name='display_static_image' value='yes' \/><param name='display_spinner' value='yes' \/><param name='display_overlay' value='yes' \/><param name='display_count' value='yes' \/><param name='language' value='en' \/><param name='filter' value='publish=yes' \/><\/object><\/div>\n<p>                <script type='text\/javascript'>                    var divElement = document.getElementById('viz1606666365057');                    var vizElement = divElement.getElementsByTagName('object')[0];                    if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 800 ) { vizElement.style.width='1552px';vizElement.style.height='1246px';} else if ( divElement.offsetWidth > 500 ) { vizElement.style.width='1552px';vizElement.style.height='1246px';} else { vizElement.style.width='100%';vizElement.style.height='1227px';}                     var scriptElement = document.createElement('script');                    scriptElement.src = 'https:\/\/public.tableau.com\/javascripts\/api\/viz_v1.js';                    vizElement.parentNode.insertBefore(scriptElement, vizElement);                <\/script><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>But what factors contribute to these troubling statistics?<\/p>\n<p>Organizations like the Catholic Social Services of Nebraska, and the Lutheran Family Services of Nebraska help place South Sudanese immigrants in jobs throughout the state. According to Albert Maribaga, an elder in the community and employment specialist at the Catholic Social Services \u201cit is hard to find jobs for South Sudanese immigrants, many do not come to America with formal educations and skills, and some cannot speak English\u201d. As a result, South Sudanese community members often can only find work in meatpacking warehouses, nursing homes, and as housekeepers \u2013 all high-risk jobs in the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>Prior to, and through the pandemic, the Trump administration has pursued an aggressive deregulation agenda, reducing safety standards for industrial and service workers. In 2017, the Trump administration halted electronic reporting of workplace injury and illness reports by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. In June 2018, Trump\u2019s Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services halved fines for nursing homes that violated safe working condition practices. Although the federal government was pressured to require greater transparency from nursing homes regarding Covid-19 outbreaks in May 2020, nursing homes are not required to inform staff members about case rates in their facilities.<\/p>\n<p>(should I put an interactive timeline here?)<\/p>\n<p>But it is the conditions in meatpacking warehouses, such as the Smithfield Foods warehouse in Crete, Nebraska that have been the source of countless Covid-19 cases, and deaths. In February 2018, the Trump administration revised inspection standards for the Federal Food Safety and Inspection Service, reducing oversight of safety measures in meatpacking warehouses with the intent to increase food production. A recent federal lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union highlights the bleak working conditions of Nebraskan meatpacking plants, and how management\u2019s unwillingness to adjust these conditions have created a breeding ground for infection. According to the ACLU, meatpacking workers \u201cstand shoulder to shoulder for hours at a time on the processing lines, and they sit crowded together in a small windowless cafeteria where they cannot wear masks while eating\u201d. \u201cIt\u2019s a terrible cycle\u201d said Maribaga, \u201cyoung men go to work, get sick and don\u2019t know it, and come home and infect their families\u201d. To make matters worse, \u201cif workers don\u2019t get Covid in the factory, they get it while carpooling to and from the factory\u201d said Christa Yoakum, Senior Welcoming Coordinator for Nebraska Appleseed\u2019s Immigrants &amp; Communities Program.<\/p>\n<p>According to the Center for Disease Control, approximately 1 in 3 Black, non-Hispanic Nebraskans between the ages of 18-64 live without healthcare coverage. South Sudanese meatpacking workers have relied on their company healthcare plans to protect them and their families during the pandemic, all too often these healthcare plans are insufficient. \u201cInfected workers are forced to stay at home without pay\u201d says Maribaga \u201ceven if they want to seek care, they often cannot afford it because their budgets are so tight, or they haven\u2019t worked long enough for their healthcare deductibles to kick in\u201d. An unnamed source raised another issue with meatpacking healthcare; \u201csometimes the healthcare plans that these meatpacking workers receive are not accepted by local hospitals, and in-network hospitals are too inconvenient to get to\u201d. According to Christa Yoakum, \u201ceven if workers had adequate healthcare, most Nebraskan hospitals are stretched thin and can longer provide acute care \u2013 this affects all Nebraskans regardless of race\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The Nebraskan South Sudanese community faces socioeconomic factors, outside of poor working conditions, that contribute to the spread and fatalities of Covid-19. \u201cFolks are scared to seek treatment because some are undocumented\u201d says Yoakum \u201cthey have no social security numbers, so they couldn\u2019t get treatment in most facilities even if they wanted to\u201d. \u00a0Christa Yoakum points out \u201coften times both parents in a household get infected, because both work in the same facility. These households don\u2019t have childcare resources adding extra stress to families while their breadwinners are sick on unpaid leave\u201d. According to Cezar Garcia \u201coften times meatpacking workers aren\u2019t just providing for their immediate family, they support their extended family too\u201d adding pressure for workers to continue working even if they are Covid positive. It is common in Nebraskan South Sudanese communities for older members to live with their families, because they cannot afford housing in assisted living centers. While younger family members with more robust immune systems can fight off the symptoms of Covid-19, elders perish. At the time of our interview, Albert Maribaga knew of five elders who had passed away that week.<\/p>\n<p>Some Nebraskan institutions are developing programs to help their immigrant communities, centered around inclusion, employment, and awareness. For instance, in South Sioux City, newscasters have been broadcasting public service announcements about Covid-19 in the different languages of Nebraska\u2019s immigrant communities. \u201cThese awareness initiatives are so important\u201d says Cezar Garcia, a Community Organizer for Nebraska Appleseed\u2019s Immigrants &amp; Communities Program, \u201cI have heard stories about people who don\u2019t know when or how to wear their masks, and they\u2019ve been relying on the news to get that information\u201d. Food banks across Nebraska have adjusted their models for food delivery, opting to subsidize restaurants and grocery stores that serve foods from immigrant\u2019s home countries. According to Christa Yoakum, an anonymous donor has financed an angel fund to help pay for the healthcare of Covid infected undocumented workers. The Worldwide Education Services have doubled down on their existing proposals to Nebraska\u2019s state senate; lobbying for the certification of immigrant practitioners who held medical licenses in their home countries to be certified registered nurses and vaccine administrants.<\/p>\n<p>The road to proper support for South Sudanese immigrants in Nebraska is long, but the Covid-19 pandemic has brought them unprecedented connection to non-for-profits. \u201cNebraska is a big state, we have relied on volunteers and word of mouth to build connections to immigrant communities\u201d says Yoakum \u201cnow, we have direct communication with community members, and we will strengthen and deepen our ties with them to provide long term support\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>During the Covid-19 pandemic, the South Sudanese immigrant community of Nebraska have been hit hard, trapped in poor working conditions in an uncertain economy. According to data from The Atlantic\u2019s Covid Tracking Project, Black or African American Nebraskans account for 6% of Covid-19 deaths, though they only make up 5% of Nebraska\u2019s population. As of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Sam Krystal&#039;s Story Draft - GDJ Fall 2020<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/nyujournalismprojects.org\/gdjfall20\/index.php\/2020\/11\/22\/sam-krystals-story-draft\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sam Krystal&#039;s Story Draft - GDJ Fall 2020\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"During the Covid-19 pandemic, the South Sudanese immigrant community of Nebraska have been hit hard, trapped in poor working conditions in an uncertain economy. 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