Tag: Ethnic Media

Pandemic’s painful toll in Butte County discussed at briefing Panelists call for dialogue, stronger leadership

photo by Leslie Layton
Butte County Public Health’s Victor Rodriguez speaking at a statewide media briefing.

by Leslie Layton
posted Dec. 11

Butte County’s abysmal COVID-19 vaccination rate is a symptom of an anti-science movement that has cost lives, polarized communities, and contributed to a “climate of denial,” panelists said at a statewide media briefing.

Five Butte County residents made up a panel at a briefing sponsored by Ethnic Media Services earlier this week to discuss this region’s COVID toll. They reminded a Zoom audience of 62 people that the county has been ravaged by wildfires, its residents slammed by soaring housing costs. On top of all that, misinformation about the virus has further polarized communities.

The youngest of the speakers, a 16-year-old Chico high school student, issued a plea to end the silence around COVID, which she said has disappeared from much of the public discourse. Maya Klein, a junior at Inspire School of Arts & Sciences, said a “culture and climate of denial” evolved as COVID increasingly became part of Butte County’s political “conflict zone.” (Read Maya’s essay on ChicoSol here.) read more

Break the “local silence” on Covid Chico teen says youth need "dialogue of healing"

photo courtesy of Maya Klein

by Maya Klein
guest commentary
posted Dec. 10

Ed. note: This is a condensed version of a presentation made by Chico’s Maya Klein at a Dec. 7 statewide Ethnic Media Services briefing.

My high school — Inspire School of Arts and Sciences — is a bubble within Chico. Our student vaccination rate is 82%, and our population generally follows mask and hygiene guidelines.

Our 2020-2021 school year remained almost entirely on Zoom classes, following a 1×8 schedule in which we delved into a single class for each month until the end of the school year. During this time, other high schools within Chico had returned to in-person learning, and as a result, student Covid cases began to increase.

This was and still remains a reality that I feel relatively detached from: Students at Inspire, a public charter school focused on the sciences and arts, have witnessed from afar a local unwillingness to adhere to safety guidelines. This is obvious when entering the community, whether that be in another school or in a grocery store. At the height of the pandemic, our Covid hospitalization rates were terrifying, a matter which was reflected in the extremely painful experiences people in our community have endured. However, it was not reflected in the actions of the community. read more