Coronavirus Chronicle: Recent Episodes
Houston Chronicle
Daily insights from Houston Chronicle journalists and local experts about the pandemic’s impact on Texas health, business, politics, education, religion, lifestyle, culture and more.
A spike in COVID-19 cases combined with the holidays makes for an extraordinary amount of stress. For ways to deal with it, Lisa called Alejandro Chaoul, an expert on the therapeutic effects of meditation and Tibetan yoga. They spoke with Chaoul sitting cross-legged on the floor of his wife’s family’s house in Costa Rica, where the family was quarantining. They discuss mindful ways to fight sleeplessness, loneliness and anxiety.
But first, as promised, a surprise for Christmas: Chronicle Op/Ed editor Raj Mankad talks with Houston singer-songwriter Glenna Bell about her 2008 Christmas song Be my Valentine (on Christmas) and how its hopeful-yet-melancholy vibe feels just right for Raj at the close of 2020.
Read stories by Lisa Gray and connect with her on Twitter or Facebook. Questions, comments or suggestions? Want a sticker? Send Lisa an email.
Listen to Glenna Bell's music on Spotify.
Here's a list of Alejandro Chaoul's upcoming classes and meditation sessions. And here's where you can stream a free half-hour "Meditation for Crisis and Uncertainty" video with Ale, courtesy Rice University's Glasscock School of Continuing Studies.
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This episode was available Friday, 12/11, on the Q&A with Lisa Gray feed. Want to get next Friday's episode delivered pronto to your podcast app? Click here to subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify or search your favorite player.
New vaccines are on the horizon — but is it too late to blunt the pandemic’s winter surge? Might Houston fare better than the rest of Texas? And why could a traditional-method vaccine be better for kids?
Lisa checks in with vaccine researcher Peter Hotez. He’s a professor and dean of the National School of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, and he co-directs the Texas Children’s Hospital Center for Vaccine Development, where his lab team is developing COVID-19 vaccines.
Read stories by Lisa Gray and connect with her on Twitter or Facebook. Have questions, comments or suggestions? Want a sticker? Send Lisa an email.
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Forty-two percent of Americans say they're unlikely to get a COVID-19 vaccine. To end the pandemic, how do we persuade them? Tips from Texas A&M researcher Lu Tang.
Read stories by Lisa Gray and connect with her on Twitter or Facebook. Have questions, comments or suggestions? Want a sticker? Send Lisa an email.
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The Army Corps of Engineers’s latest ideas on how to reduce flooding along Buffalo Bayou has riled many Houston residents who were expecting a more modern solution to flooding than the concrete channelizing of Houston's bayous implemented in past decades. Lisa talks with Jim Blackburn, an environmental lawyer and co-director of the storm-studying SSPEED Center at Rice University.
Read: Digging Buffalo Bayou deeper? Houstonians up in arms over Army Corps' 'old-fashioned' flood fixes.
Connect with Lisa Gray on Twitter and Facebook.
More: SSPEED Center — Severe Storm Prediction, Education, & Evacuation from Disasters Center
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UPDATE: Q&A with Lisa Gray is now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and all the usual places. If you like the show, please follow and tell a friend.
With President-elect Biden pledging a science-based approach to wrangling the pandemic — and with record infections across the country — Lisa dials up world-class coronavirus expert Ben Neuman in his lab at Texas A&M University - Texarkana, and peppers him with questions: the state of coronavirus research? The safety of warp-speed vaccines and how they work? Would he take the shot? How long will these vaccines protect us? And ... what about that Russian vaccine?
Connect with Lisa Gray on Facebook and Twitter.
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Welcome to this sneak peek episode of Q&A with Lisa Gray. We'll let you know (middle of next week?) when the show is available on Apple Podcasts and all the usual places.
As the United States nervously waits for this presidential election to be decided and we’re awash in discussions of the fine points of voting security, Lisa was eager to talk with voting security expert Dan Wallach to discuss the actual threats to American democracy.
Wallach is a professor at Rice University's Department of Computer Science where he also manages the university's computer security lab. He is currently on sabbatical with a nonprofit group called VotingWorks, making and promoting better voting systems.
This interview was recorded late in the afternoon of November 5, 2020.
Connect with Lisa Gray on Facebook and Twitter.
Read Lisa's interview with Dan Wallach on HoustonChronicle.com.
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With COVID-19 cases surging in the U.S., and what may be signs of a coming spike in Houston, we offer this extra episode of Coronavirus Chronicle.
In this interview with Lisa Gray, vaccine researcher Dr. Peter Hotez discusses the coming winter surge, and why he’ll be taking the first vaccine he can get. Since March, Hotez has emerged as Houston’s best explainer of the novel coronavirus, and one of the best in the nation.
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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Today's guests, Roman Mars, creator and host of the (very) popular 99% Invisible podcast and 99PI colleague Kurt Kohlstedt, want you to ask that question about the mundane — and therefore invisible — things that surround us. Why are stop signs red? What do those spray painted squiggles on sidewalks mean? What are those round things that keep us in our lanes on the freeways called?* On a virtual book tour, Roman and Kurt talk with Lisa about how the pandemic necessitated quick, smart solutions to new problems — think of those feet-shaped floor stickers at the grocery checkout — and how COVID might reshape our cities.
Connect with Lisa Gray.
*Botts' dots
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Executive Editor Steve Riley was the first guest Ferrill interviewed for this show and today, six months later, Steve is Ferrill's final guest as Coronavirus Chronicle comes to a close. In March, Steve observed that coronavirus was "like a hurricane that would hit all places everywhere, in every way, all the time." Steve and Ferrill discuss how correct that description turned out to be, how Chronicle journalists adapted to working from home and how (and why) the organization worked to be the place readers could get the information they needed as the pandemic unfolded.
Connect with Ferrill Gibbs and Steve Riley.
Read:
EXPOSED | PART ONE - Nearly 3 dozen local COVID patients said their symptoms preceded the Houston region’s first confirmed case, data shows
EXPOSED | PART TWO: Warned - COVID-19 exposed the failure to learn lessons from prior pandemics
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Senior writer, columnist and Coronavirus Chronicle co-host Lisa Gray sits down with Ferrill for a chat as the podcast nears the end of its six-month run. Among the topics they discuss: the state of journalism, the phycological effect of focusing closely on the coronavirus pandemic month after month and why Lisa would ever "want to do this in the first place?" They also touch on the rejuvenating effects of gardening now that the fall planting season has mercifully arrived in Houston.
Connect with Ferrill Gibbs and Lisa Gray.
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Columnist Chris Tomlinson weighs in on the state of things at the six-month mark of the pandemic. 2020, he says, has been a really horrible year, but there are so many different ways things could go so much worse. "When," he asks, "was the last time uniformed groups of armed men, with no government sanction whatsoever, marched through the streets in full combat gear? That is happening routinely in the United States today. And it's not just the right wing, it's the left wing too. Everyone is arming up."
Connect with Chris Tomlinson.
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Texas editor Robert Eckhart discusses how we're doing six months into the coronavirus pandemic. He says it's been a year of "upheaval" as political norms have been turned upside down, and as the election approaches Democrats and Republicans alike are limiting their arguments to the one or two issues they thing will gain the most votes on November 3rd. One of the things that worries him about modern politics, is that so much of it is based on fear. And, he says, "how many great decisions do we make when we're scared to death of each other?"
Connect with Robert Eckhart.
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Vaccine researcher (and frequent guest) Dr. Peter Hotez is worried. As the COVID case numbers are trending upward again, he's worried about a "third peak" this fall and winter that would start at a higher infection level than the first two peaks of May and July, creating "a triple hump, with successively bigger humps." Hotez is also worried about how the anti-vaccine movement has, he says, expanded under a banner of "health freedom" into a globalized, anti-science movement linked to neo-nazi groups. He's also worried about the return to school, crowded polling places and complacency as the pandemic drags on.
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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Nancy Sarnoff, Chronicle real estate reporter and co-host of the Looped In podcast, commiserates with Ferrill over the outlook for commercial real estate in Houston. She does not see a bright future in the near term for hotels, offices, restaurants and retail strip centers as the full effect of the region's economic stall becomes apparent.
Connect with Nancy Sarnoff.
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Since the pandemic hit in March, 15,000 Texans have died of COVID-19 — and 400,000 Texans have registered to vote. From Austin, politics reporter Jeremy Wallace discusses the effect those two numbers might have on the outcome of the November election.
Read: Texas shatters voter registration records again as Trump-Biden election draws closer
Connect with Jeremy Wallace.
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On Saturday, the morning after the death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg, columnist Erica Grieder started calling women to ask how they were processing the news. Those women told her they were shocked, heartbroken, devastated, sad and scared, but that everyone was busy. With the election only 45 days away, everyone, they said, is getting to work.
Read: Grieder: Loss of Justice Ginsburg leaves Texas women devastated, determined to carry on fight
Connect with Erica Grieder.
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Last week Texas governor Greg Abbott held a press conference (!) and announced the next phase of reopening for much of the state, allowing most businesses, restaurants, offices, museums and libraries to operate at 75% capacity, up from 50%. He did not allow bars to reopen. Texas bars have been shutdown since June 26. Austin-based reporter Cayla Harris also tells us how the state has changed the way it calculates the positivity rate. With the new calculation method, the positivity rate in Texas has been declining since its peak in early July.
Connect with Cayla Harris.
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One of the best people in the world to answer that question is Lauren Ancel Meyers. Meyers, a professor of integrative biology at the University of Texas-Austin, leads UT’s COVID-19 modeling consortium. Since the pandemic began, her team has modeled the virus’ spread across the United States. This week, the consortium released a new set of dashboards for Texas -- including one for the Houston area.
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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Seeking to support LGBTQ businesses threatened during the pandemic, the Human Rights Campaign, through an LGBTQ business preservation initiative, has given five-figure grants to 10 enterprises across the country, including Houston's Pearl Bar. Reporter Hannah Dellinger talks with Ferrill about why the survival of the bar is essential to its patrons and why the HRC is aiding the cultural landmark, one of 16 lesbian bars remaining in the country.
Read: Pearl Bar gets preservation grant during pandemic
Connect with Hannah Dellinger.
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A handful of Texans have been accused of trying to defraud the Paycheck Protection Program of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES, according to the Department of Justice — and a recent story by reporter Olivia Tallet. One case involves an Almeda-area funeral director who tried to buy two limousines and two hearses with some of the $13 million he is accused of pocketing.
Read: Texas leads SBA pandemic relief loan fraud in national prosecutions
Connect with Olivia Tallet.
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With five named storms in the Atlantic for the first time since 1971 — and with one of those storms seemingly taking aim at the host's home town of Mobile, Alabama — today Coronavirus Chronicle forgoes its customary journalist interview to give Ferrill a chance to reflect on the forecast models, both meteorological and viral, that hint at what is yet to come in the uncertain times ahead.
Connect with Ferrill Gibbs.
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Fresh off her coverage of Hurricane Laura in Louisiana reporter Emily Foxhall, the Chronicle's the Texas Storyteller, caught up with a group from Doctors Without Borders here in Houston where they come here to assist nursing homes. The organization usually operates in conflict zones and in places experiencing endemic diseases. This year, because of the pandemic, they are in New York helping the homeless, working with farmworkers in Florida, the Navajo Nation, Puerto Rico, a nursing home project in Michigan, and now in Houston.
Connect with Emily Foxhall.
Read: ‘I saw the need’: Doctors Without Borders fights COVID in Houston nursing homes
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As a frequent guest on cable news vaccine researcher Dr. Peter Hotez has aimed to interpret scientific findings for as broad an audience as possible. He was one of the rare experts who appeared frequently on both Fox News and MSNBC. Recently, he abandoned his policy of not criticizing the White House. This week, we’ll talk about why he did that, whether he thinks it’ll be safe to take a COVID-19 vaccine, and the value of using this strange pause to think about our lives.
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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The isolation of the pandemic has been an opportunity to reset and discover what she misses says restaurant critic Alison Cook. She has found coronavirus comfort in the food of her youth — peanut butter on crackers and spoonfuls of jarred spaghetti sauce ... albeit really good spaghetti sauce ... right out of the jar, while standing up in her kitchen. Alison is OK with that, and you should be too.
Read: Alison Cook's pandemic diet: Ritz crackers and bottled spaghetti sauce
Connect with Alison Cook.
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Drawing his authority from the Texas Disaster Act of 1975, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott has used those emergency powers to make decisions regulating virtually every facet of life during the pandemic. And, well, people such as the five conservative lawmakers who have sued Abbott, disagree that the governor has the power to behave like a king. Austin reporter Taylor Goldenstein and Ferrill discuss.
Read: 'He's decided he's the king': Gov. Greg Abbott's COVID response leaves lawmakers on sidelines
Connect with Taylor Goldenstein.
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As her reporting internship was ending at the Houston Chronicle, Currie Engel reported that Harris County wants to implement a program that would look at how and where active COVID infection exists in Houston. Hopes are that the program would help officials better understand how the virus spreads within the region in real time, and then those findings would be used to help shape public health policy.
Connect with Currie Engel.
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It seems there is no end in sight to our Zoom life and our current remote learning life as the pandemic rolls into its sixth month. Gathering in groups for entertainment, education and celebration continues to be a potentially dangerous. Our need to communicate from a distance will absolutely continue to be a necessary part of life. Technology editor Dwight Silverman chats with Ferrill.
Connect with Dwight Silverman.
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This week Houston-area students began returning to school, even as many experts warned that COVID-19 levels in our area remain alarmingly high. Now parents, principals, teachers and coaches are scrambling to figure out best practices: What, exactly, should our schools be doing? Lisa talks with indoor air-quality expert Richard Corsi, now dean of the Maseeh College of Engineering and Computer Science at Portland State University. While a professor at UT-Austin, he and his team studied air quality in Texas schools.
Jump to 08:33:00 to hear about rebreathe fractions and why it is important student and teachers.
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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Some say recent data suggests Texas has wrangled the coronavirus. Overall new cases, positive test rates, daily deaths, and viral spread are all dropping. Colleges and universities across the state have opened and campuses are filling with students eager to take in all the educational opportunities college life offers. What could possibly go wrong? And how are school administrations dealing with the inevitable hot spots? Higher education writer Brittany Britto talks with Ferrill about how colleges are handling the first weeks of the semester.
Tweet at Brittany Britto and Ferrill Gibbs.
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1,300 defendants are awaiting resolution on murder or capital murder charges in Harris County District Courts. The cases have piled up more and more rapidly over the past three years, starting with Hurricane Harvey’s closure of the courthouse and exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving families and defendants waiting in emotional and legal limbo. Today Ferrill talks with courts reporter Samantha Ketterer about the situation.
Read: 'Waiting and waiting:' COVID only made Harris County's massive backlog of murder cases worse
Connect with Samantha Ketterer.
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Sports writer Adam Coleman made it down to East Bernard on Friday night to watch the Brahmas defeat the Edna Cowboys 49-20 as small Texas schools began play before big schools. UIL and CDC COVID-19 protocols were on everyone's mind and largely adhered to. Otherwise, the atmosphere was much like any other game — except popcorn was not available at the concession stand. Class 6A and 5A schools start their football season Sept. 24.
Connect with Adam Coleman.
Read: Friday Night Lights rolls on in COVID-19 era
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What if a hurricane came up Galveston Bay, and the storm surge roared into the petrochemical plants lining the Houston Ship Channel? Scientists have warned about such a nightmare scenario for more than a decade. But none of the big, preventive measures has been adopted. Senior writer Lisa Gray dug into the above scenario and discovered a lot of great ideas being circulated, but nothing concrete being done.
Read: How Hurricane Laura's storm surge could have decimated Houston
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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Chronicle photographer Godofredo Vásquez spent Wednesday night hunkered down in a parking structure in Beaumont before driving into Lake Charles, Louisiana to document the destruction brought by Hurricane Laura. Godofredo paused mid-day to talk with host Ferrill Gibbs. Meanwhile, Ronnie Crocker, executive editor of the Beaumont Enterprise, rode out the storm with emergency management officials in the tax assessor's office at the Jefferson County courthouse, where everyone was relieved when the city received only a glancing blow. But, Crocker wonders, will the region adapt to the seeming inevitability of powerful storms or will Gulf Coast officials allow another storm experience to pass unheeded?
Connect with Godofredo Vásquez and Ronnie Crocker.
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Everyone knows how great it is sit in a darkened movie theater for a couple hours (recently reopened!) and forget about the troubles of the outside world. Whether you prefer fast zombies, slow zombies or no zombies at all, we hope this episode provides you with fifteen minutes of escapism on a difficult day for much of the Houston/Beaumont region and western Louisiana.
Read: Cary's 28 favorite zombie movies.
Connect with Cary Darling and Claire Goodman.
Get the latest on Hurricane Laura with these sites and apps.
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What will coronavirus look like on October 13 when early voting starts in Texas? At the midpoint of the political conventions, host Ferrill Gibbs and Austin political reporter Jeremy Wallace talk over the impact of the pandemic when Texans go to the polls this fall.
Connect with Jeremy Wallace.
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Reporting on a survey by a a Chicago law firm, Business writer (L.M. (Wooty) Sixel, found that the pressures of working together during a pandemic can expose issues between co-workers who never knew they had a problem. Careless masking, failure to abide by distancing rules and sanitizing rituals are all hot-button issues.
Read: Coronavirus causing big conflicts at work over masks, cleaning and more
Connect with L.M. Sixel.
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Business reporter Nancy Sarnoff describes a recent visit to downtown Houston during lunchtime. Instead of the usual crowds of people on the sidewalk s and filling the tunnels as they would on a hot day, she saw a few groups of office guys in their blue shirts and khakis out for lunch, and skater kids taking advantage of the empty streets and sidewalks. She found solitary diners having a solo lunch and shop owners working reduced hours. While most every big city downtown is going through something similar — little traffic, shuttered lunch spots and plenty of available parking — as a former downtown worker, she finds the dead downtown scene unsettling.
Read: story by Nancy Sarnoff, photos by Jon Shapley: 'Downtown is dead:' How COVID turned Houston into a ghost town
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How safe are marching bands? Can dogs smell COVID? Historically, how do virus epidemics end? Dr. Ben Neuman, one of the world’s top coronavirus researchers and head of biology at Texas A&M-Texarkana, once again answers questions from Chronicle readers.
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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With Texas topping half a million COVID-19 cases and 10,000 deaths, Business columnist Chris Tomlinson observes, "We're just a third of the way into this. We're at the end of the beginning." Having endured five months of shutdown and spread, Tomlinson says, we must wait at least five months for a vaccine and five additional months before people are vaccinated and life can start to approach normalcy. Further, he says we are "actually hitting the crux, because the fall is going to move people indoors. That's going to cause more infections. That's why we're going to see more lockdowns, more businesses shut down. We're going to see all those colleges shut down and send their kids back home because they can't manage the infections."
Read: 5 months of COVID failure with 10 months to go
Connect with Chris Tomlinson.
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This summer, breaking news intern reporter Currie Engel intern has been hitting the streets talking to Houstonians about all kinds of news stories and shaking down this strange coin shortage that's been going on and discovering how the lack of coins in circulation is affecting Houston's unbanked. Did you know that in Houston 11.8 percent of the population does not have a bank account?
Connect with Currie Engel.
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With Texas college classes about to begin, higher education reporter Brittany Britto — and the students and parents — have more questions than answers. But in a few weeks, everyone will know if UT students will abide by the no-party rule? Will students follow social distancing protocols? Will college and universities be able to deliver the education and campus experience students expect.
Connect with Brittany Britto.
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As schools are reopening for the new school year, Coronavirus Chronicle host Ferrill Gibbs and Houston Chronicle city hall and politics reporter Jasper Scherer talk about the difficulty of knowing how to go forward, housing and eviction, and how Houston animal shelters are handling during the pandemic.
Connect with Jasper Scherer.
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Houston Chronicle’s Lisa Gray talks to Susan Myres, president of American Academy of Matrimonial Layers, about what divorce lawyers are seeing nation-wide and what she is seeing in the Houston area.
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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Andrew Natsios, director of Texas A&M's Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs, says the COVID outbreak was visible from space last August. But no one was watching, so the world lost valuable months before trying to contain the pandemic-to-be. Will we do better next time a new disease breaks loose?
Connect with Lisa Gray.
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Now that the Astros and Rockets are back in action, host Ferrill Gibbs and Houston Chronicle sports editor Reid Laymance talk about some of the story lines that have developed in the last few days. What's it like to watch sports through the lens of a pandemic? What about football season? Laymance breaks it down.
Connect with Reid Laymance
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Returning astronauts, a mission to Mars, it's a busy time for Andrea Leinfelder, the Houston Chronicle's reporter on the space beat. Host Ferrill Gibbs and Leinfelder talk about what's going on at NASA these days, how the space agency is coping with the pandemic and little green aliens in this episode.
Connect with Andrea Leinfelder
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Investigative reporter Jay Root is a veteran when it comes to breaking stories that lead to reforms. Sitting down with Ferrill Gibbs, Root breaks down what went wrong with Texas' $250 million contact tracing deal that did little to no work. The problems he uncovered have undermined the goals of boosting COVID-19 monitoring as the state remains under the grip of the pandemic.
Connect with Jay Root
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Reporter Jenny Deam, who embedded herself at United Memorial Medical Center, shares some thoughts on the status of healthcare workers at one Houston-area hospital. A battle waged against COVID-19 has taken its toll there, as Jenny paints a picture of exhaustion resulting from a recent surge in hospitalizations.
Connect with Jenny Deam
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Vaccine researcher Dr. Peter Hotez has been a regular presence both here and on cable news, where he explains the science of COVID. Columnist Lisa Gray spoke with him earlier this week about steps he believes the U.S. could take to re-open our lives in time for football season; and also about claims that Chinese spies are targeting U.S. vaccine labs.
Connect with Lisa Gray
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As unemployed Texans already know, the $600 CARES Act benefit is about to run out for for the rest of the country. Fearing that the supplemental unemployment benefit is enticing workers to not return to work, Senate Republicans want to lower that amount. It's not that simple, explains business reporter Erin Douglas. Most workers risk losing all benefits if they refuse to return to their job and employers are reluctant to re-hire and invest in expensive safety protocols as long as the possibility of another shutdown lingers.
Connect with Erin Douglas
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In an email to Ferrill, music critic Joey Guerra declared this to be "a strange and creative time for entertainment." Strange times in so many ways, but Joey explains that the entertainment shutdown has "forced a lot of artists to think creatively in terms of how they're getting their music out to people. It's also forced a lot of artists to continue to put out new music that is very relevant to what's going on, you know, singing about things they would otherwise have never sung about or written about." Also, Joey has been doing a lot of baking.
Connect with Joey Guerra
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The Texas Medical Center, at tmc.com, provides all the localized COVID-19-related data one could want or need. How do people know which categories of information are most important? Reporters Mike Morris and Zach Despart recently wrote So, how bad is COVID-19 in Houston? A guide to reading the data. to help answer that question. Today, Ferrill talks with Mike to about where the data comes from, what it means and to what data we should pay attention to understand the COVID-19 situation in Houston.
Connect with Mike Morris
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Ferrill talks with Robert Eckhart, Texas Editor in the Chronicle's Austin bureau, about a letter recently penned by the five largest news outlets in the state — the Houston Chronicle, the San Antonio Express-News, the Austin American-Statesman, the Texas Tribune, and The Dallas Morning News. The still unanswered letter asked Gov. Greg Abbott, if, in this time of crisis, might he consider being more forthcoming with the press?
Connect with Robert Eckhart
Read: As COVID infections soar, Gov. Greg Abbott eludes media scrutiny
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Lisa interviews 28-year-old Katie Hayne, one of the first COVID-19 patients in the United States. Eighteen weeks after contracting what was known back in February as "the coronavirus," Katie is still experiencing symptoms and is slowly recovering. Lisa also chats with Dr. Gerard Francisco about long-term problems, such as "COVID brain," that the virus can cause. Francisco is chief medical officer at rehab hospital TIRR Memorial Hermann in Houston.
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Sports writer Adam Coleman, a Houston native and, back in the day, high school cornerback, talks Texas football and other high school sports and what sports mean to the kids who live to play and the parents and fans who love to watch. Unfortunately, the wait for Friday night lights to come flickering back on will continue for another month as the University Interscholastic League this week delayed the start of high school football for another month.
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Metro columnist Erica Grieder shares some of her thoughts on issues affecting Houston and Texas and even America itself. Erica agrees with a recent tweet by President Trump that it is patriotic to wear a mask when social distancing isn't possible. "And I'm happy to see him do it," she says. She also brings Ferrill up to speed on the technologically-challenged Texas GOP convention and praises Tony Fauci and Peter Hotez for providing clear and consistent information about the coronavirus.
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Read columns by Erica Grieder
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Ferrill talks with entertainment writer Cary Darling about movies and what you need to watch on TV this summer and also with Matthew Baizer from Flix Brewhouse about the pandemic-dormant movie theater business. While there's enough unreleased material "in the can" to keep Houstonians streaming at home for months to come, that experience just isn't as sweet as a summer night of escapism at the movies.
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Too little too late, or, just enough just in time?Frustrated by the coronavirus spreading rapidly to all corners of Texas and 600 COVID-19 deaths per week, Gov. Greg Abbott was straightforward in a video appearance before the state GOP convention last week, "I know that many of you do not like the mask requirement — I don’t either. It is the last thing that I wanted to do — actually, the next to the last. The last thing that any of us want is to lock Texas back down again." Political writer Jeremy Wallace gives Abbott credit for risking riling up his GOP base, but only time will tell if Abbott's order closing bars and mandating masks is too little too late, or, just enough just in time to avoid shutting down the economy again.
Connect with Jeremy Wallace
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With researchers around the world working frantically to create a vaccine for COVID-19, more than 150 vaccines are in some phase of development, with 23 now in human trials. Jason McLellan, an associate professor of biosciences at the University of Texas tells host Lisa Gray, "we are likely to have one or more approved for use by the end of this year." Moderna's vaccine, based in part on the work of McLellan's lab, is about to become one of a handful to enter large scale trials involving tens of thousands of patients.
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Just minutes after Houston ISD announced plans for the fall, (begin school after Labor Day and remain in online-only classes for the first six weeks of 2020-21) host Ferrill Gibbs sat down with asst. city editor Felicia Mason to talk over the Q's and A's and unknowns of COVID in kids and the return to school.
Read: Spread of COVID in kids still a big unknown as Texas schools plan August reopening by Todd Ackerman, Jacob Carpenter, and Hannah Dellinger
Read: Q&A on coronavirus and children
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Recognizing the difficult decision facing Governor Greg Abbott, education reporter Jacob Carpenter expects a state order about the return to school soon. Regardless of Abbott's decision, there is risk in every scenario for students, teachers, staff, administrators, and elected officials. For all of those affected, weighing the risks against the rewards is deeply personal.
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After months of isolation Houstonians have been forced to work around current circumstances to stay physically, mentally and emotionally sound. For many, it's too hot to exercise outside. For others, wearing a mask at the gym seems uncomfortable — maybe even dangerous. As people make their own lifestyle choices, health and fitness reporter Julie Garcia advises that to work out safely the rules remain: maintain social distancing and wear a mask, even if it means slowing down a bit.
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For a front page story in the Sunday Houston Chronicle, oil and gas reporter Sergio Chapa reports about the ongoing controversy of oil and gas well drilling within city limits. This being Texas and all, when the public protests permits for a proposed drilling site, the driller usually prevails. But this time, in Arlington, after activists made the argument that air pollution caused by this drilling activity and by the eventual natural gas wells would lower resident's respiratory responses and make them more vulnerable to COVID-19, the city council rejected a permit request by French oil major Total by a surprise 6-3 vote.
Read: 'We aren’t going away': Oil drilling inside city limits remains thorny issue for many Texans
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Prepping for a second "Ask Dr. Ben" episode, senior writer and columnist Lisa Gray asked for listener questions and, thank you listeners, you delivered. Dr. Ben is Dr. Benjamin Neuman, head of the biology department at Texas A&M University-Texarkana. Dr. Ben is one of the world’s preeminent coronavirus researchers and he has a knack for explaining science in plain English.
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Houston bar owners had to close down their businesses for a second time in less than four months after Governor Abbott's order last week. Digital producer Alison Medley tracked down bartender Stacy Gouty at The Cottonmouth Club where the staff had sensed the difficulty of maintaining virus protocols and had decided to reclose the bar before the official order. In an interview with host Ferrill Gibbs, Gouty describes the reopening reality where big clubs "didn't follow any rules at all," making staying open harder for the smaller establishments that wanted to operate safely.
Read stories by Alison Medley
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With a healthy family, food, shelter and air conditioning, entertainment writer Andrew Dansby is having a quarantine to envy. Surrounded by endless streaming movies, shelves of books and records, the work-from-home order is to his liking. Extended confinement has granted him the opportunity to explore the depths of his collections. He is actually reading (aloud, no less) the novel that has defeated the attention span of many a pleasure reader: Moby-Dick; or, The Whale. He is also hosting a Moby Dick reading group — only 120 pages to go. Followers of Dansby's writing know him to be an inside guy, perhaps waffling up a tater tot or lounging about in sweatpants, while quarantine might find him out for a run, enjoying the birds and favorite trees. Good things, indeed.
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Last week Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner named a trio of bad-behaving bars to a virtual Wall of Shame. Now, in spite of spiking coronavirus cases and hospitalizations, in little more than a week thousands of Texas GOP conventioneers are scheduled to descend on Houston from all corners of Texas. City Hall and politics reporter Jasper Scherrer offers his insights on how the pandemic continues to force political hands, as the mayor maneuvers the rock-and-a-hard-place convention situation by urging — but not ordering — that the Texas GOP change plans.
Read: Turner hopes GOP reconsiders plan to hold convention in Houston amid COVID surge
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Under pressure to regain control of the spreading coronavirus and spiking COVID-19 case and hospitalization numbers, Gov, Greg Abbott last week issued a new mask mandate (with plenty of exemptions) and reclosed bars and limited dine-in capacity in restaurants to 50 percent. He also said that one thing that he would change about his reopening strategy would have been to hold off a bit longer on reopening bars, which he did in late May. State government reporter Jeremy Blackman acknowledges the difficulty of ordering mask wearing in public and lays out the potential political fallout the alarming Coronavirus numbers bring to elected officials.
Connect with Jeremy Blackman
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Lisa Gray talks with Houston Fire Department chief Sam Peña and 19-year HFD veteran Captain Daniel Soto about the challenges faced by fire department management and frontline ambulance crews as the coronavirus has sidelined more than 250 firefighters by infection or quarantine. HFD's 140 ambulances now respond to about 1,100 calls for service daily, an increase of 30 percent from a month ago. The majority of those new calls have been about respiratory difficulty.
Read: A view from the Houston Fire Department as COVID-19 continues to surge
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On July 1, Texas set another record for the single-day increase in COVID-19 cases. It was also the first day with more than 8,000 new cases. Yet, according to beat writer Aaron Wilson, the Texans are determined to kick off the 2020 season in less than eight weeks when the Seahawks visit for the first — of just two — preseason games.
Connect with Aaron Wilson
Read: NFL plans to cut teams' preseason schedule to two games
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Harris County reporter Zach Despart and City Hall reporter Mike Morris reported a story last weekend questioning the untimely disappearance of key daily data from the Texas Medical Center's website and examining TMC's complicated accounting of available ICU beds. In the face of an ongoing surge of COVID-19 hospitalizations, Zach explains the brouhaha, emphasizing why reliable and understandable data is vital to the public's trust in TMC's ability to provide ICU beds.
Connect with Zach Despart and Mike Morris
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Working through the noise and confusion, awaiting vaccine
Medical reporter Todd Ackerman's soon-to-be-published project details the global race to find a vaccine, told through the lens of efforts in Houston and Galveston. Ferrill teases out a preview. They also discuss the difficulty of finding reliable facts amid the noise and confusion of competing interests. Will hospitals be overwhelmed by the surge? Not likely, Todd says, unless the numbers continue to spike exponentially for weeks. Then, it could be "a pretty bad situation."
Connect with Todd Ackerman
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Washington correspondent Ben Wermund walks Ferrill through a story that highlights another unpredictable chapter in pandemic coverage from the nation's capital. The gist: The federal government had been planning to end support for some coronavirus testing sites — including sites in Houston and Harris County — in late April. The deadline most recently was extended to June 30. President Trump "jokes" that he asked his people to slow down testing because it reflects negatively on the country. As the June 30 deadline approaches and hospitalizations surge, city and county officials, members of Congress and eventually senators Cornyn and Cruz push back on the closing plan, asking for another extension of federal support. Frustrated with testing site coverage, a top HHS spokesman, during a press call with seventy-five reporters, demands that reporters ask their sources — doctors, city and county leaders, public health officials, congressmen and senators — why the sources are "working to undermine the public health system in the middle of a pandemic?"
Read: ‘Risk that is not worth taking.’ Sens. Cornyn, Cruz urge feds to keep supporting COVID test sites
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Vaccine researcher and Houstonian, Dr. Peter Hotez, called this week for immediate action to contain COVID-19 in Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. The “crunch time,” he said, is “the next couple of days. We’ve already let this thing go too long. Now the nightmare scenario is unfolding.” Without tightened restrictions in Houston and Harris County, he said, people will continue to be infected until the area reaches “herd immunity” — when an estimated 60 percent of residents would be infected. Assuming that COVID-19’s mortality rate is 1 percent, Hotez calculates, “you’re looking at nearly 30,000 deaths in Harris County. We can’t tolerate that.”
Connect with Lisa Gray
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Coronavirus Chronicle for Thursday, June 25, 2020:
Pent up from the pause, Houston home market picks back up, for now
According to real estate reporter Rebecca Schuetz the Houston residential market has improved since the sales slowdown during the shutdown. The number of people applying for mortgages is at an 11-year high. With your excellent credit score, congratulations, you might be able to qualify for historically low mortgage rates. On the other hand, perhaps you're in trouble with your mortgage or HOA fees? Rebecca might have some helpful advice for you as well.
Connect with Rebecca Schuetz
Connect with Ferrill Gibbs
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With too many residents unwilling to practice social distancing, wear masks and avoid unnecessary contact with others, Houston appears to be on track for 2000 COVID-19 hospitalizations per day by mid-July. Like the lesson taught to Ebenezer Scrooge by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come, it doesn't have to be this way, said one expert. Breaking news reporter Samantha Ketterer discusses the rampant spread of coronavirus as the end of the first shutdown seemingly signals an all-clear for many Houstonians weary of pandemic restrictions.
Read: With shutdown success evaporated, model suggests mid-July peak for COVID-19 in Houston
Connect with Samantha Ketterer
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The HIPAA Act of 1996 prohibits health departments from disclosing the name of an employee who tests positive for COVID-19. What's a restaurant owner to do? Better to disclose and temporarily shutdown or keep quiet and try to skate by? Restaurant critic Alison Cook has some thoughts.
Read: Some Houston restaurants won’t say if their employees have COVID-19. And they don’t have to.his
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Connect with Ferrill Gibbs
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The coronavirus pandemic, which has been throwing up some alarming hospitalizations numbers recently, gets personal for Austin-based politics writer Jeremy Wallace as one of his children, a masking-wearing, hand-washing, conscientiously quarantining teen tests positive for COVID-19.
Connect with Jeremy Wallace
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Dr. Benjamin Neuman of Texas A&M University-Texarkana is one of the world's top coronaviruses authorities. Through his "Dr. Ben Neuman's Science Group on Facebook," he is also one of the world's most genial, patient explainers of science, according to senior writer Lisa Gray. In his Facebook and YouTube videos, Neuman explains complicated — and often scary — concepts with quick humor and an infectious laugh. Oh, and he is said to have grown more SARS-type viruses in the lab than anyone else on the planet.
Connect with Lisa Gray
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Business reporter Gwendolyn Wu talks with Ferrill about the increased use of video video conferencing and smartphone apps during the coronavirus pandemic as doctors and patients turn to telemedicine and virtual visits to stay in touch.
Read stories by Gwendolyn Wu
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A recent story by higher education reporter Brittany Britto asks, "What’s the plan for this fall? The course of the pandemic is uncertain, yet Texas colleges are determined to open in the fall. Whether through an on-campus experience, online courses, “hyflex” offerings or “dual delivery,” there seems to be more options than answers as thousands of students, parents, professors and administrators prepare for next semester.
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This conversation with Assistant Features Editor Maggie Gordon starts out as an unlikely tale of a couple reunited in rom-comesque fashion after exposure to COVID-19. But soon Maggie reveals her own pandemic-modified wedding plans, the scattering of wedding day dreams as the virus circled the globe and — despite all the uncertainty — her joy in looking ahead to an August wedding celebration with family and friends, come what may.
Read: Love blossoms when a three-day visit is extended due to coronavirus quarantine
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Senior writer and Coronavirus Chronicle co-host Lisa Gray, talks with Ferrill about the "New Normal," our as-yet undefined existence that is evolving day-by-day, shaping our lives, lifestyles and workplaces as Houstonians learn to live with the coronavirus — hoping to stay clear of COVID-19 — while waiting for a vaccine.
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The fact that the number of Harris County hospitalizations are rising is not a surprise, says Cathy Troisi, an epidemiologist at the UT School of Public Health. Texas is opening up even though we haven't met three of the four criteria for reopening, as stating by Gov. Greg Abbott early on in the pandemic. In her Friday Q&A, Senior writer Lisa Gray and Troisi discuss the possible consequences of not paying attention to the criteria and the notion of entering Phase 3 without a plan.
Connect with Lisa Gray
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For a June 5 Chronicle story, health and politics reporter Jeremy Blackman wrote, "Three weeks after it stood out as the urban exception to the state’s spiking COVID-19 crisis, the Houston region has begun seeing a significant increase in cases and hospitalizations."
In the days since, the numbers have steadily risen. How worried are you?
With Houston facing a potential surge in hospitalizations, Blackman expects to be "hitting testing hard." People need to know about the availability and locations of testing in their area and understand that the CDC recommends anyone who has come in close contact with others who might be infected, gets tested.
Read stories by Jeremy Blackman
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Fashion editor Joy Sewing recently interviewed Dr. Rheeda Walker, University of Houston professor and author of “The Unapologetic Guide to Black Mental Health,” who expressed cautious optimism that recent protests will have real impact in dismantling racism in America. “This is an important time in history,” said Walker, "and an important time to speak up against racism and injustice.” Sewing agrees: "You want to know that everybody kind of joins this fight because it really is a human issue. It's not a black issue. It's not a white issue for me. It's a human issue. How do you treat each other?"
Read: 'Silence is violence:' Why speaking up against racism speaks volumes
Read: 'You have to stay woke': Funeral service for George Floyd filled with emotion, calls for change
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Gary Kelly, CEO of Southwest Airlines: “I don’t think the risk on an airplane is any greater risk than anywhere else, and in fact, you just look at the layered approach that we use. It’s as safe an environment as you’re going to find.”
Victoria Knight of Kaiser Health News — and fact-checking project PolitiFact.com: "Mostly false."
Read: Fact-checking Southwest CEO’s boast about coronavirus risk on airplanes
Connect with Victoria Knight
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Go ahead and circle July 31 on your calendar, Rockets fans. It looks like basketball will be back. The NBA has said from the beginning that data, not the date, will drive their decision to resume play. According to Rockets beat writer Jonathan Feigen, while it's not exactly clear what data the league might have been looking at to reach their decision, the NBA does seem to have an innovative and inventive plan to bring 22 teams together at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex outside Orlando next month to finish out the season.
Read: Tilman Fertitta Q&A: On NBA’s return, Rockets’ title hopes and George Floyd
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This week Harris County Public Health released a Statement on Racism, stating: "The ongoing pandemic we are continually facing is racism, violence, trauma, all rooted in systemic inequalities. These are all public health concerns and deserve our constant attention." Lisa talks with HCPH executive director Umair A. Shah about the statement — and precautions to take in a protest.
Read the full statement by Harris County Public Health
Connect with Lisa Gray
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Business reporter Paul Takahashi says some scary things about the energy industry and the pressures faced by Big Oil — the need to limit costs in the face of lower demand and a long, slow-building recovery. With global oil demand down about 25% the energy industry must work through the glut of oil before needing to resume production to meet the demand that's expected to be coming in a year or so as the economy picks up.
Read stories by Paul Takahashi
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With Tropical Storm Cristobal slowly spinning northward toward the Gulf coasts of Texas and Louisiana the prospect of Mother Nature serving up the double whammy of a pandemic during hurricane season becomes ever more pressing for coastal residents and emergency preparedness officials. Galveston bureau reporter Nick Powell discusses living on the island with an eye toward the sea.
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Astros beat writer Chandler Rome discusses the many ifs — and the who, what, where, and whens — of a 2020 MLB season that might or might not move forward. But, if it does, Chandler surmises that a World Series might yet be played in Minute Maid Park regardless of whether the Astros win the American League pennant in a season shortened by the coronavirus.
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Business columnist Chris Tomlinson details why he thinks June could be the most consequential month of our lifetimes: Forty million people have applied for unemployment in the last two months. Will the economy’s reopening lead to a deadly second wave of COVID-19 or limited normalcy? A culture war rages and the President's disappointing behavior over the last few months has made things worse. According to Chris, there's no reason to believe a coming economic storm is not going to last a long time.
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Bad news: We have lots of experience with enormous disruptions. Good news: We learn from adversity. This week, senior writer Lisa Gray interviews consultant Jeff Hebert about the Resilient Houston plan. In addition to the region's practice with disaster recovery, Hebert credits Houston's can-do spirit and ingenuity, an engineering culture, and the ability to pull together with moving the city forward.
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Owners and patrons alike were eager for last weekend's reopening of Houston's bars and clubs, but the return of nightlife options and a sense of normalcy was uneven according to reporter Marcy de Luna. Closings are common in the restaurant business, but with revenue losses mounting after being shutdown for more than 60 days it's easy to imagine some of Houston's 12,000 restaurants will be forced to close in the months ahead.
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Art critic Molly Glentzer says we actually have more access to the world's art now than before the shutdown because the world's art has been virtualized. Art lovers can enjoy the Paris Opera ballet or listen to the London Symphony Orchestra or watch films that you might not have had access to — on screens. We are missing the live experience of lingering in front of a painting or seeing a dance performance on stage. With restrictions in place, museums are beginning to open, but, Molly laments, "probably the last thing to come back in the art world will be the live theatres ... and who knows when they're coming back."
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Austin bureau reporter Taylor Goldenstein covers the Attorney General and federal courts for the Houston Chronicle. She has been tracking mail-in voting issues, reopening orders, upcoming eviction and debt collection proceedings and other issues as the summer of coronavirus stretches out toward the presidential election.
Read stories by Taylor Goldenstein
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Staff writer Gabrielle Banks discusses the danger facing people being held at the jail because they are unable to make bail — and are unable to protect themselves from exposure to the virus. The crowded pods create potentially dangerous conditions for the jailed and jail employees alike. Conflicting court orders have resulted in a small percentage of prisoners being allowed to await court appearances at home.
READ -- Locked inside: A COVID-19 outbreak at Harris County Jail was the "nightmare scenario." Then it actually happened.
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In her weekly Q&A, senior writer and columnist Lisa Gray queries frequent guest Dr. Peter Hotez for his assessment as Texas pushes to reopen. Hotez discusses his alarm that the Houston area does not yet have the public health troops — testers and contact tracers — in place to reopen, and the deadly consequences that might have. Plus, is Moderna's press release announcement of a promising trial result worth $29 billion? Will Operation Warp Speed realistically yield a vaccine any time soon?
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With his Austin-based reporting and a robust Twitter following, political writer Jeremy Wallace seeks to clarify the emotional conflict between last week's feel-good headline — "Houston a bright spot amid spiking Texas COVID-19 numbers" — and this week's failing grade. Between those highs and lows, Texas suffered the worst four-day stretch in the state since the pandemic hit and Gov. Greg Abbott moves to get people back to work and avoid "government forced poverty."
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