Chicago video journalist Noreen Nasir, Minneapolis enterprise correspondent Tim Sullivan and New York enterprise photographer Maye-E Wong vividly reported one couple’s story of what love looks like in the time of coronavirus. But in a twist, they also looked at divisions of race, and how white and black residents in Mississippi see the virus quite differently.
Sensitively told with intimate attention to detail, the story humanized the trauma caused by the virus with the universal and age-old appeal of a love story. But it also skillfully wove in the numbers about race and the virus in Mississippi – showing how the coronavirus disproportionately impacted the Black community, and how that community has largely been more focused on prevention than their white neighbors.
Mike Bishop video chats from his home in Byram, Miss., Oct. 8, 2020, with his wife, Bonnie Bishop, who was hospitalized 40 miles away with COVID-19. “I am so empty and lost without her being here,” he said. “It is the worst I’ve ever felt. The most alone I’ve felt in all my life.”
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Mike Bishop sits in his bedroom in Byram, Miss., Oct. 8, 2020. Since his wife Bonnie was hospitalized with COVID-19, he’d wake up confused at 2 a.m. without her beside him.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Mike Bishop prays before his dinner in front of the television in his living room in Byram, Miss., Oct. 8, 2020. In early July, Bishop was hit by COVID-19. He was exhausted and achy, but never had to be hospitalized. But for Bonnie, his wife, the coronavirus hit hard. A few days after Make started feeling sick, she also did and eventually had to be hospitalized.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Ka'miyah Buck, 9, cheers while watching a pig race at the Mississippi State Fair in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 7, 2020. The virus ripped through Mississippi’s Black community early in the pandemic. About 60% of infections and deaths were among African Americans, who make up 38% of the state’s population.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Children watch a pig race at the Mississippi State Fair in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 7, 2020.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
People watch a pig race at the Mississippi State Fair, Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020, in Jackson, Miss. At the fair, which is held every year in October and attracts people from across the racial spectrum, the vast majority of Black people wore masks; most white people did not.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A girl wears a face mask while walking through the Mississippi State Fair in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 7, 2020.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A couple, one person wearing a mask, sit in a ride at the Mississippi State Fair in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 7, 2020.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A sign advertises face masks for sale along a major road in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 4, 2020. Across the country, racial minorities have been hit hard by COVID-19. Many live in crowded housing, work essential jobs and have a long history of second-rate health care. Black people have also long struggled with chronic health problems that can cause more complications and death from COVID-19.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A woman wearing a face mask prays during a church service at the New Horizon International Church in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 4, 2020. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, there are carefully enforced mask mandates, multiple disinfectant stations, parishioners sitting two or three pews apart, cameras broadcasting services to people who prefer to stay home and pastors who don’t let anyone forget the severity of the disease.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
People wear face masks at the New Horizon International Church in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Bishop Ronnie Crudup listens to his granddaughter at a church service at the New Horizon International Church in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 4, 2020. “I don’t agree with Donald Trump. I don't agree with his politics. I've already said so,” Crudup said. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t pray for his life.”
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Women wearing face masks leave after a church service at the New Horizon International Church in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 4, 2020.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A women wearing a face mask attends a church service at the New Horizon International Church in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 4, 2020. The coronavirus ripped through Mississippi’s Black community early in the pandemic. About 60% of infections and deaths were among African Americans, who make up 38% of the state’s population.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
A staff member wearing gloves waits to hand out pre-packaged Holy Communion wafers and wine during a church service at the New Horizon International Church in Jackson, Miss., Oct. 4, 2020, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Mike Bishop washes utensils at home after his dinner in Byram, Miss., Oct. 8, 2020.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Mike Bishop poses for a portrait in his home in Byram, Miss., Oct. 8, 2020.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Bonnie Bishop’s purse sits on a table in her bedroom in Byram, Miss., Oct. 8, 2020. While Bonnie was hospitalized with COVID-19, her husband Mike has left her belongings as she last left them, waiting for her to return home.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
Mike Bishop sits alone with his dinner while watching television in his living room in Byram, Miss., Oct. 8, 2020.
AP Photo / Wong Maye-E
The story engaged readers and viewers, and it received more than 1,100 retweets, from a New York Times editor to the Montgomery Advertiser to Mike Barnicle, the famously crusty Boston newspaperman and NBC correspondent.