Elliot Spagat, immigration reporter, San Diego; Robert Bumsted, video journalist, New York; Jae Hong, photographer, Los Angeles; and Greg Bull, photographer, San Diego, used exclusive hospital access and character-driven all-formats storytelling to reveal the impact of the coronavirus on Imperial County, an often overlooked majority Latino community on the California-Mexico border, already affected by poverty, air pollution, lack of health care and a border crossed by thousands daily.
Nurses Marisol Perez, left, and Karla Salazar work in a tent set up to help treat COVID-19 patients at El Centro Regional Medical Center in El Centro, Calif., July 21, 2020.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Nurse Danielle Smith shows indentations on her face while working in a COVID-19 unit at El Centro Regional Medical Center in El Centro, Calif., July 21, 2020.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Dr. Tien Vo speaks to a family quarantining after testing positive for the coronavirus in Calexico, Calif., July 23, 2020. Vo and members of his clinic bring food to patients that test positive and agree to quarantine.
AP Photo / Gregory Bull
A nurse assists a COVID-19 patient at El Centro Regional Medical Center in El Centro, Calif., July 21, 2020.
AP Photo / Jae C. Hong
Dulce Garcia looks out on a street near her home in Mexicali, Mexico, July 22, 2020. Garcia is uncomfortable crossing the border daily to be around COVID-19 patients but, like many others, needs her U.S. salary at Mexico's lower cost of living. Her husband's construction job in Mexicali doesn't go far.
AP Photo / Gregory Bull
Dulce Garcia carries groceries as she makes her way home to Mexico after work in Calexico, Calif., July 22, 2020.
AP Photo / Gregory Bull
Spagat, who has made various reporting trips to the area over the years, secured exclusive access to the El Centro hospital treating COVID-19 patients, opening the way for Bumsted and Hong to shoot photos and footage inside. Both leaned on previous experiences shooting inside ICU wards to know how to stay safe. Bull, previously based in Mexico for many years, focused on people in the city and on both sides of the border.
The team’s all-formats package, used widely across the country, evoked empathy and shed light on how areas like Imperial County are exceptionally vulnerable to the virus.