The Daily - Odessa, Part 4: Wellness Check

Episode Date: April 30, 2021

This episode contains references to mental health challenges, including eating disorders.Joanna Lopez, the high school senior we met in our first episode of Odessa, has turned inward: staying in her bedroom, ghosting friends and avoiding band practice. But playing with the marching band at the last football game of her high-school career offers a moment of hope that maybe, one day, things will get better.In the finale of our four-part series, we listen as the public health crisis becomes a mental health crisis in Odessa.

Today, the fourth and final installment of our special series documenting life inside one of the nation's first school districts to try to reopen during the pandemic. Wait for more people to log in. okay so i guess alex is not going to join us today so hello ladies all right so here's what we're doing today i'm gonna check your grades real quick and all the classes four months into the covid school, the teacher we've been following at Odessa High School, Naomi Fuentes, was pulling up her students' transcripts one by one. Let's see. So English and dance. Are you able to do anything to get those grades up a little bit? Failure rates at the school were up, and she was trying to help her students get missing assignments in before it was too late and the semester would be over. It does look like you're missing an essay,

though, and it's a major grade. But as had been the case all year... Are you there? Yes, I am. Okay. Is there something you can talk to the teacher about? Naomi's classes were filled with silence. And with many of her students joining remotely, she had little idea what was going on for them on the other side of the screen.

So she had started sending out a Google form, asking them to write in how they were doing, what she was calling a wellness check. And we asked her to read some of their responses. Okay, I'm doing fine today, not good or bad, just fine. The next one says, been working day and night. I just hate it here. I'm just exhausted of staring at the screen and being overwhelmed because I'm completely lost.

Oh, wow. Okay. I'm still not doing good. I'm just overthinking, really sad, and with no motivation. The next one, I've been going through a really bad depression phase right now. I've been depressed, just not this depressed before where I say forget school. I started counseling Tuesday and I'm going to start going every other week because my mom seems to think it helps. I just hope I can get back to feeling like myself soon. Stress, finals, and the baby,

stress finals and the baby but i'm pushing okay and this student it she's it's not her baby it's her nephew she's taking care of so she's playing mom to a baby that is not even hers honestly i'm so tired physically and mentally i wake up and it's the same stuff every day i wake up turn on my computer go to all my classes eat more class then it's time for homework like it's so tiring i'm so unmotivated and my grades are showing that see they just it's almost like they're in a funk and they can't get out of it. And I don't blame them. I feel just overwhelmed and like I ruined my chances of graduating on time. I'm very stressed out right now. Now my dad got a call today saying he has to go to court because of my attendance this year.

I'm a very good kid and never do anything bad. So it's upsetting me because I feel like I disappointed my dad. It's been so hard for me to have motivation to do my schoolwork at home. And now I may not be able to graduate with my class, which is 100% my fault. And my anxiety is through the roof right now. And I just hope I can get myself together and fix my mistake. Financially, our family is not doing so good. My parents are thinking about selling our home and move away to a smaller house. And I don't know, life just sucks. Like it's boring and sad and lonely. And then like this about wearing mask like helps because I don't have to be fake smiling everywhere I go. Oh, that's heartbreaking. I'm just tired. Didn't feel like getting out of bed today, but still did. I'm okay. Not great.

Wow. I just have two more and I couldn't even i couldn't even get through them and oh okay i'm okay not great i don't think i'll ever be great but i'm trying just trying to clear my mind and heal myself from everything that's going on personally. I'm so sorry. I just, and I don't even know why these made me cry. Okay. I'm glad I'm doing this. It's just, they're going through so much. We all are, I guess.

From the New York Times, I'm Annie Brown. This is Odessa. Last fall, when we first started following the students, teachers, and staff at Odessa High School, they were just embarking on their experiment of school reopening. While many districts across the country had chosen to continue with remote learning, Texas was one of just four states to mandate that schools offer in-person learning. And the superintendent in Odessa embraced that plan for his already struggling district. This cannot be a reason that our kids fall further and further behind their peers.

Not only did the district reopen its classrooms, they also resumed extracurriculars, like football and marching band, despite the obvious risks of spread. We know statistically that students that participate in extracurriculars, whether it's athletics or the band or cheerleading, et cetera, they do better academically. The hope was that these in-person connections to other students, to teachers, would offer students a tether to school that could keep them motivated and help them through this extraordinary year.

But right from the start. The magic is not happening. Teachers like Naomi Fuentes were unable to connect with their students, many of whom had chosen to stay remote. A lot of them are having to work. A lot of them log in from work. I would just like have my earbud in and be in class and then still be working, be making the smoothies or like taking people's orders.

And students like Joanna Lopez were having a hard time keeping up. And so I'm just struggling. Then. The ICU at Odessa Regional Medical Center in Odessa, Texas, is at its capacity with COVID-19 patients. The virus surged in Odessa Regional Medical Center in Odessa, Texas, is at its capacity with COVID-19 patients. The virus surged in Odessa, and the nurses at Odessa High became overwhelmed. It's definitely at this point, like,

gotten very, very out of control. Just days after the third football game, two marching band members tested positive. And I said, shut down both buses, quarantine all students. And the nurses had to quarantine over 40 students who had been exposed on the bus ride to the stadium, meaning they wouldn't be able to play at the final game, senior night.

And morale was at an all-time low. Today, in part four, the semester comes to a close and the marching band plays its final game in Odessa. Hello, hello, hello. All right. On a Monday evening in mid-November, we asked our friend and local producer, Mitch Borden, to go to the Odessa High School marching band practice to see how the students in the band were doing. How's it going, John Alex? I'm tired.

Normally, this would be a triumphant week for the band. There were only four days left until the final game, the last game that the seniors would ever play in. But the energy that day was noticeably low. A bunch of people are quarantined, so like there's barely anybody here now. Almost all of the clarinets, the saxophones, and the horn players were at home after the quarantine of the band buses the week before. How's it going? It's busy, man. I mean, I think we have over 40 kids in those sections that are quarantined. Even the head director had been quarantined. So the drumline director, Jimmy Olagi, had stepped in and was trying to figure out if

they'd be able to perform without all of those kids. Let's quickly go through Durango just to see what it's going to sound like. This is going to determine if we're going to play it on Friday or not. Here we go. All right. kids. For the students who were at practice, they'd been dealing with a dramatically scaled back season since the beginning. But early on, they were enthusiastic about making the most of it. Now, especially since the quarantine, most of that excitement was gone. It sucks. I mean, I wish it could be like years before. Yeah, it's the last game of the year,

and I'm kind of ready for this to be over. I'm just ready to get it over yeah it's been really tough for a lot of people it's it sucks I mean that sounds bad but like I don't know I'm just ready for it and it wasn't just the kids who were quarantined that weren't there that day. Another student was missing. The student we'd been following most closely. Do you know if Joanna's going to be here?

I'm not sure about Joanna. Fair enough. The senior cymbal player, Joanna Lopez. We hadn't heard from Joanna in a few weeks. She'd stopped returning our phone calls and most of our text messages. And we'd heard that she'd also started skipping band or showing up late, which was weird, given everything we'd learned about her. Of all the students we'd met this year,

it was clear that band meant so much to Joanna. It had become a kind of safe haven for her. Early in the pandemic, her dad lost his job in the oil fields due to COVID, and Joanna had had to get her first job working at a smoothie place to help pay her car bill. And she chose to do remote school, in part so she could keep working during school hours. And as her family's finances got worse and she struggled in remote classes, band was pretty much the only thing keeping Joanna connected to school. The drumline director, Jimmy Olagie, was the teacher she trusted, the teacher she went to when she needed help. She told us that the band was the first time she'd felt like she had real friends after years of feeling like other kids didn't like her. And it was only at practice,

or when she was talking about band, that we ever really heard her be excited. talking about band, that we ever really heard her be excited. But as the semester wore on, she started to drift away. From the band, from her classes where her grades were falling, and from our conversations. But back at practice that Monday evening, about 40 minutes in... Hey, Joanna. Hi. How's it going?

She finally showed up. I just got here, though. And when Mitch went over to talk to her... I guess, could you tell me what you guys are doing right now? I don't know. I haven't really been in band all week last week. So I'm not really sure what's going on. Did you stay away last week because of COVID?

No, just... going on. Did you stay away last week because of COVID? We already played the Rango premiere. They just made a big announcement about Showgirls and their organization. Her explanation for why she'd been skipping was just stuff. And so the next day, I'm stressed about Joanna.

We decided to try calling her again. Joanna? Hello? And this time, she picked up. Hi. How are you doing? Good. I'm tired. Well, I know you're so, so busy and that you have so much going on, but we just wanted to call and touch base with you. I've been meaning to get back to y'all, but I keep falling asleep. It's okay. Don't worry. Almost right away, Joanna acknowledged that something had shifted for her in the week since we'd last spoken.

Yeah, I've been really unmotivated to go to band. I still love it, but I just, if I wasn't so stressed, I, yeah. but I just if I wasn't so stressed I yeah right now are you on track to fail any of your classes yes I'm passing math because that's like one of my easy classes my English class I'm passing it's just three classes that I'm filling. My astronomy, professional communication, and economics.

Those are classes that you need to graduate. I'm just tired. What do you think that is? Are you, like, staying up late? Are you just feeling, like... Yeah, I actually talked about that to my friend today. I told her, I was like, I think I'm depressed because I'm so unmotivated to do anything. Like, I know I'm not lazy, but I just, I don't have the motivation.

Joanna sounds exactly like Naomi's students here, stuck in this relentless malaise. These past few weeks, when we hadn't been hearing from her, she said we weren't the only ones. I ghosted everybody. I did not talk to anybody. And I honestly felt like really happy. Like I wasn't sad or anything. I just kind of wanted to be left alone in my room, you know? Was this the time where you were you were also ghosting me I wasn't ghosting you

it's just that I wasn't really like I don't know like I would see text messages from like people and I just would not answer like I said I wasn't, or anything. I was happy in my room, just, like, vibing, listening to music, painting, doing whatever. Yeah, I guess I just kind of wanted to be left alone. Why do you think that you were ghosting even your friends? I don't know. I kind of just... I don't know. It was just something I did. Would you say that, like, you struggled with your mental health this year?

Yeah, I would, yeah, I would say so. Say more about that, because I want to understand that more. I don't know, because I, like, struggle with two main things. Like, I struggle with, like, having that mindset that nobody wants to be my friend. And, like, another reason is that, well, I'm not trying not trying to like self-diagnose myself but I'm assuming that I do have it it's like it's it's an eating disorder but it's nothing I don't struggle with body image like I don't feel that I need to lose weight or gain weight image like I don't feel that I need to lose weight or gain weight it's mostly I can't get myself to eat anything because I either throw it up or like I gag non-stop and I feel like that's kind of

affected my mental my mental health a lot and then I want to be left alone. I don't want to do anything. So I kind of just like, it piles up. Oh, Joanna, I'm so sorry. This is a lot that you're carrying around. It's okay. Joanna said she's been dealing with this for several years, since she was young. But this year, she's noticed it getting worse. We talked extensively with her and her parents about the sensitivities around talking about this publicly, but she was clear that she really wanted

to share this part of her story. Like, I've talked to a loggy about it, and he's tried helping me and, like, sending me to, like, one of the counselors. But I don't know know I'm just scared did you ever go see a counselor at school about it no I didn't I I want to go to the doctors but it costs money I don't have the money and I don't want to ask my mom for like the money because it is a lot and we don't have insurance. I'm very impressed by how cozy you've made your office in a high school full of fluorescent lights, I have to say. I know. We have to turn off the lights and then get lamps. I have like one, two, three, four, five lamps.

And then I have like a little Christmas tree that's decorated. Oh, my God. According to every holiday. That's so fun. Oh my God. According to every holiday. That's so fun. If Joanna had gone to see a counselor at school, she might have ended up in the lamp-filled office of Maricela Sample, one of three counselors at Odessa High who focus on mental health.

You know, maybe they're depressed, anxiety, family problems. We try to work with the students to find coping tools, techniques that work for them to help them get through what they're going through. When COVID first hit, Maricela says, and essentially every student in the country was suddenly remote, it had a profound effect. When we started the pandemic and we shut down the schools, in the beginning, I mean, there was hardly any contact with them. And I think they just became so shut off. And they just became used to being at home and, you know, sleeping a lot and not having a lot of human interaction. So I do feel that their mental health has dropped significantly. So Maricela was relieved when Odessa High School reopened.

But of course, many of the students did not come back. And it's those remote students she's most worried about. Because without having them in school, it's hard to identify who needs their help, a job that typically falls to teachers. And even if they are identified, it's hard to reach them. Like, if I could just hear their voice and just make sure that they're okay, then that would be a little bit better. But when you don't hear from them and then there's no response, I do worry. Yeah. Are there students that you feel like you're missing or like are there students who are falling through the cracks? Oh, completely. Completely. I do feel like kids are

being missed out on. They're falling through the cracks and we lose them. Definitely kids are getting missed. Everybody's trying their best. Everybody works nonstop. Our principals, I have no idea what time they even leave. I mean, I think everyone is trying their best and I think students are trying their best as well. They don't know any other way to cope and they don't know how to get out of it. So yeah. Yeah. Some of the kids that we've been talking with, they're saying that they actually want to be alone. Like they've gotten used to it. They don't want to be around other people are you hearing that and how do you make sense of that yes I am I mean I think at some point they wanted to

have that human interaction they wanted to be around their friends and you know hang out but they had to learn how to cope with being in alone and and so now they kind of sabotage themselves by just wanting to be home and depressed and alone. And they are so used to being in the room shut down and they don't even want to sit at the table with their family to eat dinner. Or, you know, they're so used to being on the phone that putting their phone down is like, you know, like killing them. And they just want to be alone. They want to be left alone and not have any interaction with anybody. To be clear, Maricela has never met Joanna. She doesn't know her story. And mental health experts have acknowledged that some students

do do better with remote learning or in very small group learning sessions, students with severe anxiety, for example. But in general, what she's seen this year is more students who have come to think that they're better off alone, when they may be actively making their situation worse. It's almost like sometimes I don't think they think that they need school anymore. Do you think that they're right? No. I think that they need to come to school. They need, you know, interaction with other human beings, that they need to be here learning. I mean, I also know that we should have some grace with them because they are going through a lot. They are struggling.

What do you feel like you've learned about yourself this year, Joanna? Um, I don't know. Like, honestly, I, the one big thing that I did learn is, and it's going to sound like I'm repeating myself, but that I really do enjoy being alone. And I've told my mom that I, like, I have, like, a feeling,

like, for the future, whenever I move out, that I would want to live by myself. I don't see myself with anybody. I just want to be alone. I feel like I'm much more happier that way. My happy place isn't being with friends or family. It's just me being alone doing what I

love to do whether it's like listening to music watching Netflix painting you know just doing my own thing what have you painted recently like what kinds of stuff actually I'll send you a picture on my phone right now I'm very proud of it because I'm not really good at drawing, but this painting, it's one of my favorites. Can you tell me about it just because we're a radio show, so I'll have to describe it if you don't. Okay, yeah. It's just basically, like, a girl. She's alone in her room. But she looks happy. And she's, like, sitting on a rolling chair.

And there's a desk in front of her with her computer. And her room is just, like, filled a bunch of like plants um books posters teddy bears her cat her mp3 player you know it's just kind of uh i feel like it's me In my conversation with Maricela, I had asked her what she does when she encounters students who have retreated into themselves. Students who are convinced that being alone is really what they want. She told me that she tries to find with them the parts of social interaction that they used to find joy in, and then to draw them out into the world so they can be reminded of what that felt like. And maybe they can start to want it again. For Joanna, that social interaction

had mostly happened at band. And despite the fact that she had been skipping practice, there was still one game left. You know, now it's like, I don't care about the game on the field. I care about what we're going to do tonight and how we're going to just have a blast. Jimmy Olagi, the drumline director, knew that this year Joanna and many others had lost touch

with much of what brought them joy. And he was taking it as his mission to try and help them find it again on Friday night. Annie, we're going to play as much as we can in the stands. I'm hoping that their lips are exhausted because of so much playing. Sorry, my bell's ringing. Okay. But I told them, I said, let's get out there. Let's have a good time together. Let's forget about what's happening outside of these stadium walls for a few hours. You know, you guys dance, you chant, you cheer, you do whatever, just go nuts. No, release that stress that you're hiding, that you're having inside of you. Just release it all. Let's forget about the world for a bit. It's okay to get lost and away from everything just for a bit. On the afternoon of the final football game, despite a quarter of the band missing,

the rest of the members braved the band buses one last time. But Joanna didn't make it on the bus with the rest of the drumline. Everybody beat me to the bus, so I had to be in a different bus than everybody else. So I was in the bus with the flutes. I'm sad. You're sad? Yeah. I don't want to be in the bus by myself. Her only company was Mitch, the local producer we sent to the game to record. What are you going to do now instead since you're all alone? I don't know. Talk to you. You're the only person I can talk to right now. And she sounded pretty bummed and down on the game the whole bus ride. Do it and move on?

Yeah. When the band got to the stadium, though, and she started to interact with the other kids. Y'all sound like you're having a good time. Because we're the funnest section. The other sections are really boring. The center stages sit down. She seemed to be perking up. What's on your mind right now, Joanna?

Nothing. My mind's just blank. What's on my mind? Empty brain. She has nothing on her mind. But those moments were fleeting. I mean, we have, like, our moments that we're, like, having fun and everything. But then I would remember. Like, I would look at other seniors.

And, like, I would look, like, at the smart people. Like, their attendance is good. They're passing all their classes. And so I would look at them and be like, they're not struggling. They could be, but they're not showing it. And I'm out here stressing that I might not be able to graduate. I don't know.

I was just kind of everywhere, like mixed thoughts. So Joanna was distracted. In fact, the whole band seemed pretty distracted. And Jimmy Olagi was growing increasingly frustrated with just how disengaged the kids were. All you're playing is four notes, the same notes you've been doing for four years. He said you could see it in their faces, blank stares, their heads turned away from the drum major, not paying attention. You watch her and you follow her instructions. Do you understand me? And he got so upset that right in the middle of a song they were playing, he stopped them.

Everybody shut your mouth and look at me. Climbed up on the drum major's podium and turned on his mic. Raise your hand if you're a senior. This is it, guys. This is your last game. Can we please come together and forget about the world for another hour and a half? I don't care what's happening outside of this barricade right here I don't care what's happening I don't care about the virus I don't care about anything can we come together and have a damn good time please let's forget about the world

let's get up let's play together let's have a good time but do it together let's have a blast this is the last one for you. Four years, guys. Four years. That's a lot of work. That's a lot of sweat and tears. And thank you. Let's have a blast. All right? Okay. When it's a good speech from a loggy, you know it's going to touch your heart.

Since he's very hard on us. Yeah, you feel good. You know, now it's about us. Now let's have a good time. And if you can see, look at all the smiles on their faces. That's what it's about, man. Let's be happy, you know. Did they get there?

Oh, yeah. Look at them. Jimmy told us that the band had agreed to try and play with so much heart they would get the players on the opposing football team to dance. And in the process, Jimmy himself started to have more fun, going from being the disciplinarian to something more like the DJ at a high school dance. To the right, to the left. Start that on board, come on.

Onside, please. And then you got the dance team doing a move, and you got little kids emulating and stuff, so everybody's having a good time. We forgot that the score is 22 to 0. Anybody watching would think that we were winning 22 to 0. All right, guys, we're having a good time. We can think you're having a good time,

but put your masks on. Yeah, look at that. See, you guys are like a picture. The band kept dancing and playing. Do we have five minutes left? Are those the last five minutes? Yeah. And the clock kept counting down. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Until the game was over.

For the Eagles 29, Broncos 7. And then it was time for the final moment of the night. A moment that was often the most emotional of the entire season, one that would leave many kids in tears. I think it was just like the dismissal that I might miss. The drum major was about to climb up on her podium to lead the band in a kind of call and response. Like, who's the best band in the land? Bronco band.

Get in Broncos, go Big Red. To thank the seniors and announce for the final time that the band was dismissed. All right. Everybody? All right, everybody, be a night. This is old school. What a life we're having. Hi! Fraser Day!

Thank you, seniors! Who's the best driver around? Bronco Bear! Get him, Bronco! Don't be mad! Thank you, seniors! All of them! And with that, the season was over. I don't know those guys, I swear. What's happening? Always will be. I don't know those guys, I swear. Hail to the school we love. What's happening?

To the school we love. To you. You got me, aren't you? I can do it both ways. Dismissed. Boom. All right, Joanna, so tell me about tonight. Tonight was fun.

I said I wasn't going to get emotional but I started tearing up. I started crying. I thought I was the only one crying but then I turned around and John was crying and Josh was like, don't cry because you're going to make me cry. And JC gave me a big hug. It's crazy that it's my last. I remember, like, my freshman year, like, how excited I was and nervous. And, yes, it's sad that it's my last game.

What do you think you'll miss most about marching band? The people. My friends. And I'm going to really, like, miss going to Donovan's house and, like, his mom making us pizza and cookies and, like, us polishing our symbols. That's what I'm going to miss. Drillbine is just very welcoming. And I just made so many great friends.

You know, Jimmy, or Mr. Ulagi, you know, at one point was just like, I want you guys to forget about everything that's going on outside of the stadium. Did you at all at any point feel normal or get to forget about, you know, all your troubles? I was kind of, you know, sad because I'm so behind. It's scary to think that you might not graduate. But then towards the end, I was just like, listen up, you'll get there. I'm going to miss y'all next March season. I'm going to see y'all for the rest of the year, but I'm going to miss y'all next March season.

I'm home. I'll be in Odessa. I'll be in Odessa. No matter what. Wait. When we get back from Thanksgiving break, do we all go back or just the ones that signed up to it? Just the ones that are going back to Odessa. Not long after the game, we had a final call with Naomi Fuentes.

Back when we first started talking with her, when Odessa High School was preparing to reopen its doors, she and the other teachers had worried about the cost of reopening, worried about what the trade-off might be when it came to public health. The city of Odessa got hit hard by the virus, but their fears never fully materialized in the schools. Instead, the story of the semester at Odessa High had been a story like this one, of students struggling to stay afloat, and moments like these feeling difficult to create, just that momentary. When I think about like the sort of permanent damage of this time, we talk a lot about the kind of permanent damage for kids who are at this like very tender learning age of reading or math, but even for kids who are juniors and seniors, like, what is the potential kind of permanent damage of right now?

It's almost like this is where they need to make that decision. Like, do you see your future? Can you picture past this moment? your future can you picture past this moment and i need to make sure they don't they don't fall they they know that there's something beyond right now and this isn't gonna last it does seem hard to ask that of a 17-year-old, to say, like, you, like, don't take this personally. You know, it's not you. It's the pandemic, you know. Or, like, just find the motivation and get out of bed and, like, stop scrolling on your phone. Yeah. It sort of makes me think about you as a student. You know, you described yourself as, you know, not a great student and you really struggled with motivation in school. And I wonder how you think you would have done if your senior year was the year of COVID. Like, how would that have changed the trajectory of your life? Wow. You know what? I think I would have been one of those who fell through the cracks. Like I would

have been one of the ones who struggled and I totally would have just given up. And I totally would have just given up and I would have been one of the ones that, you know what, I'm just going to go get a job and work and just quit school. I don't know. I probably would have quit school. I don't know. That's tough. I mean, at the beginning of the year, you were really skeptical and you said that if you had been given the choice, you would have chosen to be all virtual. Does it work? Was it worth it to bring kids back into the class? Looking back, I know why I said that, but then now it's like,

I'm glad that they brought them in because I don't know. It's almost like, I do think it's helping some of them. Like we would have lost way more. We would have had a way higher failure rate had they not brought them back in. Even though, yes, I was definitely worried about COVID, definitely worried about the numbers. But then when they brought everybody back and the numbers didn't spike as much as everyone thought, it was like, okay. And then we saw the kids face-to-face doing better. It's like, okay. It's okay. Odessa was reported and produced by Saraya Shockley, Annie Brown, and me, Sindhu Nyanasambandham. With help from Mitch Borden and Diana Nguyen.

Editing by Liz O'Balin and Lisa Tobin. Engineering by Chris Wood. Fact-checking by Ben Phelan. Original composition by Dan Powell, Marion Lozano, and Rochelle Banja. Special thanks to Austin Mitchell, Larissa Anderson, Clifford J. Levy, Dana Goldstein, Kate Taylor, Jan Hoffman, Benedict Carey, Clifford Krauss, Apoorva Mandevili, Ken Belson, And Lauren Jackson. Thank you. traveling there because of the country's enormous outbreak of COVID-19 infections. On Thursday alone, India's health ministry reported more than 379,000 new infections, a global record, and nearly 3,700 deaths.

And what we're seeing is people have gotten vaccinated, an extraordinary number, 6.3 million vaccinations in New York City to date. In an interview on Thursday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said that with the permission of the state, New York City plans to fully reopen on July 1st, allowing restaurants, stores, gyms, hair salons and stadiums to operate at full capacity for the first time in a year. Look, based on all of the progress that we've made in this city, we can go back to full strength. The city's infection rate has fallen from a second-wave peak of 8,000 a day to about 2,000 a day. Health officials say that if the city stays on its current trajectory, peak of 8,000 a day to about 2,000 a day. Health officials say that if the city stays on its current trajectory,

that number could drop to below 600 by July. That's it for The Daily. I'm Michael Barbaro. See you on Monday.