David Degner

Boston Photographer and Photojournalist

Rhode Island’s Covid Vaccine Challenges

Elderly citizens arrived for vaccinations last month at St. Anthony’s Parish Center in Pawtucket, R.I. The state was hit hard by the coronavirus.

The numbers began ticking up in September. After a quiet summer, doctors at Rhode Island Hospital began seeing one or two patients with Covid-19 on each shift — and soon three. Then four.

Cases climbed steadily until early December, when Rhode Island earned the dubious distinction of having more cases and deaths per 100,000 people than any other state in the country. The case rate still puts it among the top five states.

-Published in the New York Times

Central Falls, Rhode Island – February 20: People line up outside the High School before the doors open on February 20, 2021 in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Central Falls High School was turned into a vaccine clinic. Central Falls is the smallest city in the smallest state in the US that’s been tackling one of the highest infection and hospitalization rates. Central Falls is the only majority-minority community in Rhode Island. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Cranston, Rhode Island – February 21: Eleanor Slater Hospital may be mentioned in the story February 21, 2021 in Cranston, Rhode Island. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
East Providence, Rhode Island – February 21: A national map shows Rhode Island in the parking lot of Emma G Whiteknact School February 21, 2021 in East Providence, Rhode Island. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Pawtucket, Rhode Island – February 21: Immaculate Heart of Mary, a Catholic Church serving the Cape Verdean community, holds socially distanced services and afterwards Elizabeth DaMoura Moreira, Pawtuckets public health and equity leader handed out supplies and talked with people about Covid-19 February 21, 2021 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Churches in the Ocean State have been allowed to fill to 40 percent capacity, up from 25 percent as of Feb. 12. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Pawtucket, Rhode Island – February 21: Elizabeth DaMoura Moreira, Pawtuckets public health and equity leader, hands out supplies and talk with people about Covid-19 at Immaculate Heart of Mary, a Catholic Church serving the Cape Verdean community February 21, 2021 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Churches in the Ocean State have been allowed to fill to 40 percent capacity, up from 25 percent as of Feb. 12. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Pawtucket, Rhode Island – February 21: Elizabeth DaMoura Moreira, Pawtuckets public health and equity leader, prepares to hand out supplies and talk with people about Covid-19 at Immaculate Heart of Mary, a Catholic Church serving the Cape Verdean community February 21, 2021 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Churches in the Ocean State have been allowed to fill to 40 percent capacity, up from 25 percent as of Feb. 12. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Pawtucket, Rhode Island – February 21: Immaculate Heart of Mary, a Catholic Church serving the Cape Verdean community, holds socially distanced services and afterwards Elizabeth DaMoura Moreira, PawtucketÕs public health and equity leader, handed out supplies and talked with people about Covid-19 February 21, 2021 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Churches in the Ocean State have been allowed to fill to 40 percent capacity, up from 25 percent as of Feb. 12. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Central Falls, Rhode Island – February 21: Gary Berdugo and Jessica Lippe walk the streets as City Health Ambassadors February 21, 2021 in Central Falls, Rhode Island. They start by handing out free masks and then give information about testing and vaccines and can even sign up people for the weekly vaccine clinic. Central Falls faces specific challenges with its high density population so they opened up vaccinations to anyone over 18. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Central Falls, Rhode Island – February 21: Gary Berdugo and Jessica Lippe walk the streets as City Health Ambassadors February 21, 2021 in Central Falls, Rhode Island. They start by handing out free masks and then give information about testing and vaccines and can even sign up people for the weekly vaccine clinic. Central Falls faces specific challenges with its high density population so they opened up vaccinations to anyone over 18. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Providence, Rhode Island – February 20: An ambulance sits outside Rhode Island Hospital on February 20, 2021 in Providence, Rhode Island. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Central Falls, Rhode Island – February 20: At the end of the day a city employee rests, volunteers, city employees, pharmacists and firefighters staff the Saturday vaccine clinic on February 20, 2021 in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Central Falls High School was turned into a vaccine clinic. Central Falls is the smallest city in the smallest state in the US that’s been tackling one of the highest infection and hospitalization rates. Central Falls is the onlymajority-minority community in Rhode Island. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Pawtucket, Rhode Island – February 20: Portrait of Djini Tavares near Cabo Verde Way, the neighborhood she grew up in, and near the Jewelry factory where she and many Cape Verdeans worked when she was in high school on February 20, 2021 in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. Djini Tavares lives with her 86-year-old father but when she became infected in July, Ms. Tavares left her home and was prepared to spend about $120 a night to isolate in a covid hotel. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)
Central Falls, Rhode Island – February 20: People wait for about 15 minutes after receiving the vaccine to make sure there are no adverse effects on February 20, 2021 in Central Falls, Rhode Island. Central Falls High School was turned into a vaccine clinic. Central Falls is the smallest city in the smallest state in the US that’s been tackling one of the highest infection and hospitalization rates. Central Falls is the only majority-minority community in Rhode Island. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)

Las Vegas Wedding Chapels

Las Vegas Chapels Are Open, and Ready

Las Vegas has always been a convenient place to get married. Their Marriage License Bureau was open 24/7 until a few years ago and it was common for people to drive from surrounding states after dinner and be married by sun-rise.

“In a way, Vegas is set up for something like this,” Lynn Marie Goya, the clerk of Clark County, Nev., said of the safety restrictions and other social changes the virus has wrought. The city’s neon chapels are filled with stand-alone rooms and private nooks for small ceremonies, which can be quickly cleaned between bookings. And they’re stocked with all the nuptial trappings — flowers, a photographer, props and even rings — for those seeking one-stop shopping. Some venues offer drive-through ceremonies and video streams of the events for friends and family.

On some days, the line at the city’s famed Marriage License Bureau — where the engaged need nothing more than photo IDs and a $77 fee — wraps around the block.
Brendan Paul, owner, ordained minister, and Elvis impersonator, signs the last wedding license of the night at the Graceland Wedding Chapel on November 28, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He says normally they 25 weddings in a night but this Saturday they had 6. (Photo by David Degner/New York Times)

“One day I asked my son to make a window over there. He said ‘What?’ And I told him “I’m gonna have a window and have people drive up and get married in their car.”

Charlotte Richard

According to Lynn Marie Goya, the Clark County Clerk, there has been an influx of people coming from surrounding states to get married as their government offices and venues have been closed down while people still need to be legally married for many reasons.

Nate Serpico & Ellen Green (now Serpico) met in high school and get married at the drive through window of The Little White Wedding Chapel.
Nate Serpico & Ellen Green (now Serpico) met in high school and get married at the drive through window of The Little White Wedding Chapel.

“I’m turning 26 next month, he has health insurance and I don’t.”

– Ellen Serpico

Rahul Mahajan and Jessica Mahajan at the Trump Hotel. Jessica is from Portugal and they met in France. They traveled between the US and France many times before the lockdown but after international travel stopped they finally met up again in Turkey. After a few failed attempts to travel together to the US they finally made it. Since they were already engaged they decided to get married in Vegas with Jessica’s visa expiring soon.

Published in the New York Times

How Rhode Island Reopened Schools

Physical Education class has been reorganized around no-contact sports. Some students play tossing rings while others play a modified version of dodge ball called gaga ball in the background.

How Rhode Island Reopened Schools During a Pandemic

For the New York Times

At LaPerche Elementary School Principal Julie Dorsey takes a student’s temperature as students arrive on October 08, 2020 in Smithfield, Rhode Island. All students must fill out a form about possible Covid-19 symptoms and have their temperature taken at the start of the day.

Students desks are spaced out instead of the normal groupings and sometimes there are empty desks from students who had a high temperature and are waiting for a negative test result.

Students desks are spaced out instead of the normal groupings and sometimes there are empty desks from students who had a high temperature and are waiting for a negative test result.

A reading class is held at the quiet end of the schoolyard with a portable speaker while students sit separated on beach towels.

Chelsea, A Covid-19 Hotspot

Ambulance Ride-Along in a Covid-19 Hotspot

Chelsea, Massachusetts was designated as a Covid-19 hotspot with the highest infection ratio in the state. For weeks the local ambulance services and fire-fighters work circling the Boston suburb picking up suspected cases, transferring them between hospitals and trying not to get infected themselves.

These photos are from a ride-along with the Cataldo Ambulance service out of their Chelsea headquarters but ranging to other Boston suburbs like Cambridge and Revere.

Behind the scenes of a contact tracing study

Proximity Pilot, A Contact Tracing App

A video produced for Julie Shah’s team and their study of a contact tracing app, Proximity Pilot. It is long and descriptive because it was designed for the longform TEDxMIT.

This talk describes the launch of a study on the effectiveness of digital contact tracing and aims to mature new privacy-preserving technologies. This research is a collaborative project initiated by students, involving four research labs at MIT, MIT Medical and MIT Lincoln Lab. The MIT Proximity Pilot Study, soon to be launched, is approved by MIT‘s Committee on the Use of Humans as Experimental Subjects (COUHES) and participation in the study is voluntary.

Professor Ali Mohamed Zaki and the Corona Virus

A portrait of Professor Ali Mohamed Zaki in his office in Cairo, Egypt.

A portrait in the office of Professor Ali Mohamed Zaki in his office in Cairo, Egypt on March 15 . Dr. Zaki diagnosed the first patient with a strain of the Corona Virus in Saudi Arabia. He was then fired for announcing it himself, but the information was later used to help diagnose another patient in the UK.