MYNORTHWEST NEWS

How has COVID-19 impacted your life? Gee & Ursula listeners tell their stories

Oct 24, 2020, 8:11 AM | Updated: Oct 3, 2024, 8:20 am

UW Medicine, covid treatment...

Workers at UW Medicine's drive-through testing facility. (AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

(AP Photo/Ted S. Warren)

COVID-19 has impacted multiple facets of everyone’s lives this year, cutting into work, kids, and social lives. To get a better sense of how people’s lives have changed, Gee and Ursula opened the phones to KIRO listeners to hear their stories.

Greg in Tacoma works in event planning and has seen his work life virtually disappear since March.

“I run the Pierce County and City of Tacoma parks and recreation food concessions — also I do car shows and multiple events like Bike Seattle, Taste Tacoma, Puyallup Fair, all those big events — I have been shut down 100% since March,” he said.

How do we bring the country together? Gee & Ursula listeners sound off

“Probably not open until maybe March of next year, April, if we do it at all. I run the show, so I have under 20 employees, and your listeners out there, just think, cut your income for a whole year. That’s where I’m at. I lost my mom in April, and I’ve been dealing with that. People realize that it’s going to get better, and we have to hold on to what we got. And remember, your family is the only one that can get you through this,” he said.

Heidi in Bothell has a son going through cancer treatment and gained a new appreciation on the year as a result.

“I just got done walking my 9-year-old son through cancer treatment during COVID. And it’s not for the faint of heart, but we made it. And he’s doing really well, and it just gave me a completely different perspective on everything that’s happening, just made me so grateful for every single day,” she said.

CPA: WA unemployment insurance rate for businesses could spike 1 to 3%

Norm in Puyallup takes refuge in just listening to the experts, and ignoring politicians when he can.

“There’s a quote: ‘Politicians are always amazed when people believe what they say, since they themselves don’t believe what they say.’ And the reason I bring that up is with this virus thing, what has helped our family is to listen to the experts. That’s the scientists, that’s Dr. Fauci … So by doing that, masking up and not meeting in big groups, it protects not only ourselves but others,” he said.

To listen to the rest of the callers’ stories, head here.

Listen to the Gee and Ursula Show weekday mornings from 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. on KIRO Radio, 97.3 FM. Subscribe to the podcast here.

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How has COVID-19 impacted your life? Gee & Ursula listeners tell their stories