Michigan community attempts to heal political divisions deepened by the pandemic

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• Geoff Bennett:

  Five years after the COVID pandemic, the effects on our politics, public health, and civic life continue to be felt across many communities.

  As part of her ongoing reporting project, America at a Crossroads, Judy Woodruff recently traveled to Southeastern Michigan to find out how divisions that emerged during the pandemic continue to play out today.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Sunday morning service at Second Baptist in Ypsilanti, a celebration of life and faith years after first weathering the storm of the pandemic.

• Pastor George Waddles:

• Rev. George Waddles, Second Baptist Church Ypsilanti:

  We had one of our members who died early, a man who was an integral part of our church, an auditor and a trustee, and he was one of the first people in Michigan who passed away from COVID. So we were immediately impacted by the reality of how this was going to impact our community. And then the tidal wave began.

• Judy Woodruff:

  About 15 miles to the south, in the small city of Milan, Ashley St. Clair's salon and tattoo parlor had been up and running for only six months when everything shut down.

  Ashley St. Clair, Ink and Dye Milan: Salons, tattoo shops, massage parlors, we all had to shut down end of day that day. So I came in, told my husband, this is your last client of the day. And we all giggled and said, we will see you in two weeks.

  (Laughter)

• Holli Vallade, Milan Resident:

  Yes, because they are going to make hamburgers tonight.

• Judy Woodruff:

  A little to the east, mother of two Holli Vallade remembers the fear of those early days and being thankful officials had stepped in to keep the public safe.

• Holli Vallade:

  I was grateful that they were making the decisions they were making. It was a scary time. As time went on, you kind of — you start to do your own research, you start to kind of watch what's happening around you. And I think — I think your patience grows thin.

• Judy Woodruff:

  In the county next door, in Dearborn, Army veteran Hassan Nehme remembers struggling to figure out how he was going to keep his family contracting business afloat and his employees working.

• Hassan Nehme, Dearborn Heights Business Owner:

  And where we're worried about feeding our families, they're telling us, well, it's for your safety. You got to stay indoors, can't work. Where do you kind of bounce between that, you know, following and obeying these rules for everybody's safety or being able to feed your family?

• Judy Woodruff:

  Five years after the pandemic declaration, the divisions over the COVID response here track the national picture. A recent report from the Pew Research Center found that the pandemic deepened partisanship, distrust in institutions, and the fragmentation of our news media.

  Early on, Michigan saw a backlash to public health measures with protests against business and school closures by people flouting masking and social distancing guidelines. In the fall of 2020, a group of men were charged with plotting to kidnap Democrat Governor Gretchen Whitmer for pushing those measures.

  But away from those headline-grabbing events, residents here took away very different lessons from their experiences.

• Hassan Nehme:

  I was raised that this nation is amazing because its the power with the people. I mean, we — our voice matters. And then, during COVID, we learned our voice didn't matter. We were told what to do.

  We get fed up. We are Americans. We know our civil liberties. We hold firmly to them. And then, once we feel like they're being challenged, we push back.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Last year, Nehme ran as a Republican for Congress and served as a delegate at the Republican National Convention.

• Rev. George Waddles:

  To be honest with you, I think that it smacks of arrogance and it disrespects those who lost their lives.

• Judy Woodruff:

  In Ypsilanti, Pastor George Waddles feels very different about the pushback.

• Rev. George Waddles:

  If we're in a crowded theater and there's a fire, you can pretend it's not there, but if you sit there long enough, you're going to get burned. And in my opinion, those who were protesting have the right to do so. Thank God we're in the United States of America.

  But on the flip side of that, we have to respect the fact that your protest fails to recognize the pain of others.

• Holli Vallade:

  Kids didn't go to college because of it. We have no idea where they would be today if it hadn't been handled the way it was.

• Judy Woodruff:

  For Holli Vallade, her children's struggles in school, one a junior, another just entering preschool…

• Holli Vallade:

  They really did vilify parents that had concerns.

• Judy Woodruff:

  … led her to question decisions made by Governor Whitmer, the local health department and her local school board, even as she saw different ones being made in counties or districts next door. That didn't end when COVID restrictions eased.

• Holli Vallade:

  I would say COVID opened a can of worms. I started watching school board meetings because I wasn't sure what was happening with COVID and I wasn't sure what our school was going to do to keep our kids safe.

  But watching those meetings really opened my eyes to what was taking place within our school system. We started hearing about bullying that was happening. We started hearing about examples of Critical Race Theory coming in, of the LGBT agenda being pushed in the classrooms as young as like third grade.

  Maybe, if you knew what we knew, you would understand us better. Maybe then you wouldn't be so quick to put us down for wanting to fight for the kids being harmed by some of these decisions.

• Judy Woodruff:

  While Vallade became a regular at school board meetings…

• Ashley St. Clair:

  As soon as the masking mandates started, we started masking up at the studio. We have always followed the Washington County Health Department guidelines.

• Judy Woodruff:

  … salon owner Ashley St. Clair, who also had young children dealing with COVID restrictions, often appeared as well, speaking in support of the Health Department.

• Ashley St. Clair:

  I understand the frustration behind it, but I also understand why our health officials thought that that was the right thing to do, because they didn't know what to do. They were trying to build a boat while the flood was already here.

• Jimena Loveluck, Washtenaw County, Michigan, Health Officer:

  You know, public health is not usually a political issue. It's not usually a partisan issue.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Washtenaw County health officer Jimena Loveluck says the pandemic took a toll on herself and her staff as they attempted to navigate an overwhelmed health system, the high number of deaths and infections, staff burnout and turnover, and being caught in the middle of what became an intense political fight.

• Jimena Loveluck:

  In public health, we approach this from a population perspective, a community perspective, that we are all connected and our actions can have impacts on the other. And I think that sometimes lack of connection, the challenges that we had even before COVID with greater isolation and lessening social connection also, I think, fed into that polarization and those divisions.

• Ashley St. Clair:

  I feel like 2020 and the pandemic was a really big tipping point politically for divisions. And I think that those have continued on. When you live in a town like this, you see those people all of the time. But to protect, like, my own peace, to protect the peace of my family, to protect the peace of my clients and the people who help us keep this business open, there are some lines that just have to be drawn, and it's hard. It is.

• Judy Woodruff:

  Today, everyone seems to recognize that these deepening divisions and loss of trust are problems, even as they are far less sure what to do about them.

• Hassan Nehme:

  There's no reason that this should happen in this manner ever again. Now that we have all the data, there's no reason that we don't go and siphon through all of this and figure out where we went wrong, what could have been done right, and get some of the greatest minds on earth to figure out a plan to move forward on this.

• Holli Vallade:

  There are going to be situations where we might need to do things to keep everybody safe and to make sure everybody stays healthy. And that trust has been destroyed, and there's been no effort. At least from our perspective locally or at a state level, there's been very little effort to rebuild that trust.

• Rev. George Waddles:

  I think that's the challenge that we have in the country now is there are people who are living different lives and have no frame of reference for what other people are going through and no respect for that. But I think that's where the conversation has to take place.

• Judy Woodruff:

  In our next story, we will sit down with two people on opposing sides of this COVID divide who are now trying to have that conversation.

  For the "PBS News Hour," I'm Judy Woodruff in Milan, Michigan.

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