River Ranch resident Jose Segura at the farmworker center in April. Segura, who does not have health insurance, makes too much money to qualify for MediCal, but not enough money to pay his own insurance premiums, he said. Clark James Mishler
Even if his employer did offer him health insurance, Jose Segura knows he wouldnât be able to afford the monthly premiums.
Segura, 55, has worked as a farmworker for three decades; heâs spent the last two years a resident of the River Ranch Farmworker Center in St. Helena.
His wife and children live in San Joaquin County, Seguraâs home during the off season. Itâs a 120 mile round trip away, and the price of gas could outstrip the $420 he pays each month to live at River Ranch, Segura explained in Spanish. He comes to Napa because he prefers to work in the fields here: between early spring and late fall, the work is plentiful and comparatively well paid, he said.
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‘We’re Coming For You’
For public health officials, a year of threats and menace.
SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, Calif. Dr. Gail Newel looks back on the past year and struggles to articulate exactly when the public bellows of frustration around her covid-related health orders morphed into something darker and more menacing.
Certainly, there was that Sunday afternoon in May, when protesters broke through the gates to her private hillside neighborhood, took up positions around her home, and sang “Gail to Jail,” a ritual they would repeat every Sunday for weeks.
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They Tested Negative For COVID
Still, they have long COVID symptoms.
Kristin Novotny once led an active life, with regular CrossFit workouts and football in the front yard with her children plus a job managing the kitchen at a middle school. Now, the 33-year-old mother of two from De Pere, Wisconsin, has to rest after any activity, even showering. Conversations leave her short of breath.