Columbus Alive
By Andy Downing
March 8, 2021
Over the weekend, “60 Minutes” aired a segment filmed in Columbus and centered on the unbalanced recession created by COVID-19.
The report detailed how the low-income job market has been decimated by bar and restaurant closures and drops in attendant business, while mid-level and upper-income workers have largely returned to work. Combined with a social safety net ravaged by the coronavirus, this development has created even greater economic inequality in a city and country where the divide is already staggering.
One of the on-air profiles focused on Columbus resident Courtney Yoder, who was living in a tent and working a restaurant job to save for housing when the pandemic hit. “I had stacked up three checks. I was actually trying,” she said. “And then all of that gets taken from me.”