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Collected Item: “A Packed Gym Parking Lot”

Give your story a title.

A Packed Gym Parking Lot

What sort of object is this: text story, photograph, video, audio interview, screenshot, drawing, meme, etc.?

Photograph

Tell us a story; share your experience. Describe what the object or story you've uploaded says about the pandemic, and/or why what you've submitted is important to you.

This photo shows a nearly full Northwest YMCA parking lot in west Wichita, Kansas. Despite rising case numbers, Sedgwick County still permitted bars, restaurants, night clubs, and gyms to continue operating, and at the time of this photograph's creation, local news networks were reporting that a public health order aimed at re-closing at least some of these establishments was imminent. Establishments such as gyms and night clubs proved to be fertile ground for viral transmission due to the difficulty in maintaining sufficient social distancing, thus the reason public health officials in Sedgwick County cited them as one of the key drivers of Wichita's virus surge in the summer of 2020.

Who originally created this object? (If you created this object, such as photo, then put "self" here.)

Aaron Peterka

Give this story a date.

2020-07-21
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