COVID-19 has impacted the New Orleans cultural communities deeply. This week on Takin' It To The Streets, Action Jackson gets on the phone with Robert Starks, business manager of the Big Nine Social and Pleasure Club, and his wife, Belida. Starks tested positive for coronavirus in mid-March and likely contracted it at the same time as the late Big Nine president, Ronald W. Lewis, who died from the virus on March 19.

It is now five months later and Starks was only recently able to be released from the hospital. He still suffers from many of the problems coronavirus wrought upon his body, including difficulty breathing and speaking. He is unable to walk. In the player below, Action talks to the couple about his lasting injuries, being in a medically induced coma, the desperate isolation they both felt while he was hospitalized, and much more. 

We are sharing this interview to re-emphasize to our listeners and the community how important it is that we continue to protect each other. Please, keep wearing masks and staying physically distant. People's lives, and quality of life, depend on it.