What's It Like Anchoring During The Coronavirus Outbreak? Jason DeRusha Explains
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- As our country adjusts to a new way of life amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, here at WCCO-TV we are adjusting to.
Our busy newsrooms are now quieter, our studios are now more spaced apart as we rearrange our work environment to be able to continue to bring our community updates in a safe matter.
It's a change that we are all getting used to, even our anchors. On Wednesday, WCCO's Jason DeRusha explained what it's like to anchor during the COVID-19 outbreak. He detailed the unique experience in a video below:
"Well this is what it's like in the WCCO studios here in the era of social distancing. Our meteorologist Riley O'Connor is at home, nobody in the weather center. My co-anchor Heather Brown for the Mid-Morning show, she's in the other studio. Gerald's still in here, we have one person!
Now we're not normally running with a ton of people in this room, although Mid-Morning usually has all of these guests. So usually at this time just before 9 a.m., you'd have people all over the place in this studio waiting to come on, but we have no guests in the studio, our traffic reporter for the morning show, Ali Lucia, is home on maternity leave and she'd be remote anyway, and Riley O'Connor home, Heather Brown in the other room. It's strange!
It's very strange, it's very quiet in here, it's very empty but I will say that I feel very lucky in this time. First of all to do exactly what I've always wanted to do as a journalist, which is when there's something important going on, be there to help our community get through it but I'm also grateful that I get to come to work, that I have a job, that I'm paid, that I get to see other people.
So many folks out of work right now -- that I am always aware of how lucky I am to be able to come here and do what I love. So, a little lonely in the studio but worth it, every minute."
