Oral history interview with Erin Petenko

Oral history interview with Erin Petenko

Erin Petenko recounts her initial experience quarantining following an exposure to COVID-19 at the IRE conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, in early March 2020. She luckily did not become ill from the exposure and describes pivoting her work at VTDigger to near-constant COVID coverage. She speaks about covering Governor Phil Scott's press conferences and interviewing sources from all over Vermont and the rest of the country to help the public make sense of COVID-19 data. She explains her process as a data and graphics reporter, including analyzing and interpreting data from multiple sources to create articles, graphics, and tables for the public. This included COVID-19 case numbers in Vermont versus the rest of the country, vaccination rates, and hospital capacity. She reflects on how she became an online resource for Vermonters with questions about COVID and shares that she still gets questions about how the virus is affecting the state three years later.

At the time of this interview in 2023, Erin Petenko was the data and graphics reporter for VTDigger (an online, nonprofit news organization in Vermont). During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was one of many Vermont reporters who questioned Governor Phil Scott, state legislators, and other Vermont officials through online press conferences. Prior to coming to Vermont, Petenko was a data reporter at the statewide news website, NJ.com, in New Jersey.

Sponsored by the Institute of Museum and Library Services MA-251676-OMS-22.

2023-05-01

Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project

AudioFileCOVID-049

MP3

WAV

Audio file

Permission to publish material from the Collecting COVID-19: A Vermont Story Project may be obtained from the Vermont Historical Society.

Wingerson, Amber

Petenko, Erin

1 hr., 2 min., 17 sec.

Vermont Historical Society Library, 60 Washington Street, Barre, VT 05641-4215