Pam Tavarone is a veteran ICU nurse at St. Mary’s General Hospital in Passaic. The medical facility is among the many facing shortages of personal protective equipment. After a week and a half of using her own makeshift safety gear — which consisted of painter’s overalls and a construction-grade mask — Tavarone tested positive for the coronavirus. She shares her story with NJ Spotlight contributor Ian Shearn, and tells us it’s a cautionary tale about the toll the lack of supplies is taking on front line workers.
Nurse positive with COVID-19 tells cautionary tale
Anchor
An Emmy award-winning journalist, Briana Vannozzi serves as the anchor for NJ Spotlight News, the newsroom of NJ PBS. She's worked in several capacities since joining the news division in 2012, as interim anchor and senior correspondent after years of general assignment reporting as a multimedia journalist. Vannozzi began her television journalism career by cutting her teeth on New Jersey State House politics for New Jersey Network News, and later as a news radio correspondent at FM News 101.9 covering crime and politics in New York City. Her work has taken her to national presidential nominating conventions, Capitol Hill, up and down the East Coast and every corner of the Garden State. She's interviewed every New Jersey governor dating back to Jon Corzine and moderated numerous political debates and forums. Her work has also earned awards from the New Jersey Society of Professional Journalists and the Philadelphia Press Association. A Burlington County native, she's honored to be serving and covering her home state and raising her family there.