-For miles, barren stretches of road
surrounded by fields that will sprout cotton and corn.
Planes speeding over crops, dropping fertilizer.
Smoke being blown across highways from controlled burns.
Swamps up and down the mighty Mississippi River.
Buildings in ruin, yet art decorates the destruction.
This region, where the blues was born,
is, by nature, a crossroads of contrast,
otherwise known as the Mississippi Delta.
-The Mississippi Delta is the poorest part
of the poorest state in America from an economical standpoint.
-Bill Luckett is the former mayor of Clarksdale,
a lawyer by trade who once ran for governor of the state
and is also co-owner of a blues club.
-We would revel in the fact that,
here in Clarksdale, Mississippi,
you can hear live blues music seven nights a week.
-But that was before the COVID-19 virus came to town.
Now the blues clubs are closed,
no melodies being played on the streets.
The music has quite literally stopped.
-You know, our revenue stream went from
what we were doing routinely in the busiest time of the year
with the big Juke Joint Festival here in Clarksdale
that brings in, in a few days,
about a third of our revenue for the year,
and all of that we missed out on.
-For drummer Derick Kemp, his livelihood is at a halt.
-Well, it's kind of rough, man,
but I believe it's gonna jump back up because this is --
this is the heart of it,
and I've -- we're practicing every day.
We're tight. You know what I'm saying?
But this year -- there's something good got
to come out of this some kind of way.
-Alright.
-A few blocks from downtown Clarksdale
is the Byrd Family Medical Center.
-We just got back a positive corona this morning.
I got to notify the patients.
He and the family's got to be in quarantine.
-Lea Ann Byrd and her team have tested and confirmed eight
positive results of COVID-19 in the past three weeks,
and the number of residents with symptoms
who are getting swabbed is on the rise.
-I would want everyone to stay in quarantine.
It's very difficult on the community.
A lot of people are losing their jobs,
businesses are closing, and people are hungry.
-What's going on right now? How are you feeling?
-Dizzy.
Like, I get real, real hot, like I'm about to pass out.
Just weak.
I'm just sweaty, weak, and exhausted -- that's how I feel.
-Shaquita Moore has been feeling ill for days
and is one of many people coming to the Byrd Clinic
for the COVID-19 test.
-I'm praying that it's not.
I haven't been in contact with nobody that has it.
I've been wearing a face mask when I go out in public.
I wash my hands.
I got hand sanitizer.
[Crying]
And this is the first time I ran a temperature.
I haven't had a temperature -- this is the first time
I've had it.
-Fear of the virus here is real.
The lockdown is being taken seriously
amid the difficult conditions of living in extreme poverty,
but some wish the state would have made
the shelter-in-place order earlier.
-There has been a curfew set, and now they are making arrests
for people that aren't abiding by the orders.
You know, the older people, sicker people -- they are,
but you're seeing the younger generation,
which are not following.
-40 miles to the south is Cleveland, Mississippi,
another town on lockdown where the streets are empty,
but American flags fly high.
Matty Bengloff and his wife, Suzette, own an ice-cream shop
and are doing takeout to make ends meet,
but their biggest concern right now
is the healthcare system here.
-They've been defunded. You see rural hospitals closing.
And now these hospitals need resources more than ever,
especially in a place like the Delta,
where we have such high rates of, you know, teenage pregnancy.
-Diabetes. -Diabetes, infant mortality,
and so, like, we need to make sure --
maybe this is something that can bring more resources
to the Delta for hospitals.
-Unfortunately, streets like this in the Mississippi Delta
are a common sight -- stores that are shuttered,
old movie theaters that used to be packed with people --
fun for families, now gone.
The unemployment rate in the Delta is between 30% and 40% --
staggering numbers compared to the rest of the country.
And then, you put COVID-19 into the system,
and more places start shutting down, and the jobs --
the minimal jobs that people had -- are wiped out.
So the situation here is becoming dire
by the day on many levels.
-Well, you know, it's said here, and it's sad commentary,
but, you know, we don't ever feel the effects of a depression
because we stay in one all the time,
and that's pretty well accurate.
-Lack of opportunity in these towns and the worry that food
will become more scarce in the coming weeks.
Over 3,600 confirmed cases, and over 120 dead in the state,
with reported cases growing.
-Yes, it is going to.
We haven't reached the peak here in the Delta yet --
or Mississippi.
-The people here understand tough times
and have been trying to crawl out of them
since the Great Depression.
The Mississippi Delta's best invention was the blues,
created from hardship, sung from the soul,
with friends and neighbors in close proximity,
but not right now.
The region remains on lockdown,
and social distancing is required more than ever.