The Pandemic’s Toll. At this point, tens of thousands of people in the U.S. have lost their lives to COVID-19. To try to memorialize the victims in Southern California as the individual lives that they were, the Los Angeles Times has created a project called “The Pandemic's Toll: Lives Lost in Southern California.” These are remembrances not of celebrities or politicians, but of your neighbors, your family members, your friends. Our guest is Times metro reporter Alejandra Reyes-Velarde, one of the writers for the project. [Advertisement] This L.A. Times podcast is presented to you by Blue Shield of California. The fight is tough, but so are you. Thank you, front line.