Christine Hochkeppel

COVID-19 on Cape Cod

I'm actively documenting how the Coronavirus pandemic has changed our lives on Cape Cod. As a freelance photographer, all of the events and photo shoots I had on my calendar for the next couple months have been canceled or postponed. I have decided to stay busy and keep my skills sharp by capturing this uncertain time. Everyday I will be adding more pictures to this gallery so check back often. 

I'll be photographing small moments, big operations and everything in between. I'm accepting story ideas here. If you are a news organization and you'd like to publish a picture or send me an assignment please contact me directly at 508-776-7606 or christine@chochphoto.com.  

Once the project is complete and we can gather in public again, I plan to host an event where I can share the collection of photos and provide a space for us to reflect on this stressful and unprecedented period of social isolation. 

This project is supported in part by the Arts Foundation of Cape Cod and the National Press Photographers Association COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund. 

  • HYANNIS - A simple plea on the message board at Barnstable High School on Monday, March 23, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Cape Cod Healthcare RN Teresa Knight, left, helps RN Leslie Tufts put on a PAPR, powered air purifying respirator, before heading to CHAMP Homes, transitional housing for adults who have experienced homelessness, on Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Hyannis firefighter Kellen Daly, right, seals Lt. Paul Medeiros’ Tyvek suit with tape before heading to CHAMP Homes, transitional housing for adults who have experienced homelessness, to test residents for COVID-19 on Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Cape Cod Healthcare RN Leslie Tufts, left, helps RN Teresa Knight, tape her sleeves to her gloves before heading to CHAMP Homes, transitional housing for adults who have experienced homelessness, to test residents for COVID-19 on Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Members of the Hyannis Fire Department, nurses from Cape Cod Healthcare and staff from Duffy Health Center set up a COVID-19 testing site at CHAMP Homes transitional housing for adults who have experienced homelessness on Tuesday, May 12, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Hyannis firefighter Kellen Daly prepares to take a swab sample from a CHAMP Homes resident to test for COVID-19 on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. CHAMP Homes provides transitional housing for adults who have experienced homelessness.
  • HYANNIS - Cape Cod Healthcare RN Teresa Knight bags a swab from a resident of CHAMP Homes to be tested for COVID-19 on Tuesday, May 12, 2020. CHAMP Homes provides transitional housing for adults who have experienced homelessness.
  • Firefighter Mike Perry, left, checks in with Lt. Dan Osgood responding to a call at the Cape Regency Rehabilitation and Health Care Center to Cape Cod Hospital on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
  • Firefighter paramedic Rich Anderson, left, transports a patient experiencing difficulty breathing from the Cape Regency Rehabilitation and Health Care Center to Cape Cod Hospital on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
  • From left, firefighter paramedics Rich Anderson, Brad Smith and Lt. Dan Osgood transport a patient experiencing chest pains to Cape Cod Hospital on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
  • C.O.M.M. Fire District Captain Chris Adams waves to Soren Wake, 7, while participating in a birthday parade of emergency vehicles on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Cape Cod Hospital senior respiratory therapist Cindy Eldredge looks up at the sky in anticipation of the flyover of four F-15s from the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard honoring frontline workers on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Four F-15s from 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard fly over Cape Cod Hospital honoring frontline workers on Wednesday, May 6, 2020. Operation American Resolve also flew over facilities in Brockton, Boston, Framingham, Worcester, Springfield, Holyoke, Northampton and Westfield.
  • HYANNIS - Cape Cod Hospital employees watch for the flyover of four F-15s from the 104th Fighter Wing of the Massachusetts Air National Guard honoring frontline workers on Wednesday, May 6, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Robert Walker and Megan Joseph share an embrace to stay warm while waiting for emergency shelter St. Jospeh House to open on Monday, March 30, 2020. The Barnstable County Department of Human Services is working with other area nonprofits to accommodate shelter overflow during the pandemic.
  • FALMOUTH - Coastal Medical EMTs Lloyd Taylor, left, and Eric Fitchymeyer transport a patient from Falmouth Hospital to to their ambulance on Wednesday, April 22, 2019. {quote}It's all about the patient. Compassion is most important and it's the best medicine out there,” Erik Journet, operations clinical manager, said of the paramedic profession.
  • CHATHAM - From left, Dancers Adam Spencer, Angel Fox and Brandon Simmons perform a dance routine choreographed over Zoom for residents at Broad Reach Health’s Liberty Commons nursing center on Thursday, April 25, 2020.
  • CHATHAM - Adam Spencer, owner of Studio 878, strikes a pose for residents at Broad Reach Health’s Liberty Commons nursing center on Thursday, April 25, 2020.
  • CHATHAM - Claudia Strathie, left, a resident at Broad Reach Health’s Liberty Commons nursing center, applauds Studio 878 after their performed a dance routine choreographed to Frank Sinatra’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” on Thursday, April 25, 2020.
  • WELLFLEET - Wellfleet SPAT's Community Food Share Program is helping shellfishermen (and women) like John Wallace of Billingsgate Shellfish stay in business and food insecure folks get fed by buying up available oysters and clams and helping to coordinate their distribution to soup kitchens like Faith Family Kitchen and AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod which provides lunches for clients, volunteers and staff.
  • WELLFLEET - Wellfleet SPAT's Community Food Share Program is helping shellfishermen (and women) like John Wallace of Billingsgate Shellfish stay in business and food insecure folks get fed by buying up available oysters and clams and helping to coordinate their distribution to soup kitchens like Faith Family Kitchen and AIDS Support Group of Cape Cod which provides lunches for clients, volunteers and staff.
  • HYANNIS - A donation from Wellfleet SPAT, Shellfish Promotion and Tasting, Inc., featured Holbrook littlenecks and oysters for Faith Family Kitchen's free meal to those in need on Friday, April 3, 2020. SPAT's Community Food Share Program has set aside $50,000 to help shellfish harvesters whose business has been negatively impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since many restaurants closed after Gov. Baker's emergency order, the market for shellfish has significantly dropped. SPAT has committed to buy the shellfish directly from the fishermen and women and then donating the catch to nonprofits that serve free meals to the community and local markets.
  • HYANNIS - Faith Family Kitchen chef Jeni Wheeler gives directions to her volunteer crew on Friday, April 3, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Faith Family Kitchen chef Jeni Wheeler and volunteer Jack Joyce pull clams from the cauldron on Friday, April 3, 2020. A donation from Wellfleet SPAT, Shellfish Promotion and Tasting, Inc., featured Holbrook littlenecks over butter garlic pasta.
  • HYANNIS - Faith Family Kitchen volunteers George and Glenna Cappola and Donna Vashon serve up a true New England supper on Friday, April 3, 2020. A donation from SPAT featured Holbrook littlenecks over butter garlic pasta.
  • JOINT BASE CAPE COD - Catherine Sutton, strike team leader for disaster response NGO, Team Rubicon, put together boxes that will contain a 14-day supply of food for veterans and their families on Thursday, April 2, 2020. This Food4Vets is organized by the Massachusetts and Cape Cod Military Support Foundations and has a goal of distributing 50,000 boxes.
  • YARMOUTH - Jessica Neal visits her mother, Susan, at Mayflower Place nursing center while a lilac bush for Earth Day is planted in front of her window. Susan lives with Alzheimer’s disease and is accustomed to her daughter and husband visiting her for lunch everyday. Now that all visitors are restricted from assisted living facilities to limit resident’s exposure to COVID-19, many family members have turned to window visits like this.
  • JOINT BASE CAPE COD - Volunteers Corrine Wickel, left, and Jennifer Wisse, pack boxes with a 14-day supply of food for veterans and their families on Thursday, April 2, 2020. This Food4Vets initiative is organized by the Massachusetts and Cape Cod Military Support Foundations and has a goal of distributing 50,000 boxes.
  • JOINT BASE CAPE COD - Volunteer Blaine McCoy, 17, who plans to enlist in the Navy in July, helps pack boxes containing a 14-day supply of food for veterans and their families on Thursday, April 2, 2020. This Food4Vets initiative is organized by the Massachusetts and Cape Cod Military Support Foundations and has a goal of distributing 50,000 boxes.
  • JOINT BASE CAPE COD - Andrew Enos, volunteer for disaster response NGO, Team Rubicon, helps pack boxes with a 14-day supply of food for veterans and their families on Thursday, April 2, 2020. This Food4Vets is organized by the Massachusetts and Cape Cod Military Support Foundations and has a goal of distributing 50,000 boxes.
  • CENTERVILLE - Janet Davis, co-owner of the 1856 Country Store, fills goodie bags with penny candy to deliver to families on Wednesday, March 25, 2020 Davis and her sister, Joanne Uchman decided to launch “Operation Candy Drop” to lift spirits of  Cape Cod children during this time of social distance and quarantine.
  • FORESTDALE -  Lauren Neidigh, owner of the apparel line Cape Camo, disassembles her unsold inventory and is turning the fabric into protective masks for healthcare workers at nursing facilities on Thursday, March 26, 2020.
  • FORESTDALE- Lauren Neidigh, owner of the apparel line Cape Camo, disassembles her unsold inventory and is turning the fabric into protective masks for healthcare workers at nursing facilities on Thursday, March 26, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - A masked shopper loads up her minivan with supplies in the BJ’s Superstore parking lot on Monday, March 23, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Barnstable Public School food services worker Steve Kelley passes a box of meals to director Dave Badot, left, on Monday, March 23, 2020. The staff have been bagging breakfast and lunch for students on the free and reduced meal plan and then delivering them to various pick up sites.
  • CENTERVILLE - 4-year-old Maddie Hanchuruck is a stickler for social distancing rules. With her mother, Liz Hanchuruck, she dropped off a seed planting kit for friends Sawyer Stone, 3, and William Stone, 7, and their father, J.D. Stone, but made sure to stay back the appropriate distance.
  • SAGAMORE - Kimberly Finn gives her son, Cash, 11, a haircut on her front porch with their dog, Rocco, watching from inside on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. Cash was getting a little shaggy almost three weeks into the statewide shutdown, so he asked his mom for a trim. “I miss my friends at school but not the work,” he said.
  • CENTERVILLE - A homemade sign echoes the sentiment of caution and social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic on Wednesday, March 25, 2020.
  • EAST SANDWICH - Britt Burbank AKA Miss Britt, owner of Kids Yoga Jamboree, started offering free live yoga classes for kids via Facebook. Not only does she dress up in various festive onesies but she makes kids and parents laugh out loud with her vibrant personality.
  • WEST BARNSTABLE - Luke’s Love, a popular playground off of Route 149, was vacant on Friday, March 27, 2020 despite the sunny and warm spring weather.
  • SANDWICH - Nicole Perullo, an esthetician and owner of Nolia Mabel, donates boxes of gloves, sterilizing spray and 99 isopropyl alcohol to Cape Cod Healthcare at the Stoneman Outpatient Center on Monday, March 30, 2020. Cape Cod Healthcare has put out a call to the public for essential medical supplies do to the nationwide shortage.
  • HYANNIS - A shopper wearing a mask waits to get in to Trader Joe’s on Monday, March 23, 2020. The store was limiting the number of customers  allowed to be in the store.
  • WEST YARMOUTH - A solemn message outside West Yarmouth Congregation Church on Monday, March 30, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Clients of St. Jospeh House wait on the front steps for the shelter for the daily 3:30 opening on Monday, March 30, 2020. The Barnstable County Department of Human Services is working with other area nonprofits to accommodate shelter overflow during the pandemic.
  • WEST HARWICH - Ayanna Parrent owner of B Free Coaching and Wellness has been offering free online yoga and meditation classes to help her tribe navigate the uncertainty ahead. She's also planning a recovery yoga class for those struggling with addiction and isolation.
  • Charlene Gaudette Colon owner of Sposabella Bridal decided to repurpose her inventory of bridal gown bags when she realized they were made of the same material as surgical masks–a breathable cotton. She also figured out a way to sew a pattern that makes a set of 10 masks at once for increased efficiency. In just a couple of days, she has already cranked out almost 400 masks which have been donated to the Mashpee Police Department and The Pavilion Rehabilitation and Nursing Center
  • MARSTONS MILLS - Audrey Duchesney, AKA Miss Audrey, reads “Five Silly Fishermen” aloud on her front step on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. She has been reading to children at the Marstons Mills Public Library for 30 years and has been posting videos of her reading to Facebook everyday since social distancing measures have been in place.
  • OSTERVILLE - Cyndy Cotton, executive director of the Osterville Village Library wheels two carts of “one way books” on Thursday, April 2, 2020. The library may be closed to the public, but she’s still making these materials available from 9am to 4pm. OVL is the first library in Massachusetts to make Udemy online courses available to library card holders. She's also posting weekly Zoom interviews with locals who are willing to share a story about how they are holding up during the pandemic.
  • HYANNIS - Town of Barnstable municipal golf course employees fill bags of groceries for seniors at the Adult Community Center on Friday, April 3, 2020. The crew was tasked with putting together 240 bags of food to be delivered to seniors.
  • HYANNIS - Kris Clark, Barnstable town councilor, hands canned goods to James Bentley, assistant superintendent of Barnstable’s golf operations, on Friday, April 3, 2020. The crew was tasked with putting together 240 bags of food to be delivered to seniors.
  • HYANNIS - Town golf course employees brave the wind and rain to bring in a food delivery to the Adult Community Center on Friday, April 3, 2020. The crew was tasked with putting together 240 bags of food to be delivered to seniors.
  • HYANNIS - Clients of Faith Family Kitchen practice social distancing on Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Faith Family Kitchen volunteers Yessenia Pagoaga, far left, and Pat Uhlman hand out packaged meals from the “take out” window on Wednesday, April 1, 2020. The soup kitchen received a boost in donations from restaurants like Lobster Pot, Wianno, Scargo Cafe, Cleat & Anchor and West End, that suddenly stopped serving dinner due to the COVID-19 crisis.
  • HYANNIS - Faith Family Kitchen chef Jeni Wheeler stirs a 35-gallon cauldron of beef stew on Thursday, April 2, 2020. She has been stewing 6 sides of beef tenderloin overnight.
  • YARMOUTH PORT - Steve Dalin and Kathy Kuck place cookies baked by the Hyannis Garden Club in bagged lunched for the homeless at Harvest of Cape Cod. Store owner Pamela Parker has temporarily closed her home decor retail store because of Gov. Baker's shutdown of {quote}nonessential{quote} businesses. She's still open online but in the midst of all this uncertainty, she decided to make space in her warehouse to put together these meals since there is a gap in meal services for the food insecure on the weekend. She and her employees have put together over a hundred bagged meals and dropped them off at Saint Joseph House shelter in Hyannis.
  • WELLFLEET - Daffodils stand tall on a dreary day in front of the shuttered First Congregational Church on Wednesday, April 8, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Thiago DeOlivera helps adjust his 5-year-old son, Michael’s, mask while his other son Samuel, 8, and nephew, Nicholas, 8, hold a sign for hospital workers in the Cape Cod Hospital parking lot on Friday, April 10, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Mike Rodericks blows into a shofar to mark the beginning of the Good Friday prayer service honoring healthcare workers in the Cape Cod Hospital parking lot on Friday, April 10, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Well-wishers hold signs and perform ribbon dances to show their appreciation for healthcare workers from the Cape Cod Hospital parking lot on Friday, April 10, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - A healthcare worker appears moved as she shoots video of the well-wishers in the Cape Cod Hospital parking lot on Friday, April 10, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Todd Jenkins prays for healthcare workers with fellow well-wishers from the Cape Cod Hospital parking lot on Friday, April 10, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Organizer Inna Taylor, youth director at Grace Church, and her husband Andrew Taylor wave to healthcare works from the Cape Cod Hospital parking lot on Friday, April 10, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Brooke Foster shows her sign of support for healthcare works from the the Cape Cod Hospital parking lot on Friday, April 10, 2020.
  • HYANNIS - Steven Xiarhos holds a sign of appreciation for healthcare workers during the Good Friday prayer service in the Cape Cod Hospital parking lot on Friday, April 10, 2020.
  • EAST FALMOUTH - Connor Velardo, 5, attends “circle time” via Zoom with his preschool class at Little Milestones. He enjoys seeing his classmates and teachers for their daily “good morning” ritual.
  • COTUIT - Rev. Angie Menke Ballou greets her congregation via Facebook Live during her Easter service at the Cotuit Federated Church on Sunday, April 12, 2020. Normally, the sanctuary would be filled with parishioners on his holiday but due to the Govenor’s stay-at-home advisory their services have gone virtual. “We look forward to the time we can all be together,” Rev. Ballou said in her welcome convocation.
  • HARWICH - Sarah Dennis, an on-call CNA, plants marigold and alyssum seeds with a little help from her 2-year-old daughter Maggie, Thursday, April 16, 2020. In just one week she went from a couple hundred pots to a couple thousand that will be delivered to shut-in seniors at assisting living facilities and cannot have visitors. “We want them to know that they’re not forgotten and we’re thinking of them right now,” Dennis said of her initiative.
  • TRURO - Cameron Miner, 9, receives birthday greetings in the form of a “Birthday Caravan” organized by Truro’s Recreation Department on Wednesday, April 15, 2020. His parents, Chris and Nicole and brother, Gus, 4, wave to the well-wishers behind him.
  • CENTERVILLE - Barnstable community liaison officer Brian Morrison leads a birthday parade of police and fire vehicles as well as friends and family for Coco’s 5th birthday on Monday, April 20, 2020.
  • CENTERVILLE - Coco DiGirolamo Trudnak, 5, and her mother, Liz DiGirolamo, wave as Barnstable community liaison officer Brian Morrison leads a birthday parade of police and fire vehicles as well as friends and family for Coco’s 5th birthday on Monday, April 20, 2020.
  • SOUTH YARMOUTH - Jo Mesinger, right, receives a visit from her daughter Lisa Pontius and husband Fred Mesinger Sr. as a lilac bush was being planted in honor of Earth Day outside her window at Maplewood at Mayflower Place Nursing Center on Wednesday, April 22, 2020.
  • CENTERVILLE - Jenny Perreault has made over 250 masks on her own and helped coordinate the making of over 450 through Project Mask Cape Cod. She's cut up sheets when she was short on material and troubleshooted through bobbin jams–all for the simple goal of helping and protecting others. She said she got the idea to make masks when she was depressed about suddenly being unemployed from the stay-at-home order. Her three jobs are all deemed non essential. {quote}I needed to craft something,{quote} Perrault said of her change in mindset. And then it {quote}snowballed.{quote} She's made masks for nurses, home health care workers, Champ Homes employees, the bakery staff at BJ's Wholesale Club. {quote}It gave me a reason to get up in the morning,{quote} she said.
  • PROVINCETOWN - Loic Rossignon, co-owner of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, prepares grocery orders for delivery and customer pickup on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. The restaurant normally only offers counter service and takeout but in response to the COVID-19 crisis Rossignon and his husband and co-owner, Rob Anderson, decided to not only to continue serving breakfast, lunch and prepared meals but to also sell groceries and cleaning products. They transformed their small dining area into a pantry and created an online ordering portal on their website. The business has received over $11,000 in donations to go toward free grocery orders for those who need assistance.
  • PROVINCETOWN - Rob Anderson and Loic Rossignon co-owners of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, have pivoted their year-round counter service business to now include grocery delivery and pickup, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Anderson expressed his concerns about the pandemic’s impact on the summer season but also said he wants to be helpful to his community, “Our response is to remain positive and figure out what needs we can fulfill being as safe as possible.”
  • PROVINCETOWN - Rob Anderson co-owner of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, enters an order from an elderly customer who called in her grocery list, Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Anderson has received over $11,000 in donations to go toward free grocery orders for those who need assistance.
  • PROVINCETOWN - Loic Rossignon, co-owner of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, prepares grocery orders for delivery and customer pickup on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. The business has received over $11,000 in donations to go toward free grocery orders for those who need assistance.
  • PROVINCETOWN - Rob Anderson, left, and Loic Rossignon co-owners of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, prepare grocery orders for delivery and customer pickup on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Anderson and Rossignon have received over $11,000 in donations to go toward free grocery orders for those who need assistance.
  • PROVINCETOWN - Rob Anderson, co-owner of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, waves to customers Tony Liquori and Steve Maler with their dog, Rufus, after dropping off their grocery order on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Liquori and Maler contributed a donation toward The Canteen’s fund for free grocery orders for those who need assistance.
  • PROVINCETOWN - Canteen customer Corinne Sirna flashes a peace sign after picking up her grocery order on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Anderson and Rossignon have received over $11,000 in donations to go toward free grocery orders for those who need assistance.
  • PROVINCETOWN - Rob Anderson, co-owner of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, drops off a grocery order for a customer on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Anderson has received over $11,000 in donations to go toward free grocery orders for those who need assistance.
  • TRURO - Rob Anderson, front, and Loic Rossignon co-owners of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, deliver a free grocery order to a family living at the Truro Motor Inn, an unofficial and controversial affordable housing option for low-wage workers, on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. Anderson and Rossignon have received over $11,000 in donations to go toward free grocery orders for those who need assistance.
  • PROVINCETOWN - Rob Anderson co-owner of the Canteen, a popular beachside cafe, delivers a grocery order to customer Javier Cortes on Tuesday, April 21, 2020. “Through this process of being socially distant, we’ve become more intimate,” Anderson said of fulfilling his regulars grocery orders which then leads to “quaint conversation.”
  • CENTERVILLE - Poignant message on the C.O.M.M. Fire Department Headquarters sign board.
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