For hundreds of coronavirus patients, this man was their only visitor

During the past 12 months, Father Chris Ponnet has counseled and comforted hundreds of COVID-19 patients. “I’ve journeyed with nine people on one day in death,” says Ponnet, who leads a team of chaplains at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center. “You have to deal with that and put it into a context of the next person who needs you.”

Ponnet is featured in a special episode of Second Opinion, a video series produced by L.A. Times Studios in conjunction with the L.A. Times newsroom.