Cuomo says NY “turned a corner” in Covid Pandemic
During his daily press briefing yesterday, New York State Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that New York has “turned a corner” in managing the COVID-19, or novel coronavirus, pandemic.
The governor was referring to the decrease in hospitalizations, confirmed cases and deaths across the state, which indicates that the government’s measures against the virus are working.
Down from 799 at the apex, the state has been reporting daily coronavirus death counts in the 200s, and hospitalized are slowly becoming less overwhelmed.
However, Cuomo pointed out that New York’s progress is in contrast with the rest of the nation, where numbers are steadily rising.
“You look at what’s happening in New York. Yes, our line is going down. Our number of cases is going down. We have turned the corner, and we’re on the decline. You take New York out of the national numbers, the numbers for the rest of the nation are going up,” he said. “To me, that vindicates what we’re doing here in New York, which says follow the science, follow the data. Put the politics aside and the emotion aside. What we’re doing here shows results.”
Other cities and states are actually reopening, with stores and businesses once again offering their services to the public, something that is sure to induce a spike in the amount of coronavirus infections and deaths in the coming weeks, he said.
Read more about this in this article: Axios
De Blasio announces first “sector advisory councils” to help with reopening
Yesterday at his daily press briefing, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced his first set of “sector advisory councils” that will help him reopen the city.
The councils will be groups of 20-40 experts on different sectors of the city’s government and economy and will each be headed by one to two deputy mayors and head of various agencies.
De Blasio announced that there will be 10 councils, six of which will begin meeting today and the remaining four will meet later on.
He said that the councils “will help us understand what is needed to get this restart right,” and reminded viewers that restarting the city’s economy is not like flipping a switch.
“There’s no on-off switch here. This has to be done in stages. It has to be done gradually. That doesn’t mean doing it any slower than it needs to be done, it means doing it just right,” de Blasio said.
The 10 sector advisory councils are Small Business; Large Business; Labor and Workforce Development; Arts, Culture, Tourism; Faith-Based Organizations; Construction and Real Estate; Nonprofits and Social Services; Public Health and Health Care; Education and Vocational Training and Surface Transportation.
“Their views, their questions, their input are going to be used immediately in our restart planning,” de Blasio said.
Read more about this in this article: CBS New York
Queens food pantry had an eight-block line yesterday
The line for a food pantry in Corona stretched for eight blocks yesterday, and people toward the back of the line didn’t even end up getting food before it was all gone.
Elmcor Youth and Adult Activities Center on Northern Boulevard offers a weekly food pantry on Wednesdays that stays open until 4 p.m. or until they run out of food — whichever comes first.
With Corona being one of the hardest-hit areas in the whole city, coupled with the neighborhood’s large number of undocumented and low-income residents, it has a high rate of food insecurity during the pandemic.
People have lost their jobs and can no longer afford to feed their families. In fact, a report from the Brookings Institute shows that since the outbreak began, 22.7% of families don’t have enough money for food.
The Elmcor food bank served around 540 people last week, but it still isn’t enough — a nine-year-old boy named Andrew who didn’t receive food from the pantry told Eyewitness News that his family doesn’t have enough.
Many people in the eight-block line were undocumented immigrants, who can’t receive federal stimulus checks because of their immigration status.
“For undocumented workers with no safety net or union protections, the job loss that has accompanied the coronavirus pandemic has meant immediate food insecurity for workers and their families, while those who continue working as essential workers are at high risk of exposure,” Executive Director of New Immigrant Community Empowerment, or NICE, Manuel Castro said.
Read more about this in this article: Eyewitness News
Brooklyn doctor has been unable to see her 14-month-old baby for seven weeks
A doctor at Midwood’s Mount Sinai Hospital has been working hard to save lives and fight the coronavirus — but at the cost of being able to spend time with her 14-month-old baby.
Dr. Angela Chen was originally an emergency medicine physician but has since been transferred over to work in the intensive care unit, better known as the ICU, to help with critical coronavirus patients.
And while helping fight the virus is a rewarding and noble livelihood, it has taken a toll on the doctors who are unable to return home every night and spend time with their families, such as Chen.
She hasn’t been able to see her son, Theo, in around seven weeks, she said.
“He raises his arms out he wants to be picked up, and there’s no way to explain to a 14-month-old, ‘I can’t pick you up,’ and it’s crushing,” Chen said.
Back at the hospital, there are three refrigerated trucks provided by the city to hold dead bodies that will not fit in the medical center’s morgue.
“By putting a face to the everyday sacrifices that people are making because of the virus, people will think of the implications of those actions,” Chen said. “What’s the endpoint to this, when do we actually get to be with our children again?”
Read more about this in this article: Eyewitness News
