Sentimentality for veterans and frontline workers has certainly spiked after Memorial Day, revealing both city and state are behind more financial support for families of COVID-19 victims.
Last week, Mayor Bill De Blasio and other legislators announced they’d work to establish line-of-duty death benefits and a health insurance extension program that includes essential workers as defined by COVID-19 (MTA, nurses, construction, etc.).
“Our public servants have gone above and beyond during this crisis, and the loved ones of those we’ve lost deserve our full support,” said De Blasio. “That’s why I’m advancing State legislation to authorize line-of-duty death benefits for the families of City employees who die of COVID-19. We must honor their dedication to our city.”
Yesterday, Governor Andrew Cuomo, who’s been an adversary of De Blasio’s more often than not, voiced his support of that decision during memorial services at the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.
“We’re saying we honor that service and we’re going to make sure that every government in the State of New York provides death benefits to those public heroes who died from COVID-19 during this emergency,” said Cuomo.
This all comes after months of reports of short-staffing, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE), and a recent battle in the Senate over more crisis pay for essential workers in the form of the Heroes Act, a $3 trillion dollar stimulus package.
“I also believe the federal government should be doing the same, honoring the frontline workers, showing Americans that we appreciate what you did, that you showed up when it was hard, that you worked when it was hard, you appeared for duty when it was troubling to do so. And I’m sure many people were afraid to show up, but they showed up anyway, and they deserve not just words of thanks but actions that show appreciation,” said Cuomo.
Nurses in particular have been calling for more support as they’ve held the frontline of the coronavirus for months most directly.
“We represent the patients because we know that the patients are essential, they’re number one, and we need to put out front for them because without them we don’t have a job,” said Sheron Simmons, Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) at Downtown Brooklyn Nursing Rehabilitation Center for the last 26 years. “But we need to be protected too, because if we’re not healthy we can’t take care of the patients. We are a community, we’re not an island by ourselves.”
Simmons, and several other nurses convened by the 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East organization, held a silent vigil for fallen co-workers and essential workers of COVID-19 outside of the rehab center on 727 Classon Avenue just before Memorial Day weekend.
Shaywaal Amin, Vice President of 1199ESEIU, emphasized that this vigil was not a protest but to honor other nurses and essential workers that have fallen victim to COVID-19 with a moment of silence.
The main reason for convening the vigil, he said, was to draw attention to the Heroes Act and the fact that more hazard pay is needed.
The vigil corresponded with other nurses and nursing homes across Brooklyn, Queens, Long Island, Hudson Valley, Capital Region, Utica, Rochester and Buffalo.
The nurses’ biggest protest was against employing institutions and the federal government’s refusal to acknowledge the risks and sacrifices that are being made during the COVID-19 crisis by not providing crisis pay.
Some nurses were reluctant to speak about the circumstances of the vigil, despite standing outside of their jobs with signs, out of fear of retaliation from their superiors.
“We are crying out for some help,” Cheryl Anderson, CNA and delegate. “We are crying out to our bosses for PPE, we are crying out to our bosses for respect and dignity. We’re the ones that have the door open, without us there is no work. We bend backwards every single day.”
