By: AP

As protesters of police brutality demand accountability, New York lawmakers are poised to overhaul a decades-old law that has kept officers’ disciplinary records secret.

The state law, known by its section title, 50-a, was passed in the 1970s to prevent criminal defense attorneys from subjecting officers to harassing cross-examinations about irrelevant information in their personnel file. The law applies to jail guards and firefighters, as well.

But over the years, the law has draped a veil over most records of police misconduct, including allegations. Formal complaints about excessive force by officers are not public in New York. In recent years, police departments have cited the law in refusing to say even whether officers have been punished.

The Democrat-led Legislature planned to pass a repeal Monday as part of several bills that would also ban officers from subduing people with chokeholds and enshrine in state law an executive order giving the attorney general the power to investigate certain types of police misconduct.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that he intends to sign the bills, arguing that police officers deserve the same level of scrutiny as other government employees, such as teachers and toll takers, who he said face the release of complaint letters. The governor didn’t say when he would sign the bills.

“Their records will be available,” Cuomo said. “It is just parity and equality with every other public employee.”

The legislation is expected to easily pass in the largely Democratic Legislature, despite opposition from police unions. The leaders of a coalition of police unions argued in a statement Monday that releasing such records, including complaints, could leave officers facing “unavoidable and irreparable harm to reputation and livelihood.”

The legislation would specifically provide officers with some privacy protections, including redaction of home addresses, personal phone numbers and email addresses.

Civil liberty and criminal justice reform groups have long pushed for a repeal of a law they say is among the nation’s most secretive.

Only New York and Delaware have state laws that provide law enforcement “with special carve outs from records disclosure,” according to a statement from advocacy groups including Common Cause New York and the New York Public Interest Research Group.

Garner’s death — after he refused to be handcuffed on suspicion of selling loose, untaxed cigarettes — came during growing public outcry over police killings that gave rise to the Black Lives Matter movement.

And the idea has new momentum amid huge protests in New York over the death of George Floyd in Minnesota, and images of violent confrontations between officers and demonstrators.

“What’s become increasingly clear over the past few days is how much a lack of transparent accountability measures leads to police acting with impunity in our communities,” said Michael Sisitzky, lead policy counsel for the New York Civil Liberties Union.

“We’ve seen police officers drive cars into crowds of protesters and pull down a person’s face mask in order to pepper spray them,” Sisitzky said. “We’ve seen lawmakers arrested and pepper-sprayed while attempting to mediate.”

(AP)

By: AP

The city that never sleeps had a curfew for much of last week. Famous stores were boarded up after days of unrest. The lights are out on Broadway theaters, and the subway no longer runs overnight.

But after three bleak months, New York City will try to turn a page when it begins reopening Monday after getting hit first by the coronavirus, then an outpouring of rage over racism and police brutality.

With the virus in check — at least for now — New York is easing restrictions that shut down schools, businesses and much of city life in March.

Construction, manufacturing, wholesalers and previously “nonessential” retailers can resume work, with restrictions. Retailers can reopen for delivery and pickup, though customers can’t yet browse inside.

It’s an inflection point as the city tries to get back to business after becoming the epicenter of the U.S. coronavirus outbreak, suffering a surge that killed more than 500 people a day at its early-to-mid-April peak. Overall, more than 21,000 people citywide have died of confirmed or probable COVID-19.

Facing problems that range from creating social distancing on the subway to restoring public confidence in police, can the city regroup? Can New Yorkers?

Edwin Arce thinks so. A chef at a Manhattan restaurant, he was heartened to see more customers than expected when it reopened this week for takeout and delivery.

“As a city, we are ready to be back, start going out, living life — with the new reality, though,” of masks and 6-foot (2-meter) separation, said Arce, 31. “The new normal.”

Sam Solomon wonders how normal that will be.

“I don’t know if it’s ever going to be like it was,” said Solomon, 22, who has a health-related job.

After months of relative isolation, “it’s going to be an adjustment being around so many people,” said the native New Yorker, who never thought she’d have to get used to crowds.

The city has already reawakened somewhat as warm weather drew people outdoors, more restaurants offered carryout service, and most recently, as thousands of people marched in protests sparked by the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd.

Subway ridership is ticking back up after plunging from 5.4 million rides per weekday in February to under 450,000 in April, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority says.

Commuters will find subway schedules back to usual Monday, with signs showing people how far apart to stand — or try to — on platforms. The 1 a.m.-to-5 a.m. shutdowns that began in early May will continue so trains can be cleaned.

But as the city tries to recover economically, will the virus strike back?

“It’s going to be a big test,” said Dr. Bruce Polsky, a city resident who is chairman of medicine at NYU Winthrop Hospital in suburban Mineola.

Months of social distancing, mask-wearing, hand-washing, shock and fear have made New Yorkers better prepared to keep the coronavirus under control, health experts said.

Yet Dr. Ian Lipkin, a Columbia University epidemiologist who had COVID-19 himself in March, is concerned the virus might spread at the protests following Floyd’s May 25 death.

The virus’ toll — in lives, despair and exhaustion — weighs on him: “It’s very difficult to see how we recover.”

Mayor Bill de Blasio, a Democrat, vowed Sunday to speed discipline for problem officers and shift some money from policing to social services. But he also emphasized Monday’s reopening as “a moment that every New Yorker should celebrate.”

   (AP)

By: Chaim Relsky

It just might be possible that defunding the NYPD is not the wisest choice that New York City could make.

At least, it looks that way in the wake of eight shootings in a period of just three hours.

Gunfire went off like firecrackers in Brooklyn during the nighttime hours. The body count: at least eight people wounded, the not-yet-defunded police said.

Unperturbed by the bloodshed, Democratic Mayor Bill DeBlasio continues to bow before Black Lives Matter leaders and promise to downsize the police force.

Among the victims of de Blasio’s enlightened leadership were a 23-year-old woman, a 17-year-old man, a 35-year-old man and 50-year-old man on Bristol Street in Brownsville. Next came a pair of men who were reportedly shot in the leg on Bainbridge Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant. A 35-year-old man was shot in the back at the corner of Ditmas and Flatbush avenues in Flatbush. Yet another fellow was shot in his leg and stomach around 2 a.m. near Avenue K and East 36th Street in Flatlands.

New Yorkers may be getting shot down like dogs in the streets, but de Blasio has more important things to think of. Just two days ago he announced a series of new reforms to the New York City Police Department to “strengthen trust between New Yorkers and officers.” The City will shift funding from the NYPD to youth and social services for communities of color, move vendor enforcement out of the NYPD, and establish a community ambassadors program within the NYPD. The Mayor also announced his support of the new 50-A reform bill introduced in Albany. The Mayor also lifted the citywide curfew effective immediately.

“While we have taken many steps to reform policing in this city, there is clearly more work to do to strengthen trust between officers and the New Yorkers they serve,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. “These will be the first of many steps my Administration will take over the next 18 months to rebuild a fairer City that profoundly addresses injustice and disparity.”

Other steps include;

Shifting funding from NYPD to Youth and Social Services. The City will find significant savings in the NYPD budget. This funding will go towards youth development and social services for communities of color. The amount will be finalized with the City Council during the budget process.

50-A Reform: The Mayor announced that he supports the State Legislature’s efforts to take away the provisions in 50-A that prevent transparency while still protecting the personal information of police officers. The Mayor also commended the Legislature for taking this step to ensure more accountability in the Department’s disciplinary system and give the public confidence.

Move Vendor Enforcement Out of NYPD: The City will shift enforcement for street vending out of NYPD so our officers can focus on the real drivers of crime instead of administrative infractions. This will further the Administration’s de-escalation agenda by reducing interactions between uniform officers and New Yorkers, particularly immigrant communities and communities of color.

By: AP

As New York City prepared to reopen after a more than two-month coronavirus shutdown, officials on Sunday lifted a curfew that was put in place amid protests of police brutality and racial injustice. But they also urged that demonstrators be tested for COVID-19.

“Get a test. Get a test,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo urged people who have been participating in rallies and marches in memory of George Floyd.

He said the state planned to open 15 testing sites dedicated to protesters so they can get results quickly.

“I would act as if you were exposed, and I would tell people you are interacting with, assume I am positive for the virus,” Cuomo added.

The call is similar to what officials in Seattle, San Francisco and Atlanta have made following massive demonstrations, with free testing set up for protesters who may have been exposed to the virus.

“There is a pandemic going on out there. People are aware of that. I don’t think any of us have forgotten that’s happening,” Jennifer Cota, who was protesting in a Seattle suburb, told KCPQ-TV. “It’s still a risk a lot of people are willing to take.”

Demonstrations across the country Saturday were perhaps the largest one-day mobilization since Floyd died May 25 at the hands of a Minneapolis police officer. The turnout continued around the globe Sunday even as U.S. cities lifted curfews imposed amid last week’s spasms of arson, assaults and smash-and-grab raids on businesses. Recent days of U.S. protests have been overwhelmingly peaceful.

New York City prepared to enter its first phase of reopening after shutdowns due to the pandemic. Between 200,000 and 400,000 people are expected to head back to the workplace Monday, with many using a subway system that most New Yorkers have avoided since March because of crowded conditions.

On Sunday, Mayor Bill de Blasio lifted the city’s 8 p.m. curfew put in place for the Floyd protests.

“Last night was the best by far,” de Blasio told reporters. “We had the biggest number of protesters, the fewest arrests, the fewest problems and that convinced me it was time for the curfew to go away. I have no intention of bringing it back.”

   (AP)

By: Rusty Brooks

A Nonprofit Public Health Solutions recently sealed a  $1.2 billion contract focusing mainly on services to prevent HIV/AIDS from the NYC Health Department

According to the foundations homepage: Public Health Solutions (PHS) was first established as the Medical and Health Research Association of New York City (MHRA) by the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (NYC DOHMH) in 1957. We were created to foster research in the NYC DOHMH by providing more flexibility to seek grants and contracts from government and private sources. What began in 1957 as a city agency’s innovation in research administration has successfully evolved into a major public health organization. Today, we not only continue in our original mission to conduct significant research and assist NYC DOHMH, but also provide vital services that improve the health of low-income and high-risk families and communities throughout New York City

The Health Department contract comes as the city is recording historic lows in new HIV diagnoses, according to an agency report in November, the NY Post reported.

The department said that in 2018, the city figure “fell below 2,000 for the first time since annual HIV reporting began in 2001.

“According to the 2018 HIV Surveillance Annual Report, 1,917 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in New York City in 2018, down 11% from the 2,157 new diagnoses reported in 2017, and down 67% from 2001,’’ it said.

The NY Post asked department spokesman Patrick Gallahue about the contract: “This is the master contract for HIV services”

“PHS will be responsible for the procurement, subcontracting and management of a portfolio of human service contracts going to various providers across the city.

“Through the subcontracts, most of the $1.2B will be passed onto community-based social service providers for the provision of services to prevent new HIV and Sexually Transmitted Infections, to decrease morbidity and mortality among individuals with HIV, to prevent/respond to the outbreak of infectious diseases in New York City, and to ensure and promote the health of New Yorkers.’’

Queens Councilman Robert Holden was not thrilled with this gigantic contract. He told the publication. “A contract of this size over this long period of time should be put on hold,” said the pol, a registered Democrat who was elected as a Republican. “We have a budget shortfall. We shouldn’t be committing this much money long-term that we don’t have.”

By Ilana Siyance

The tragic death of George Floyd has led to even more tragedy, loss and death all around the nation.  In NY, close to 300 of New York’s finest have been injured during the ongoing protests.  As reported by the NY Post, 292 NYPD officers have been hurt in violent clashes that erupted during demonstrations, police said.

NYPD Commissioner Dermot Shea called for an end to violence against officers.  “Violence has been used multiple times during what could have been and what should have been peaceful protests,” Shea said Thursday night at a live-streamed press conference.  “Violence poisons the well of democracy. It has done so at a time when we so desperately need civil discourse about issues that all of us, black, white — all of us that we care so much about.”

The protests should be peaceful, but many times they are not.  NYPD police said it seems multiple different groups including Al Qaeda, ISIS, neo-Nazis, other political extremists and hate groups have unified for the goal of opportunistic propaganda to “accelerate conflict, incite violence.”

“What they’re seeking is more disorder, more violence, more mayhem,” said Deputy Commissioner for Intelligence and Counterterrorism John Miller.  As reported by NBC, police officials said “there’s been a pretty dramatic escalation in terms of rhetoric and propaganda from these extremist entities” in posting online and on social media trying to use George Floyd protests for their own agendas and to create unrest in the country.  “It’s our responsibility and obligation to make sure that we track down which of these propagandists has security implications for the large number of protests in New York City,” police officials said.

As of Saturday, the NYPD said they have made 1,024 protest related arrests and given 1,164 summonses. These numbers do not include curfew violations. Some 467 arrests have been linked specifically to felonies.  While the data still needs to be studied before making any inferences, 3.6 percent of those arrested had previous arrests or incidents with law enforcement tied to shootings, homicides, or weapons charges; 6 percent had ties to gangs; and 2.3 percent of those arrested were repeat offenders.

“You have anarchist groups that are actively planning to do destruction and violence against police,” said Miller, explaining that those groups don’t generally loot, but rather break glass, and damage buildings.  Then, “You have the looters who have tried to blend with the protesters for cover and then break off with the sole purpose of looting merchandise,” he continued.

By: Jared Evan

Two attorneys were taken back into custody Friday for charges in connection with a Molotov cocktail attack on a police patrol car during protests in Brooklyn last weekend in the wake of George Floyd’s death. One of the alleged attackers was interviewed by an online outlet ,before her attack,  lambasting the mayor for using the police to keep the violent riots peaceful.

“This has got to stop. And the only way they hear, the only way they hear us is through violence, through the means that they use”, suspect and lawyer Urooj Rahman said in the newly unearthed interview.

The first several nights of the George Floyd protests were extremely violent, particularly in Brooklyn. Hours of footage of the crowd gathered from social media display the protestors, spitting at cops, cursing them out, and some rioters physically confronting them. By all accounts it was perfectly reasonable for NYPD to have a presence, since the initial protests triggered violence, looting and several murders all across the nation.

The radicalized Brooklyn born lawyer Urooj Rahman however did not see a need for police at these violent riots. Urooj Rahman, 31, was one of the two suspects in the brazen Molotov cocktail attack on a police car.  In most circumstances this would be considered a serious act of terrorism, and the suspect held without chance of bail for up to 14 days, if  arrested under the Terrorism Act,  however the suspects had been out on $25,000 bail with electronic monitoring, CNN pointed out.

On Saturday night, Brooklyn federal prosecutors charged Rahman and  fellow lawyer Colinford Mattis, with causing damage by fire and explosives to a New York Police Department car after they allegedly drove a tan minivan to the Fort Greene neighborhood and Rahman threw a makeshift explosive into the broken window of an empty patrol car, according to court filings, according to CNN.

These are fairly lenient charges, considering if the police car had officers in it, there could have been dead cops. It would not be beyond reason for prosecutors to throw the full extent of the law at these two radicalized lawyers, who’s backgrounds are of storybook like success.

The NY Post reported on the newly uncovered interview from online entity Loud Labs.

“I think this protest is a long time coming,” lawyer Urooj Rahman said in a videotaped interview filmed near the Barclays Center in Brooklyn at around 12:15 a.m. May 30.

“This s–t won’t ever stop unless we f–kin’ take it all down. And that’s why the anger is being expressed tonight in this way,” she said.

The video surfaced Friday, as Rahman and co-defendant Colinford Mattis were taken back into custody by US marshals.

The NY Post continued: During the four-minute interview, Rahman claimed to be unaware that cops had been hurt by protesters during violent clashes sparked by the police killing of George Floyd — but said de Blasio should have held back the NYPD “the way that the mayor in Minneapolis did.”

The Minneapolis model was obviously a failure as millions of dollars of damage was done to the city, with buildings and a police station in flames.

“I think the mayor should have done that, because if he really cared about his police officers, he should have realized that it’s not worth them getting hurt,” she said.

Rahman was then caught on surveillance video just before 1 a.m. that day lighting a Molotov cocktail and tossing it into an empty police vehicle near the 88th Precinct, according to court papers, the Post reported.

By: David Bauder

The New York Times’ editorial page editor resigned Sunday after the newspaper disowned an opinion piece by U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton that advocated using federal troops to quell unrest, and it was later revealed he hadn’t read the piece prior to publication.

James Bennet resigned and his deputy, James Dao, is being reassigned at the newspaper, the Times said Sunday.

The fallout was swift after the Arkansas Republican’s piece was posted online late Wednesday. It caused a revolt among Times journalists, with some saying it endangered black employees and calling in sick on Thursday in protest.

Following a review, the newspaper said Cotton’s piece should not have been published, at least not without substantial revisions.

Katie Kingsbury, a Pulitzer Prize winner for editorial writing who joined the Times from the Boston Globe in 2017, will oversee the opinion pages through the November elections, the Times said.

Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger said in a statement that he was grateful for changes Bennet had made to the paper’s opinion pages, including broadening the range of voices. Bennet, who was editor of The Atlantic before taking over the Times’ opinion pages in 2016, had received some heat for adding new voices, including conservative columnist Bret Stephens.

It was the second high-level journalism job lost because of mistakes made in coverage of the nationwide protests about the treatment of blacks by law enforcement. The top editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer, Stan Wischnowski, resigned Saturday after uproar over a headline that said, “Buildings Matter, Too.”

Even before Bennet’s resignation and the paper rescinding its support for Cotton’s piece, Sulzberger had called for beefing up the opinion section’s fact-checking and suggesting that it was publishing too many opinion pieces by outsiders.

The Times reported that Cotton’s piece was edited by Adam Rubenstein. But Dao, in a tweet on Saturday, revealed that he supervised the acceptance and review of Cotton’s piece and that blame should be placed on the department’s leadership and not Rubenstein.

Cotton on Sunday tweeted an initial copy of a Times article about Bennet’s resignation, saying it was “false and offensive.” He said he advocated using military force as a backup, only if police are overwhelmed, to stop riots — not against protesters.

Cotton retweeted President Donald Trump, who said that “the State of Arkansas is very proud of Tom. The New York Times is Fake News!”

Bennet, who had revealed in a meeting in a meeting on Friday that he had not read Cotton’s piece before it was posted online, had defended it following the initial protests, saying it was important to hear from all points of view.

But the Times review criticized several aspects of Cotton’s piece, starting with the headline, “Send in the Troops,” which the newspaper said in an editor’s note Saturday was “incendiary and should not have been used.”

Cotton’s essay referred to “left-wing radicals like antifa infiltrating protest marches to exploit” Floyd’s death when, in fact, there has been little evidence of antifa’s involvement in the demonstrations. Cotton’s statement that police had borne the brunt of violence stemming from the demonstrations should have been challenged, the newspaper said.

The newspaper said that “given the life-and-death importance of the topic, the senator’s influential position and the gravity of the steps he advocates, the essay should have undergone the highest level of scrutiny.”

(AP)

By: Jared Evan

A group of social justice anti-police activists compromised of allegedly city hall workers appeared on the Instagram social media platform and announced their intentions to rally against the mayor Monday morning.

Identifying themselves as the City Workers for Justice Group, they laid out their demands on Instagram. The activists wrote:

As current & former @nycgov employees, we are outraged by the escalation, violent misconduct & civil rights violations by the NYPD, and the Mayor’s failure to protect our communities.

We demand justice for NYC’s Black and Brown communities.

Police exacerbate systemic failures, they don’t resolve them. Our communities need investment & support, not overpolicing. #DefundNYPD & reallocate funds to housing support, rental relief, food assistance, education & healthcare.

We are outraged by the NYPD’s rampant violence against black & brown communities, protesters, bystanders, essential workers, medics & legal observers. These officers are a danger to the communities they claim to serve. Each of them must go.

For far too long, police have abused our communities and violated the rights of New Yorkers with near-impunity and little public accountability. This changes now. #Repeal50a and release all disciplinary records for public review.

From rank-and-file to leadership, recent events have shown NYPD misconduct is systemic at all levels. We demand answers. An independent commission of civil rights attorneys, journalists & activists must investigate the response to May & June 2020 protests.

The recent curfew gave NYPD free license to indiscriminately attack and arrest New Yorkers exercising their most fundamental rights. This is a dangerous precedent rife for abuse. We demand that any future curfew must be approved by a ⅔ City Council vote.

These are only the first steps. There must be real change to regain the trust of our communities & the legitimacy to serve them. These systemic failures will not be fixed with minor reforms or with new leadership, but with new structures & accountability.

This apparent rebellion occurred on the heels of de Blasio after resisting for a week  of calls to slash police funds from City Council members, announcing that he has a plan to reform the NYPD, including diverting funding from the NYPD to social programs.

The far-left activist anti-police agenda has risen to prominent heights after the George Floyd murder and subsequent violent riots and peaceful disobedience.  De Blasio is facing opposition from the uber progressive City Council & simultaneously facing heat from supporters of the NYPD and police brass.

Rumors have been flying on NYPD social media accounts and on local podcasts that the NYPD police commissioner is about to resign, and other top-ranking NYPD officials were resigning or being replaced. PIX11 reported: “This is not true,” tweeted Freddi Goldstein, press secretary to Mayor Bill de Blasio, said in response to the rumors

NYPD Deputy Commissioner Richard Esposito, over the phone to PIX11 also said the rumors wasn’t true.

By Ilana Siyance

New York City has always had a special allure.  Despite the high costs of living in the Big Apple, for many being in the center of the business world made it all worthwhile.  It afforded opportunities that not many other places could live up to.  Now, with the breakout of the pandemic, the will to social distance from other people, the prolonged shutdown, and finally the violent riots have residents questioning if NYC still holds its appeal.

For months now, New Yorkers have  been leaving their homes.  This new challenge, where protestors have proved violent, has kicked it up a few notches leading to fear.  Many residents are contemplating whether or not to return at all.  As reported by the NY Times, some 420,000 New Yorkers have already left between March and May as a response to the pandemic, according to cellphone data analyzed by the Times.   Those who left were mostly affluent, or those who had the means to do so.

Of course, this city has seen its fair share of problems in the past.  We had the 1970s recession, the Sept. 11 terror attack, hurricanes, and prolonged power outages.  Each time, however, there was a resurgence and the city and its residence bounced back.  Why would this be different?  Some say the very nature of the pandemic threatens the way of life that NYC optimizes.  This is the bustling city that never sleeps.  If it can’t be bustling and it has to be put to sleep, then maybe it loses its allure.  Further, if people are working remotely then why opt to pay the higher price of living in NYC.  Why not move to other places where the same rent can provide a backyard and more square footage?

One New Yorker who left is Rebekah Rosler, 40, a therapist and doula.  She picked up with her husband and two children and is looking for a home in Connecticut.  She grew up in Manhattan.  Her parents and grandparents lived here since the 1870s, but she decided to leave.  “I had never felt an energy like that before, like the city was on the brink of something, and I don’t know what it is,” she said. “I was like, ‘We need to get out of here right now.’”  She said the recent curfews and violence further confirmed her decision to relocate.  “I live near Union Square, and it was terrifying to watch what was happening,” she said. “It made me realize what a relief not being there is right now.”

At the same time, there are other New Yorkers who feel differently.  They wouldn’t consider leaving their city when the going gets tough.  “These times of crisis, when things get tough in the city, it’s where I want to be, it’s where my neighbors are,” said Joseph Holmes, 66, a photographer in Park Slope, Brooklyn, who moved here in 1984. He takes offense to those who are leaving, and particularly to those who say that the city has no value if the museums, bars and restaurants are shuttered.  “I hate to admit it, but I do feel like if you don’t want to be here, ‘So long, I wish you the best of luck and goodbye,’” said Holmes.

“I don’t understand people who would consider leaving the city because of events that happen once every few decades and last for a matter of days,” added Holmes.  He sides with those who have faith that NYC will return to its prime, and will overcome all obstacles as it has in the past.

By Hadassa Kalatizadeh

The COVID-19 pandemic, the ensuing shutdown, the social distancing and masks all came as a shock to New Yorkers.   Now, New Yorkers are looking to one thing for relief– antibody testing. Doctors and scientists have given clues that possessing antibodies means patients have had some exposure to the virus. It is not yet conclusive, however, whether having these antibodies means a person cannot get Covid-19 again.  It is not known if they can still pass on the virus on to other people.  Still, the idea has circulated that antibodies will play a role in determining who can go back to work, or start to socialize or travel again.

“In general, a positive antibody test is presumed to mean a person has been infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, at some point in the past,” as per the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. “We currently don’t have enough information yet to say whether someone will definitely be immune and protected from reinfection if they have antibodies to the virus.”

As per a recent article in the NY Times, many people across the city, however, have already come to the conclusion that the test results will be a prediction of their future necessity to continue the labor of social distancing.  Some people who have received positive antibody results, are celebrating that they have already beat the virus and have the whole thing behind them.   They feel less anxious, knowing their body already fought off the disease to a certain degree.

Testing for antibodies has become very popular.  Even when the test comes out negative, there is reason to feel triumph.  It can be taken to mean that the social distancing has been successful, and all the sacrifices made were not for naught.  In the early days of the pandemic, people did not have access to testing.  They still do not know if they fought a regular cold or if it was indeed the coronavirus.  Now that testing is readily available, New Yorkers have been eager to see the results.

“I would hate to never actually know,” said Lauren McFarland, 48, who lives in Brooklyn with her three sons. “It’s one fact we can count on in this whole thing.”  Her family has tested positive for antibodies, and she hopes the results will have positive ramifications for their impending future. “What if there is a stamp in our passport, or we are a different color on an app, or it means the boys can go to sleepaway camp?” said Ms. McFarland. “My friends and I joke that the positives can hang out with the positives.”

These ideas all stem from statements made by The World Health Organization.  The WHO has suggested, via a science brief put out in April, that in the future antibodies “could serve as the basis for an ‘immunity passport’ or ‘risk-free certificate’ that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-infection”.  Still, there is no evidence that antibodies can protect someone from getting infected again.

Doubtlessly, there is still a lot that is unknown in regards to this novel pandemic.  Any bit of confidence and assurance is welcome in these times.   This is likely where the allure of the antibody testing comes in.  Even if the testing can bring can only bring a bit of peace of mind to some people, it will be considered quite worthwhile.  So, while there is still no certainty of immunity for those who test positive, many have decided they will take any reassurance they can get for now.