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Cuomo Says Economic Re-Openings Must Consider Human Costs for New Yorkers

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In this April 17, 2020, file photo, a patient is loaded into an ambulance by emergency medical workers outside Cobble Hill Health Center in the Brooklyn borough of New York. New York state is now reporting more than 1,700 previously undisclosed deaths at nursing homes and adult care facilities as the state faces scrutiny over how it’s protected vulnerable residents during the coronavirus pandemic. (AP Photo/John Minchillo, File)

By:  Marina Villeneuve & Michael Hill

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo argued that officials who are re-opening economies need to be upfront about the human costs. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he is adding staff to the city’s deluged 311 helpline. And there was a slight uptick in the daily death toll.

Coronavirus developments in New York:

 

HUMAN COST

Cuomo said the national debate over when to re-open outbreak-ravaged economies ultimately boils down to the value placed on people’s lives.

“How much is a human life worth?” Cuomo asked at his daily press briefing. “That’s the real discussion that no one is admitting openly or freely. But we should.”

The Democratic governor made the argument as political pressure intensifies to relax outbreak-fighting restrictions keeping people at home and off the job. As other states begin lifting restrictions, Cuomo has opted for a slower approach that will allow parts of the state to phase in economic activity later this month if they meet and maintain a series of benchmarks.

“The faster we re-open, the lower the economic cost — but the higher the human cost, because the more lives lost,” he said. “That, my friends, is the decision we are really making.”

Cuomo claims his plan avoids the trade-off between economic and human costs because it will be controlled by officials constantly monitoring fatalities and hospitalizations.

The 230 new deaths reported by Cuomo were up slightly from the previous day, but far lower than the daily peak of 799 on April 8. There have been more than 19,000 deaths in New York since the beginning of the outbreak.

The state total doesn’t include more than 5,300 New York City deaths that were blamed on the virus on death certificates but weren’t confirmed by a lab test.

New York’s hospitalization rates continue to drop with 659 new admissions reported Monday, the lowest number since March. There were 9,600 patients hospitalized overall.

 

HELPLINE DELUGED

The coronavirus case surge that swamped New York City’s 911 emergency line last month also deluged its 311 helpline, as calls soared from an average of 55,000 a day to about 200,000 daily. Wait times grew long in some cases.

To tackle the problem, the city has trained 285 new call-takers and added four new call centers, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday. He said the city also is creating 311 “express lanes” for COVID-19 matters and needs for food, so those calls would be taken with minimal wait times most of the day.

The 311 helpline was designed to handle non-emergency calls ranging from noise complaints to questions about jail visits.

De Blasio said typical wait times have dropped by 75 percent at peak-volume times.

In the 911 system, the virus spurred the busiest days ever for the city’s EMS operation. Requests for ambulance service hit a record 6,527 calls on March 30, over 50% more than average. They have since dropped to around normal levels of about 4,000 per day.

 

NURSING HOMES

New York state is reporting more than 1,700 previously undisclosed deaths at nursing homes and adult care facilities as the state faces scrutiny over how it’s protected vulnerable residents during the coronavirus pandemic. At least 4,813 people have died from COVID-19 in the state’s nursing homes since March 1, according to a tally released by Cuomo’s administration late Monday that, for the first time, includes people believed to have been killed by the coronavirus before their diagnoses could be confirmed by a lab test.

(AP)

Two Homeless Men Found Dead on NYC Subways; Spike in Filth & Squalor

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Two homeless men were found dead on the MTA subway system overnight during the previous weekend. Police said the first man was discovered Friday night on a C train at the 168th Street station in Washington Heights, and the second man was found Saturday morning on a 4 train at the Utica Avenue station in Brooklyn. Photo Credit: thecity.nyc

By: Ilana Siyance

New Yorkers with no place to call home have been riding and sleeping on mostly vacant subway trains.  While this is not the first time in NYC history that subways have become a haven for homeless people looking for an indoor place to rest, the current shift is sparking public health fears, and causing the subway system to shut down nightly for cleaning.

As reported by the NY Times, ridership on NYC subways is down 92 percent, and the mostly empty cars have become inviting to the city’s homeless population.  Many of the trains now feature unkempt figures sleeping in the seats for extended rides.  While this would never be seen as pleasant, during the coronavirus pandemic its impact is even more critical.  Many of these passengers have no access to medical care or proper hygiene and can become a health hazard for commuters and train employees.

In response, the city has taken an unusual step—closing down the subway system nightly from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. for deep cleaning.  The closures will begin on Wednesday, for the subway system that has become known for never closing.  The change will not only allow time for the trains to be disinfected and restore public confidence in public transportation, but it will also force the homeless population to find a different place to sleep.  The final decision was made on Thursday by transit officials together with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio.

Both the Governor and Mayor said they would work to help the homeless find shelter. “It’s an unacceptable reality and this new plan will disrupt that unacceptable reality and allow us to actually get help to people more effectively,” Mr. de Blasio said.

Currently, the shelters where the government wants the homeless to stay provide single adults dormitory-style rooms where they sleep just a few arms’ lengths away from one another.  Over 60 homeless people have died due to coronavirus.  Three out of every four of those casualties were single adults who had stayed in shelters where numerous people shared rooms and bathrooms. Many of the homeless refuse to go to the shelters, saying they are unsafe.  The city has been trying to alleviate the health risk at shelters by transferring thousands of homeless people into hotel rooms that are vacant due to the city’s shutdown and the lack of tourists.

Providing shelter for the homeless remains a priority, however, it is exceedingly clear that the lodging cannot be sought on subways.  Close to 100 Metropolitan Transportation Authority employees have died from coronavirus. The casualties of bus drivers and train operators outweigh casualties in almost all other work fields.  These employees work in the confined indoor space, exposed to numerous people gripping the same metal poles.  Currently, cleanup crews have only 10 to 15 minutes to disinfect cars before a train turns around.  David Duarte, is a cleaner at the Stillwell Avenue Station in Brooklyn’s Coney Island, one of the largest elevated terminals around the globe.  He said that he and four co-workers started putting on hazmat suits, masks and gloves before work. “There can be feces, urine, a lot of trash,” said Duarte. “The more homeless are in there, the harder it is to clean the train.”

Sarah Feinberg, the interim president of New York City Transit, said in a statement that “the subway system should not be used as a substitute for shelter.”  “It’s not good for our customers, it’s not good for our workers, and it’s not good for homeless New Yorkers who deserve much, much better care,” she said.

1000th COVID-19 Patient Recovers at NY’s Lenox Hill Hospital; Released to Great Fanfare

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Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan released its one-thousandth recovering coronavirus patient this past week. (Lenoxhill.northwell.edu)

By: Mike Mustiglione

It was a milestone to be proud of, as Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan released its one-thousandth recovering coronavirus patient this past week.

Ramdeo Radhay, 61, was wheeled out the front door by hospital staffers to the sounds of boisterous applause.

In a video of the event, Radhay flashed a thumbs up sign, shook hands with cardiologist Dr. Shankar Thampi, and declared, “I want to thank Dr. Thampi and everyone in this hospital a million times.”

“Radhay, an immigrant and former farmer from the South American country of Guyana, moved to the US in 2011 and worked in auto repair until he lost his job because of the coronavirus, hospital officials said,” reported the New York Post. “He has five kids, two of which are adopted — and lives with his wife, a daughter and two of his sons, who work as medical assistants for the hospital, officials said. Two of his sons, as well as his wife and daughter, who both work in a nursing home, tested positive for the disease, officials said. Fortunately, only the father needed to be hospitalized.”

During his stay at Lenox Hospital, Radhay “had been doing poorly. He required oxygen for most of the time he was hospitalized. Doctors had considered placing Radhay on a ventilator when they opted to start him on plasma instead,” said amny.com. “Once the plasma treatment started, Radhay’s condition turned around almost instantly.

“Over the last 48 hours he has had a remarkable recovery,” Dr. Nazish Ilyas, Division Chief of the Hospitalists and Associate Chair for Inpatient Medicine at Lenox Hill Hospital, told amny.com “Today was the first day that we were able to take him off of oxygen completely. From where he came in two weeks ago to today, the progress he has made has really been remarkable.”

There have been other inspiring tales to come out of the hospital during the pandemic. The New Yorker, just days ago, profiled an intensive-care nurse named Cady Chaplin who has been on the front lines there combatting the virus, and her colleague and friend Karen Cunningham. Both live in Brooklyn.

“When I wear a uniform, I put it on and take on my nurse self,” Cady Chaplin said during the interview. “But you lose your personal eccentricities, so I like to wear weird T-shirts underneath my scrubs, even if it’s just for myself.

“Sometimes, after my shift, I walk in my apartment, slide down the door, and cry,” she added. “After I take a shower, I can’t quite figure out what it is I am supposed to be doing. Coming down from these shifts, hearing codes all day on the intercom, it’s hard to get out of that fight-or-flight response. I’ve been eating a lot of salted black licorice.”

NYC Tenant Associations Rally to Cancel Rent Payments for May

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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., attends a House Oversight Committee hearing on Capitol Hill (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

By Hadassa Kalatizadeh

As unemployment rises rapidly in the U.S., due to Coronavirus, tenants rights groups and community nonprofits are uniting to rally in hopes of canceling rent and mortgage payments due for the month of May. The groups have been using social media as well as sporadic in-person protests to persuade the government to halt upcoming rent and mortgage payments during this time of widespread economic hardship.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York’s liberal Representative, is enthusiastically endorsing the effort, which is known as #CancelRent in online video rallies.  “It’s not that it’s impossible to do and it’s not that we can’t do it,” said Ocasio-Cortez in a live video on her Facebook page. “We lack enough politicians with political will to actually help people who are tenants and actually help people who are mom-and-pop landlords.”

As reported in the NY Times, groups across the country are encouraging tenants to withhold May rent payments, in hopes of adding pressure to attain tenant-friendly legislation.  Needless to say, landlords are pushing back, saying they are struggling to pay their bills as well.  Further, as many tenants already haven’t been able to pay rent they say the consequences for an escalation could be disastrous. They maintain that property owners too have mortgage payments to make, property taxes to pay, and expenses in maintaining buildings.

For the federal government to get involved in canceling rent and mortgage payments for the duration of the shutdown, it would require extensive and far-reaching legislation in the housing and financial markets, which many say may be unconstitutional.  Chances for an all-out bill being rolled-out remain slim but that hasn’t stopped the groups from amassing a good size army of followers, even including some progressive members of Congress. “It’s a moment that people are literally rising up for real transformation in the housing market,” said Cea Weaver, the campaign coordinator at Housing Justice for All, a New York group.

Jittery landlords too have bonded saying that before the government can demand anything from them, elected officials would first need to act to wave looming property taxes.  Recently, a report by the NYC’s Rent Guidelines Board showed that roughly 30 percent of landlord’s expenses for rent-regulated apartments go towards paying property taxes in NYC. Joseph Strasburg, the president of the Rent Stabilization Association, which embodies 25,000 NYC landlords, cautioned that a strike on rent payments would “create an economic and housing pandemic.” “The city and its residential housing landscape will crumble into an economic abyss worse than the 1970s, when New York was the national poster child for urban blight,” said Mr. Strasburg.

In April, overall rent collection was not far below last year’s level, but that was because many renters paid by credit cards, and some landlords did allow concessions.

Bklyn Funeral Home Gets Licensed Pulled After Corpses Found in Moving Vans

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Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Services in Flatlands was being investigated, according to Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, who called the firms actions “appalling, disrespectful to the families of the deceased, and completely unacceptable. Photo Credit: You Tube

By: Howard M. Riell

Like something out of a cheap horror movie, the discovery of decomposing corpses inside moving vans has cause state health officials to remove the license from a funeral home in Brooklyn that was allegedly responsible.

Andrew T. Cleckley Funeral Services in Flatlands was being investigated, according to Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker, who called the firms actions “appalling, disrespectful to the families of the deceased, and completely unacceptable. We understand the burden funeral homes are facing during this unprecedented time. But a crisis is no excuse for the kind of behavior we witnessed.”

Police official had been notified on Wednesday of the terrible smells and viscous liquid emanating from the truck, which was left just outside the funeral home at 2037A Utica Ave.

“Cops found dozens of bodies piled up in the unrefrigerated cargo areas and more lying on the floor inside the business, sources have said,” the New York Post reported. “U-Haul called the macabre use of its trucks “wrongful, egregious and inhumane,” with a company source telling TMZ, “Our trucks absolutely cannot be rented for this reason.”

Criminal charges were not brought, according to information supplied to the Associated Press, but the funeral home was penalized for not controlling the stench.

“Obviously the funeral home shouldn’t have done that,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

Never one to miss an opportunity for publicity, Mayor Bill de Blasio also had a comment. He called the incident “unconscionable” and added, “I have no idea in the world how any funeral home could let this happen.”

Brooklyn Borough President, Eric Adams said during an interview with the New York Daily News that “While this situation is under investigation, we should not have what we have right now, with trucks lining the streets filled with bodies. It was people who walked by who saw some leakage and detected an odor coming from a truck.”

New York City, of course, has been the unfortunate epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic “and the city’s funeral homes have been overwhelmed,” Reuters reported. “As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 18,000 people have died of COVID-19 in America’s biggest city, according to a Reuters tally. Funeral homes say they are facing weeks-long backlogs to bury or cremate the dead.”

The horrible incident “highlighted a serious and continuing problem: What to do with thousands of dead bodies in New York City, which weeks ago emerged as the center of the pandemic in the U.S.,” reported wsj.com. “As of Wednesday afternoon, officials reported 12,287 confirmed coronavirus deaths in the five boroughs, with another 5,302 fatalities classified as probable deaths from the virus.”

de Blasio promised that New York City will create a group akin to the task force recommended by Adams to aid communication and cooperation between families, funeral homes and members of the clergy.

NYC Hotels Designated for COVID-19 Patients Close to Empty

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A quarter of hotels in New York City hotels that had been slated as facilities to handle patients who had been suffering from the coronavirus still sit empty and unused. At the same time, subway trains are filled with homeless people – many potentially infected. Photo Credit: AP

By: Jim McFeeney

Hotels rooms are empty, while subway cars are jammed.

Something isn’t adding up.

A quarter of hotels in New York City hotels that had been slated as facilities to handle patients who had been suffering from the coronavirus still sit empty and unused. At the same time, subway trains are filled with homeless people – many potentially infected.

In addition, in what has caused a furor from coast to coast, local nursing homes have been strong-armed into taking those who are getting over the virus, thereby endangering other residents.

“As of 4 a.m. Monday, the LaGuardia Plaza Hotel in Queens had 10 occupants and the Aloft next to it had 11 while a Hampton Inn and a Hilton Garden Inn in undisclosed locations in the city had no guests, according to a NYC Health + Hospitals document viewed by The Post,” the newspaper reported. All told, those hotels had only 21 occupants for nearly 1,100 rooms, according to the document.

“It’s infuriating and morally disgusting,” Annie Caraforo, an activist with Neighbors Together, a Brooklyn social services and advocacy group, told the Post. “This is a once-in-a-lifetime pandemic and we need to be taking all of the safety precautions we can to make sure people can safely socially isolate and keep themselves healthy.”

A national outcry has arisen because New York’s leaders vastly over-estimate the damage they thought would be caused by the pandemic. The USNS Comfort hospital ship “holds fewer than 80 patients in New York City, leaving nearly 90% of its available space unused after its emergency dispatch to the U.S. epicenter of the coronavirus crisis,” said CNBC. “Shortly after arriving from its home port in Norfolk, Virginia, the military’s floating lifesaver was adjusted to receive coronavirus patients, halving its 1,000-bed capacity.” As of mid-April, only 71 of the USNS Comfort’s 500 beds were occupied.

The situation has not gone unnoticed in the halls of power in upstate Albany, At one of his televised daily briefings, Cuomo showed the gathered reporters and television cameras a photo splashed across the front page of The Daily News of the homeless crammed into train cars. “That is disgusting, what is happening on those subway cars,” he told the New York Times. “It’s not even safe for the homeless people to be on trains,” he added. “No face masks, you have this whole outbreak, we’re concerned about homeless people, so we let them stay on the trains without protection in this epidemic of the Covid virus? No. We have to do better than that, and we will.”

B&H Photo Lays off 400 Employees; Virus Crisis Has “No End in Sight”

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B&H Photo & Electronics, the iconic electronics retailer that has made a name for itself in Manhattan and throughout the world announced this week that it was furloughing 400 of its 2000 employees because of the coronavirus lockdown. Photo Credit: B&H

Edited by: JV Staff

B&H Photo & Electronics, the iconic electronics retailer that has made a name for itself in Manhattan and throughout the world announced this week that it was furloughing 400 of its 2000 employees because of the coronavirus lockdown, according to a NY Post report.

Last month, B&H shuttered its Manhattan megastore that employs Orthodox Jews from the tri-state area. Izzy Friedman, the human resources director of B&H told those employees that are now without jobs that this was a very difficult decision for the company and it “waited as long as possible” before sending out the pink slips. The Post reported that Friedman reminded the laid off employees that B&H has been providing salaries and benefits “ “through the Passover holiday break, and beyond to make this easier.”

B&H is a landmark in Manhattan for locals and tourists from across the globe who travel to the Big Apple in order to purchase electronic equipment and supplies from the celebrated retailer. B&H has been in operation for the last 47 years in its flagship store on 9th Avenue and West 34th Street in midtown Manhattan.

Friedman also told employees that B&H had no choice but to let the 400 employees go because the  “crisis has continued with no clear end in sight” but was looking forward to evaluating “the various stimulus benefits available,” according to the Post report.

“It is our sincerest hope and prayer that this global pandemic and its economic impacts will be temporary, and that in the future we will be able to reverse many of these furloughs,” Friedman wrote in the Wednesday memo, as was reported by the Post.

According to one B&H employee who spoke to the Post, the layoffs come as a surprise as the store’s call center has been generating a brisk business from those who wish to order electronic equipment such as cameras, computers and accessories. Now that a vast majority of people are working from home due to the coronavirus pandemic, such orders are related to those seeking to set up offices from home.

Back on March 16th, B&H officially closed its two-story Manhattan location, however, according to the company’s web site, those who placed online or phone orders may pick up their products within 30 minutes of their order at the side entrance of the midtown store, according to the Post report.

B&H is owned by the Schreiber family. Its first store was opened in Tribeca in 1973 and has since grown exponentially.

In November of 2019, it was reported that New York State’s Attorney General Letitia James had filed suit against B&H, alleging that  the store withheld approximately $7.3 million in tax revenue from New York State over 13 years.

Officially, the suit is for violations of New York’s Tax Law, the New York False Claims Act, and New York’s Executive Law. The suit claims that B&H — the nation’s largest non-chain photo and video equipment retailer — knowingly failed to pay sales tax due on tens of millions of dollars it received from electronics manufacturers to reimburse the company for “instant rebate” manufacturer discounts B&H passed along to its customers.

A spokesman for B&H Photo, Jeff Gerstel, said the state’s lawsuit was without merit in a statement. “B&H is not a big box store or a faceless chain; we are a New York institution, having operated here for nearly 50 years with a stellar reputation. The tax department has done countless audits and never once – not a single time – mentioned this widespread industry practice. B&H has done nothing wrong and it is outrageous that the AG has decided to attack a New York company that employs thousands of New Yorkers while leaving the national online and retail behemoths unchallenged.”

NY Anti-Semitic Candidate Sued For Allegedly Extorting Company over Racial Quotas

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Thomas Lopez-Pierre, who ran unsuccessfully for New York City Council in 2017, is in trouble for allegedly extorting a media company with threats, unless the company conformed to his racial diversity demands (You Tube)

By: Hayley Quigstone

Thomas Lopez-Pierre, a failed City Council candidate who was known for his “ greedy Jewish landlord” remarks and hurling insults at black supporters of his opponents has targeted a media company with threats of violence and economic harm if they do not comply with his social justice demands of racial quotas.

The media company has filed a lawsuit accusing Lopez-Pierre of threatening to send “gang members” to protest until they guaranteed half the speakers it books for various events would people of color or women the NY Post reported.

Lopez-Pierre is threatening Bisnow, a media and events business that that produces news and live events, focused on such as real estate, technology and businesses.

The NY Post reported: Lopez-Pierre started his “extortion scheme” in November 2019, sending letters to Bisnow’s sponsors saying he would have “recently incarcerated Black and Hispanic men … disrupt and hold up banners” at their events, the company charges in an $18 million Manhattan Federal Court lawsuit filed Saturday.

“Diversity has always been a priority for Bisnow, and they have a strong track record of outreach and inclusion in their company and events,” said Judd Burstein, a lawyer for Bisnow.

During his campaign for city council in 2017 against Upper Manhattan Councilman Mark Levine, Lopez-Pieree used vitriolic anti-Semitic attacks on Levine and on property owners he blames for the gentrification of Upper Manhattan, Observer reported.

“Together, we can defeat the greedy Jewish landlords that are engaged in ethnic cleansing”, The NY Post reported Lopez-Pierre saying in one of his campaign videos

He also provoked controversy in 2013 by appearing at a campaign event with former Gov. Eliot Spitzer during the fallen pol’s failed bid for city comptroller, by trading claims of sexual molestation with Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal and by labeling an African-American supporter of Levine’s an “Uncle Tom ni**ger bitch”, in a another political campaign Observer reported.

Observer reported Lopez-Pierre had pleading guilty a few years ago to violating an order of protection taken out by his ex-wife and the NY Post reported:

In 2013, Lopez-Pierre allegedly groped Assemblywoman Linda Rosenthal at a news conference.

“Stop grabbing my ass! Get off me!” Rosenthal, then 55, exclaimed at the event.

Lopez-Pierre denied Rosenthal’s allegations.

“I’m at a political event — I’d grab some old woman’s ass?” he said. “Why would I grab some old lady’s ass. That’s insane.”

NY Post reported that Lopez-Pierre threatened that unless sponsors Bisnow withdrew, “Our protestors will visit the corporate offices, homes and houses of worship of the speakers and sponsors … and yell that ‘XYZ’ person and/or firm is RACIST and SEXIST, until NYPD Officers arrive and drag them out kicking and screaming (which will be recorded on cellphones for social media),” Lopez-Pierre vowed, according to court papers.

TJV also reported last year: Lopez-Pierre had to pay back $54,107 of the $99,180 in matching funds the Campaign Finance Board gave him for his failed bid against City Councilman Mark Levine of Manhattan. Lopez-Pierre has also been assessed $6,182 in fines for assorted forms of malfeasance. The panel charged him with a long list of wrongs including: neglecting to report over $12,000 in contributions; failing to cite over $10,000 in transactions; exceeding the $100 limit on individual cash expenditures; using campaign funds for personal use; and making campaign expenditures after the election was already over.

Virus-Fueled Anxiety Grips NYC Therapists

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New York City’s health professionals have been scrambled to adapt to social distancing in sessions.  Thanks to congress’s emergency legislation passed in early March allowed psychologists to use telehealth treatment in lieu of in-person sessions. Photo Credit: societyforpsychotherapy.org

By Ilana Siyance

NYC’s busy hustle and bustle regularly affords its residents with a generous dose of anxiety, but the novel coronavirus pandemic has kicked it up several notches.  New Yorkers are not used to being cramped in at home in isolation.  Social distancing is bringing families are roommates too close for comfort.   Moreover, people have been losing their jobs, some are sick or grieving.  Fear of illness and economic woes top it all off.

As per a recent article in the NY Times, New York’s mental health mental health professionals say the problem is real, and overwhelming even for them.  “Never have I ever gone through a trauma at the same time as my clients,” said Melissa Nesle, a psychotherapist in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood. “All I am hearing all day, hour after hour, is what I am experiencing also.”  Ms. Nesle said that at times her patients seem hesitant to unload their troubles, knowing she is in the same boat. “They are aware to some extent that I am sitting in a New York City apartment, too,” she said. “So I will say to them, ‘Yes this is really stressful; I feel you; I hear it.’ But I want to reassure them that I am OK.”  She added, though,“I am not always.”

New York city’s health professionals have been scrambled to adapt to social distancing in sessions.  Thanks to congress’s emergency legislation passed in early March allowed psychologists to use telehealth treatment in lieu of in-person sessions. To maintain client confidentiality, however, some of the professionals are forced to hold the phone, zoom or Facetime meetings from their cars or even closets, to find space away from their households.  Other therapists have found too much in common with their patients.  They have been juggling their patients’ anguish while sometimes managing their own grief from the loss of elderly relatives or parents.

So now, the emotional health of mental health professionals seems to be shaken, due to the virus-oriented anxiety they face at home and again at work.  “I am so used to feeling angry or sad or a moment of joy for my patients, and this was a completely different experience,” said Dr. Lucy Hutner, a psychiatrist who specializes in women’s mental health. “I realized what it was: It was just all of the fear and the panic and the trauma and the stress that I had been absorbing from every side.”

NYC therapists are practicing the very coping techniques that they preach, like breathing, meditating and reaching out to their own mentors.  They leave time between sessions for a walk, take break when possible, and try to maintain routine.

Dr. Donna Demetri Friedman, the executive director at Mosaic Mental Health in the Bronx, says her patients have even more to deal with than most.  The low-income residents in the neighborhood don’t have the computers or even ample cell phone credits to be in touch with a therapist.  Further, African Americans and Latinos make up 62 percent of NYC’s coronavirus deaths, though they account for only 51 percent of the population, as per data from the city’s health department.  “I do a lot of self-care so that I don’t take on the intensity of what we see day to day,” Dr. Friedman said. “But with this, it’s so pervasive, there’s so much death, there is so much uncertainty, the helplessness can creep in, in ways that it typically doesn’t.  We are doing everything and anything to help each other and our patients to get through this,” she added. “Sometimes, that’s crying together.”

NY’s Private Clubs Continue to Collect Dues in Midst of Pandemic; Offers New Benefits

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Soho House locations are still collecting membership dues. Founded by restauranteur Nick Jones, it is only offering in-house credits for the time the club is closed, in a quest to cover costs associated with the club’s portfolio of 18 sought-after properties. Photo Credit: SoHoHouse.com

By: Hadassa Kalatizadeh

NYC is home to a wide variety of member-only clubs.  These clubs too are feelings the negative effects of the novel coronavirus. Many of these private clubs are still collecting hefty membership fees, despite the fact that many of these exclusive hotspots are closed during the pandemic.  While they know the situation isn’t ideal, the clubs say they too have continuing expenses.

As reported by the Real Deal, Soho House locations are still collecting membership dues. Founded by restauranteur Nick Jones, it is only offering in-house credits for the time the club is closed, in a quest to cover costs associated with the club’s portfolio of 18 sought-after properties.  The members club, first opened in 1995, has multiple lush locations in New York, Chicago, Miami, Los Angeles and around the world.  Last year, Soho House was planning a major expansion after raising $100 million.

But it is not the only club to continue collecting membership dues.  Otto Car Club in Scottsdale, Arizona, which offers vehicle storage, club space, and concierge services, is also still charging full dues.  As per Bloomberg, clubs are doing what they can to keep members happy.  Otto Car Club is still providing members with small group drives, but members must stay in their cars in order to adhere to social distancing.

Classic Car Club in New York is doing its best to keep members.  It is offering members who have the less expensive club-house only, non-driving memberships access its fleet of supercars. The club also has open a racing series on its high-tech track simulators.  The club staff spends roughly three hours disinfecting each car used by members to keep them germ free, but they consider it the cost of doing business. About 30 members dropped their memberships since the onset of Coronavirus.  However, co-owner Michael Prichinello said optimistically that applications are up.

There are a few clubs that are refunding members for the months that services are inaccessible.  San Vicente Bungalows in Hollywood, CA is letting members suspend their memberships and apply dues to pay for future months. In London, wine enthusiast club 67 Pall Mall Club, is giving members credit for unused months and has also initiated virtual wine tasting events for members.

Like most business across the board, the members-only clubs can only hope that the shutdown is short-lived.

Utah Hospital Workers Volunteer at NY’s Northwell Health & NY Presbyterian

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Brad Whitcomb, RN traveled to NY from Utah to help (intermountainhealthcare image)

By:  Justin Gatorwolf

A large hospital system in Utah lent a helping hand to New York

In early April, staff at Intermountain Healthcare in Utah were told that the 24-hospital system would be sending a delegation to New York to treat Covid-19 patients, Crain’s reported.

Intermountain ended up sending 100 employees—nurses, doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and respiratory therapists—to work at Northwell Health and New York–Presbyterian hospitals

Here are some accounts of Utah health care workers who came to NY to help a city in need during a crisis

Reflections on the deployment to the New York Presbyterian hospital system from Brad Whitcomb, RN, from Utah Valley Hospital

Almost two weeks ago I came out to NYC to help and be of service to both the people in the New York that were ill and my fellow healthcare providers. With almost 99 other coworkers from Intermountain Healthcare, we came out here not knowing which hospital or department we would be working in. There were many unknowns for us, but what we did know is that we all felt this urge, this pull to come. We knew that if we were able to go, we should. I found out about this opportunity to travel to NYC exactly one week before I left.

Then I saw a nurse come out of a patient’s room. She washed her hands, grabbed some meds from the med cabinet, then sat down and put her head in her hands at her desk. She took a quick breather, got back up and started to get back into her full PPE to go back into the room to give the medications to the patient. I thought, “This is why I’m here; this is why they sent RNs.” We’re here to care for, to learn from, but also to give relief to those that provide care. I have seen patients die and patients get better. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve seen some amazing leadership. I’ve met some of the strongest and most awesome caregivers. While in the face of all that is happening around them, they can still laugh, they can still find happy moments, they can still find the best during the worst. They are extraordinary people! Their teamwork is above and beyond, they anticipate each other’s needs. I have now seen angels at work. I am humbled. These are the true heroes!!

Libbey Steed, an RN at Dixie Regional Medical Center, about her thoughts and feelings surrounding her experience in New York as part of Intermountain’s COVID-19 Response Team:

On 4/26/2017, I was in an ICU hospital bed at Intermountain Medical Center in Murray, Utah. I was intubated and taken to emergency surgery to have a colectomy that many thought I would not survive. Throughout my own personal crisis, my hospital staff provided hope, comfort, love and support. My medical team MADE me survive when the odds were grim. My medical team became my “heroes.”

Three years later, I’m standing at the doors of Southside Hospital in Long Island, New York in the middle of the New York City COVID-19 crisis working as an emergency room nurse because this is what I was made for. Today, I know without a doubt why I survived. I survived to provide hope, love and comfort to those in need during this crisis.

The partnership between Intermountain and the metropolitan area’s hospitals has benefits for the Utah system too. Although Utah had only about 4,500 confirmed Covid-19 cases as of April 29, the group of 100 clinicians will bring back experience on how to treat patients who have the virus, Crains reported.

NY Teams with 6 States To Develop Supply Chain of Protective Equipment

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Governor Andrew Cuomo delivers daily briefing on the ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic.

By TJV Editor

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy, Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, Delaware Governor John Carney, Rhode Island Governor Gina Raimondo and Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker today announced a joint multi-state agreement to develop a regional supply chain for personal protective equipment, other medical equipment and testing, NY.gov announced.

While the states will continue to partner with the federal government during this global and national public health crisis, they will also work together to identify the entire region’s needs for these products, aggregate demand among the states, reduce costs and stabilize the supply chain. The states will also coordinate policies regarding the inventory of PPE each state’s health care infrastructure should have to be prepared for a possible second wave of COVID-19. The states will also coordinate policies on what supplies local governments should have on hand for their First Responders, and if any requirements regarding PPE for the non-for-profit and private sector are needed.

The states will then seek to identify suppliers within the country, region or state who can scale to meet the demand of the entire region over the next three months. The goal of this approach is to decrease the potential for disruptions in the supply chain for PPE and medical equipment, including sanitizer and ventilators, and testing, and promote regional economic development.

In addition, the states are discussing how to collectively explore emerging technologies on an ongoing basis to take advantage of the potential associated with alternative methods of production for existing products and innovation that would lead to more effective and/or less expensive alternatives. For example, 3D Printers may represent an attractive alternative to manufacturing certain personal protective equipment and medical products.

“The COVID-19 pandemic created a mad scramble for medical equipment across the entire nation – there was competition among states, private entities and the federal government and we were driving up the prices of these critical resources,” Governor Cuomo said. “As a state and as a nation we can’t go through that again. We’re going to form a regional state purchasing consortium with our seven northeast partner states to increase our market power when we’re buying supplies and help us actually get the equipment at a better price. I want to thank our neighboring states for their ongoing support, generosity and regional coordination on these important efforts.”

Governor Murphy said, “Our states should never be in a position where we are actively competing against each other for life-saving resources. By working together across the region, we can obtain critical supplies as we begin the process to restart our economies, while also saving money for our taxpayers. This concept is at the heart of the regional approach we’ve established.”

Governor Lamont said, “With global supply chains continuing to experience a major disruption due to the pandemic, combining the efforts of our states into a regional purchasing initiative will help our states obtain needed PPE and other medical equipment without competing against each other. I’ve long been advocating for the federal government to get involved because pitting all 50 states against each other to compete for these supplies has never made any sense. Partnering with our neighbors helps make our purchasing power stronger and more dependable.”

Confusion Clouds the Forgiveness Terms of PPP Loans

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A notice of closure is posted at The Great Frame Up in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. The Paycheck Protection terms are still not clear according to many nation’s small businesses. (Photo/Paul Sancya, File)

By: Jared Evan

Small business that received loans from the second round of the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program still don’t know how much they may have to repay after the government missed a deadline to give specific guidance, Crain’s reported.

Reuters reported: In principle, the forgiveness terms are straightforward: borrowers must spend 75% of the loan on payroll costs, such as salaries, tips, leave, severance pay and health insurance, within the first two months. The remaining 25% can be spent on other running costs, such as rent and utilities. Money spent on non-qualifying expenses must be repaid at an annual rate of 1% within two years.

There still are issues that need to be clarified. Crain’s reported that companies and lenders say they need more guidance on how to calculate the amount that is eligible for forgiveness and what documentation is required to support the claims.

Reuters pointed out calculating partial forgiveness sums for borrowers who have not met the 75% threshold, tends to be an area of confusion.

As a result, some business owners are holding onto the loans and may even return them, according to interviews with small business groups, lenders and borrowers.

The Paycheck Protection Program was designed as a lifeline for small firms, many of which were shuttered due to stay-at-home orders, have no revenue coming in and may be forced to close for good.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that the economy shrank at an annual rate of nearly 5% in the first quarter, with consumer spending dropping 7.6%; the virus began spreading in the U.S. midway through the quarter, according to AP.

Reuters reported on an example: Josh Mason, founder of Maryland catering company Vittles Catering, said his bank only gave him instructions on how to maximize his eligibility for forgiveness on April 24, two days after he received the funds. Those instructions warned clients that the forgiveness process was “not yet clear.”

“I have read all the guidelines, but I wouldn’t be able to say exactly how much will be forgiven and not forgiven. I think that ambiguity is going to create a little bit of a mess when all of this comes to a close,” said Mason.

The U.S. Small Business Administration was supposed to clarify by April 26 how loans it approved as part of the Trump administration’s multitrillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus package can be spent and still qualify to become grants.

The SBA said late Wednesday it had approved more than 960,000 loans totaling nearly $90 billion in this round of funding. Banks have thousands more loans to submit, and many owners are still applying for the relief, AP reported.

Angry College Students Want Refunds for “Subpar” Online Classes

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One of the colleges in which subpar online classes were offered was at NY's Touro College. Photo Credit: ThoughtCo

By: Rusty Brooks

Angry college students and parents are demanding their money back for “subpar” online learning, at the same time universities are pushing for more signups as the fall semester might be cancelled as well, the NY Post reported.

AP Reported: Grainger Rickenbaker, a freshman who filed a class-action lawsuit against Drexel University in Philadelphia, said the online classes he is been taking are poor substitutes for classroom learning. There’s little interaction with students or professors, he said, and some classes are being taught almost entirely through recorded videos, with no live lecture or discussion.

“You just feel a little bit diminished,” said Rickenbaker, 21, of Charleston, South Carolina. “It’s just not the same experience I would be getting if I was at the campus.”

Class-action lawsuits demanding tuition refunds have been filed against at least 26 colleges, targeting prestigious private universities, including Brown, Columbia and Cornell, along with big public schools, including Michigan State, Purdue and the University of Colorado, Boulder, A.P reported.

Meanwhile, The N.Y Post reported:  “The online learning options being offered to NYU students are subpar in practically every aspect, from the lack of facilities, materials, and access to faculty. Students have been deprived of the opportunity for collaborative learning and in-person dialogue, feedback, and critique,” the federal class action suit filed last month against NYU stated.

Christina Rynasko claims in a new lawsuit against New York University that her daughter, Emily, a musical theater major, is not getting what she paid for from the online classes and who paid $36,000 in tuition for the spring semester, is seeking a prorated refund.

Ken McConnellogue, a spokesman for the University of Colorado, said it is disappointing that people have been so quick to file lawsuits only weeks into the pandemic. He said the suits appear to be driven by a small number of “opportunistic” law firms, AP reported.

“Our faculty have been working extremely hard to deliver an academic product that’s got the same high standards, high-quality academic rigor as what they would deliver in the classroom,” he said. “It’s different, no doubt. And it is not ideal. We all would prefer to have students on our campuses, but at the same time, we’re in the middle of a global pandemic here”, McConnellogue told A.P

“You cannot keep money for services and access if you aren’t actually providing it,” said Roy Willey, a lawyer for the Anastopoulo Law Firm in South Carolina, which is representing students in more than a dozen cases told Associated Press.  “If we’re truly going to be all in this together, the  universities have to tighten their belts and refund the money back to students and families who really need it, universities have to tighten their belts and refund the money back to students and families who really need it.”

Bklyn Born Jewish Comedian’s Cousin Mistakenly Buried in Catholic Cemetery

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Comedian Elayne Boosler’s Jewish cousin was buried in a Catholic cemetery (elayneboosler.com)

By Justin Caper

Comedian Elayne Boosler says her elderly Jewish cousin, who died last month, inexplicably got saddled with a pricey Christian burial package while in a Brooklyn nursing home, The City reported.

“Now my beautiful Jewish cousin is clutching rosary beads after a fake funeral that never — couldn’t have — happened because of coronavirus,” Boosler, who grew up in Sheepshead Bay, told THE CITY from her California home.

The family was never notified, and after three weeks of calling, they finally got through to the facility, Elayne Boosler wrote on Facebook. Nursing home officials said Buschell had died on April 15, according to Boosler.

By then, Buschell had already been interred at Forest Green Park Cemetery in Morganville, Monmouth County, which charged her with a $15,000 Catholic funeral package, the media outlet reported.

Despite no one being present for the funeral, the burial included costs for $600 flowers, $34 for bridge and tunnel tolls, and a $595 limousine, as well as $95 for makeup and $400 for clothes, Boosler wrote on Facebook.

The City reported: The ordeal began, Boosler recalled, when her cousin Harriet Saltzman phoned her from Florida on April 14 and said, “Are you sitting down? Pull the chair closer to the table in case you fall over.”

Saltzman told her that she had been trying to reach their mutual first cousin Dorothea Buschell at the Hamilton Park Nursing & Rehabilitation Center in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, to wish her a happy 83rd birthday.

When no one answered in Buschell’s room, Saltzman said she began leaving voicemails at the main number, but no one returned her calls for weeks.

Finally, on April 14, a frazzled staffer who happened to pick up the phone said, “Oh, no one called you yesterday? Uh, she died this morning.”

“And then Harriet said, ‘Why would someone have called yesterday if she died this morning?’,” Boosler said.

“That’s right folks, they buried my Jewish cousin, who never wore makeup & never spent more than $25 on an outfit, who always tipped 20% and would have known to take Queensboro Bridge to avoid tolls, IN A CATHOLIC CEMETERY HOLDING A ROSARY, WITH A $16,000 FAKE FUNERAL THAT NEVER HAPPENED,” Boosler wrote on Facebook.

Boosler said she had ensured in paperwork as recently as August 2018 that her cousin would be buried at New Montefiore Cemetery in Farmingdale.

“She had a burial plot (Jewish) next to her mother, sister & dad, which I myself reaffirmed was still in her record when I visited her August 2018,” Boosler wrote.

Richard J. Brum, who represents the Allure Group, the company that owns Hamilton Park nursing home, declined to comment on Buschell’s situation, citing resident privacy concerns, The City reported

Kehila Chapels of Brighton Beach, which claimed Buschell’s remains, didn’t respond to a request for comment, the outlet said.

In 1986, Boosler became the first woman to get her own one-hour comedy special on cable when Showtime aired Party of One.

Having no credit cards or borrowing power, Boosler saved her money to produce the special herself when cable executives told her that they did not believe people would tune in to see a woman do an hour of comedy. She successfully toured for 50 weeks a year performing a two-hour comedy show. She was discovered by Andy Kaufman and was close frinds with the legendary comedian  Boosler was born into a Jewish immigrant family and raised in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn.

NYC’s 1st Lady Tackles Mental Health Issues During Pandemic

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I dont want to see. Depressed cheerless young man sitting on the chair and covering his eyes while feeling unhappy

By: Chaya Gurkov

While COVID-19 deaths and infections continue to decline, New York City may be entering a grim new chapter that posits the question of what the collective mental health can endure.

NYC Well, the city’s behavioral health helpline and a signature part of First Lady Chirlane McCray’s ThriveNYC program, reported that the number of incoming calls and web sessions has swelled this month compared to previous years. In March of last year, NYC Well outlined an average of 6,496 calls and chats- a 25% increase to this month’s average of 8,712.

However, this has not gone unnoticed by local and state authorities. Governor Cuomo, in his Friday briefing, directed insurers to waive cost-sharing, co-pays and deductibles for essential workers seeking mental health services.

This necessary action comes on the heels of the troubling effects COVID-19 is having on the front line workers in NYC.

The piling up pull of mental health issues was accentuated with the two recent health care worker suicides – including that of emergency medical technician John Mondello from the Bronx and emergency physician Lorna Breen, who worked in the NewYork-Presbyterian Allen Hospital.

U.S. Rep. Grace Meng (D-Queens) spoke to this point as well, in a letter to President Trump, calling for the next coronavirus relief package to include mental health resources for frontline health care workers.

“The stress and anxiety from the exhaustive work they do – treating daily floods of coronavirus patients, high COVID-19 death rates, fear over lack of PPE, long hours, and separation from loved ones – is taking a huge emotional toll on many of these professionals,” the letter read.

The lawmakers who signed the letter urged that the CARES 2.0 package contains significant funding for mental health services for the people who will deal with impacts of COVID-19 far past its end date.

Queens Borough has seen a deadly uptick in suicide rates since the beginning of coronavirus lockdown. Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz released figures that showed a doubling of suicide deaths from March 15- April 28 since last year.

By comparison, since the beginning of the shutdown in late March, about the same number of people have committed suicide as those who died by suicide between Jan. 1 and April 19 in 2019.

“There is a mental health component to this health crisis that needs our attention,” Katz told reporters. “Since this pandemic began the numbers of suicides in Queens County have soared. The victims are young and old – no one is immune. Please reach out to your friends and neighbors. Check-in on each other because nobody should be alone in this and there is absolutely no shame in reaching out for help.”

According to the City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), as of April 26, there has not been an increase in emergency room visits for suicide-related concerns across all ages in the city since the COVID-19 outbreak. There have been, however, a spike in the volume of calls, texts, and chats to NYC Well.

“In the last available week (April 13-19) the volume of answered contacts remains elevated compared to the average number of weekly answered contacts in 2019,” said DOHMH spokesperson Patrick Gallahue in an email.

“We recognize that people are suffering during this crisis but help is available. We urge anyone who is experiencing a mental health crisis to reach out to NYC Well,” he added.

For more information on mental health services go to https://nycwell.cityofnewyork.us/en/ or call: 1-888-NYC-Well (1-888-692-9355); text: “Well” to 65173; or chat: www.nyc.gov/nycwell (Kings County Politics)