There are over 20,000 cases in New York City. By borough, 6,420 cases in Queens, 5,232 cases in Brooklyn, 3,616 in Manhattan, 3,542 in the Bronx, and 1,166 in Staten Island. It was a deadly day in Queens yesterday, with 13 deaths in a single hospital — Elmhurst Hospital — and 81 deaths total city wide in a 24 hour period. In total, 280 people in New York City have died. Refrigerated morgue trucks and tents have started to appear outside hospitals like Bellevue and Elmhurst – hospitals are short on capacity to store the number of people dying at the moment. It is expected that by tomorrow, all ICU beds in New York City will be full, as reported by the New York Times. New York State Department of Health website was last updated yesterday at 1:46 PM, with New York City cases at 30,811 state wide. In a news conference yesterday, Mayor Bill de Blasio predicted that over 50% of the NYC population will get the infection. Currently 55% of those with a positive diagnosis are under 50.
In yesterday’s press conference, Cuomo waxed poetic about why the coronavirus numbers are so high in New York City. A small portion of the text: ” it’s true that your greatest weakness is also your greatest strength. And our closeness is what makes us who we are. That is what New York is. Our closeness is what makes us special. Our acceptance, our openness is what makes us special. It’s what makes us feel so connected one to another. It’s what makes us so accepting of one another. It is the closeness that makes us the human beings that we are. The closeness is that New York humanity that I think exists nowhere else. The closeness is what makes our sense of community. In terms of increasing bed capacity, he says with the additional temporary hospitals and the floating Navy hospital, “You’re still not at the 140,000 that you need but then we’re looking at hotels, we’re looking at former nursing homes, converting other facilities to make up the differential. So, a lot, creative, aggressive, but in life you do what you have to do.”
$2 Trillion Economic Stimulus Bill Passes in Senate
The Senate unanimously passed the stimulus bill and it now goes to the House for approval. From the New York Times, among the provisions: “The legislation would send direct payments of $1,200 to Americans earning up to $75,000 — which would gradually phase out for higher earners and end for those with incomes more than $99,000 — and an additional $500 per child. It would substantially expand jobless aid, providing an additional 13 weeks and a four-month enhancement of benefits, extending them for the first time to freelancers and gig workers, and adding $600 per week on top of the usual payment. The measure would also provide $350 billion in federally guaranteed loans to small businesses and establish a $500 billion government lending program for distressed companies reeling from the crisis, allowing the administration to take equity stakes in airlines that received aid to help compensate taxpayers. It would also send $100 billion to hospitals on the front lines of the pandemic.”
Virtual Grand Central Tour
Take a Virtual Tour of Grand Central with us! This tour, led by Untapped New York’s Chief Experience Officer Justin Rivers, was filmed with a professional crew before coronavirus. It’s just like being there, and we even go to the hidden tennis courts! We’ll be offering a series of virtual content for free to our Insiders, with live virtual tours, artist talks and more.
Please stay safe, readers. We are thinking of you. If you are able, you can support Untapped New York through these challenging times by reading and sharing our content, buying our book Secret Brooklyn, and dream about future tours by getting a gift card! Sign up for our daily or weekly newsletter here for all the latest news. Please reach out to us with any questions, comments, or ideas — we’ve heard from many of you directly and the messages have been very heartening. The best way to reach us is through email, as our customer service phone line has been inundated. For questions about tours, contact tours@untappedcities.com. For questions regarding our Insiders member events, you can email insiders@untappedcities.com. For editorial and general comments and questions, email info@untappedcities.com.
Photo by Ryan Lahiff