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Outbreak!
The Coronavirus outbreak has the city's public-health infrastructure in the spotlight, as they were in other recent episodes like the Ebola scare of 2014 and the Legionnaires outbreak in 2015.
Certainly, most public health work occurs without the adrenaline and media attention that an outbreak brings, even if the stakes of fighting obesity, addressing Diabetes or preventing the spread of Hepatitis—to name just a few campaigns—are just as high.
But emergencies like the current one do remind New Yorkers of the importance of our disease-response apparatus, and of the complex environment in which it operates: a city with millions of residents and millions more commuters and tourists who crowd onto subways, commuter trains, buses, elevators, airplanes and ferries to get to or around the city ... and then disperse to neighborhoods, outlying towns or more distant places.
The response to the current threat is occurring as we speak, and to some degree it's being evaluated in real time. Years from now, a more robust review will be possible. Chances are, there will be high and low points seen in the city's performance.
Such was the case in the famous 1947 smallpox outbreak, when New York successfully vaccinated millions ([link removed][UNIQID]) . While considered a public health achievement of the highest order, hindsight has permitted some scholars to find flaws ([link removed][UNIQID]) in the vaccination campaign: that it suffered from logistical problems, failed to give full information to the public, and might have been carried out even after the threat of a serious outbreak had been all but eliminated. There might be lessons from that episode to guide the current effort. Already, it seems the city and state have been offering more (and more candid) information than their counterparts in the 1940s did ([link removed][UNIQID]) .
The deeper lesson from the history is that no public-health crisis response is ever perfect. It has to be evaluated on the broad strokes. Mistakes are inevitable. Perfection is impossible. Historians will ask: Did the response save lives and prevent illness where possible, without doing undue harm in the process? And the survivors will be able to judge.
- Jarrett Murphy, executive editor
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** Top Stories
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Evaluating NYC’s Response to Coronavirus: Key Decisions Loom ([link removed][UNIQID])
New York City might have to adopt much more dramatic measures, like the closure of schools, if the local case count tops 100, a public-health expert says.
Downzoning Differences: Clash Over Housing Projections Led to Bushwick Stalemate ([link removed][UNIQID])
The two sides disagreed on what might seem like a simple, factual question: whether or not the stakeholders’ vision for the neighborhood was a ‘downzoning.’
High Risk Seen in City’s Proposed System for Feeding Seniors ([link removed][UNIQID])
Department for the Aging is being criticized by providers and some advocates for adding an array of new requirements to its program without additional funding.
The Squirrel Next Door: A Wildlife Sanctuary in Clinton Hill ([link removed][UNIQID])
The New York State Department of Conservation grants licenses to those wishing to aid injured or abandoned wildlife.
Listen: Juan Gonzalez on Mike Bloomberg’s New York ([link removed][UNIQID])
Super Tuesday marked the first 2020 electoral test for Michael Bloomberg, whom voters around the country got to know through ads and debates. New Yorkers, of course, were already familiar with the billionaire media titan, whom they elected to the mayoralty three times.
City Stat
The Department of Consumer Affairs found that 6,691 workers were entitled to restitution under the city's Paid Sick Leave law in fiscal year 2019—and that number was on pace to nearly double in 2020.
See the data from the Mayor's Management Report. ([link removed][UNIQID])
** City Views
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Opinion: End the Hate-Filled Tirade Against NY Bail Laws ([link removed][UNIQID])
‘Any changes that add pretrial racial profiling or expand unjust money bail to these reforms are an intentional attack against communities of color, disabled people, LGBTQ people, and mentally ill people. ‘
Opinion: Growing Ferry Service to the Bronx Demands More Support ([link removed][UNIQID])
'City agencies need to be prepared with supportive planning and infrastructure to ensure that commuters have a positive transit experience. '
** Voices of New York
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Chinatown Shoppers Stock Up on Groceries Amid Coronavirus Worry ([link removed][UNIQID])
In the Chinese community, people started to hoard rice and other durable foods. Several Chinese supermarkets found their sales of rice had jumped 50 percent, and some were out of stock temporarily.
The Children of Mother Earth: Carnaval in ‘Ecuayork’ ([link removed][UNIQID])
Far from the mountains of the Ecuadorian Andes, families from the region gathered recently to celebrate Carnaval at Sisa Pakari, an Ecuadorian cultural center in the heart of Queens, which is commonly referred to as “Ecuayork” for the fact that Ecuadorian immigrants comprise the largest Latino group in the borough.
Neighbor Group 'Patrols' Sunset Park to Protect Immigrants from ICE ([link removed][UNIQID])
Local activists started Sunset Park Emergency ICE Watch, a volunteer group that looks to protect the neighborhood's immigrant communities.
Father Remembers 10-Year-Old Son Killed in Queens Sanitation Truck Crash ([link removed][UNIQID])
Purushottam Panthi is planning to register a nonprofit organization in memory of his son, Shree.
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