The City Limits Newsletter

View this email in your browser ([link removed])
Thanks for reading and forwarding this newsletter. Sign up ([link removed][UNIQID])
[link removed][UNIQID]

The Numbers

“The first thing that was done almost everywhere but New York was to close the schools and the theaters and all places of public assemblage. In some communities they went so far as to prohibit small stores from admitting more than three persons at one time. All sorts of extreme and absurd measures were adopted in some places.”

So wrote Dr. Royal S. Copeland, New York City's health commissioner, in the November 17, 1918 edition of the New York Times in an editorial subtitled: “Dr. Copeland Tells Why New York Got Off Easier Than Other Cities.” ([link removed][UNIQID]) Even with an official death toll at that point of 10,500—historians would later peg it closer to 30,000 ([link removed][UNIQID]) —Copeland cited death rates in Baltimore, Boston, Philadelphia and Washington that were higher than New York's. “That is a very fine record by comparison,” he boasted.

Copeland's column is, obviously, a reminder of the capacity of some public figures to congratulate themselves in the midst of catastrophe. It also predicts how history will analyze this episode—through the cold lens of statistics.

Objective math is important. There are usually around 54,000 deaths ([link removed][UNIQID]) all year from all causes in New York City. That more than 11,400 deaths have been linked to a single infectious agent over just 35 days is breathtaking.

But that doesn't quite capture the true impact of the coronavirus. Many of us will hold onto more visceral reminders: memories of faces and voices gone forever, unemployment insurance documents, visions of empty subways and playgrounds.

Or the whirring of the refrigerated trucks outside a hospital on E. 233^rd Street in the Bronx I walked past last weekend. Black sheeting had been set up to conceal the movement of bodies. Three rigs were parked there for a temporary morgue. Their hum was the only sound. It was as bland as it was eerie. I hope I keep it handy for when the official histories are ready to be read.

Stay healthy,
Jarrett Murphy, executive editor


** [link removed][UNIQID]
Top Stories
------------------------------------------------------------

Decades of Shrinking Hospital Capacity ‘Spelled Disaster’ for New York’s COVID Response ([link removed][UNIQID])
New York has closed dozens of hospitals in the last few decades, the result of larger healthcare trends, policy shifts and cost-cutting efforts. But that downsizing has been “called into question” by the coronavirus pandemic, experts say.

Freeze on Most Non-COVID Care Creates Worry for Patients and Doctors ([link removed][UNIQID])
As hospitals focus on saving people at risk of dying from COVID-19 and other medical facilities shutter to avoid spreading the disease further, people with serious medical conditions or troubling health concerns are getting less care than they normally would.

Democratic Leader: ‘The Rent is Being Canceled, Whether we Authorize it or Not’ ([link removed][UNIQID])
'If the government is saying you can’t work ... we cannot realistically expect them to continue to pay rent and other obligations in that time.'

City’s Food Programs Trying to Keep Up With Demand Amid Federal Uncertainties ([link removed][UNIQID])
The meal hubs have drawn praise, but there are still gaps. And other measures are being held up by the slow pace of the approval process in Washington.

Guardianship Programs See Rising COVID-19 Death Toll ([link removed][UNIQID])
People deemed unable to make their own health or financial decisions because of dementia, serious medical problems or other reasons are especially vulnerable.

To Test or Not to Test: The Latest on New York’s COVID-19 Screening Saga ([link removed][UNIQID])
The mayor and governor have taken different approaches to testing, but now they agree we need more of it. But who will get it? Where? And to what end?

Former City Health Commish: ‘Epidemics Uncover the Fissures in Our Society’ ([link removed][UNIQID])
Inequities have an everyday impact, in the form of obesity, hypertension, asthma and other chronic conditions. But the inequalities come into sharp relief during a crisis.

Read our in-depth coverage of the crisis here. ([link removed][UNIQID])

Our reporters are doing everything they can to keep you informed. In this time of great uncertainty, you can depend on us to tell you the truth. But we need your help to keep going.

Not everyone can afford to invest in local journalism right now but we also can't afford to lose it. Can we count on you?

Yes, I'll become a sustaining member today to help get City Limits through this crisis. ([link removed][UNIQID])


** Voices of New York
------------------------------------------------------------
Amplifying NYC's Ethnic and Community Press

City’s Undocumented Latinos, Many on the Front Lines, Feel Abandoned Amid Pandemic ([link removed][UNIQID])
‘If the undocumented immigrants are not safe, nobody is going to be safe in New York,’ says Lorena Kourousias, director of Mixteca Organization, a nonprofit in Sunset Park, Brooklyn.

Polish Senior Center Connects with Isolated Clients Through Daily Phone Calls ([link removed][UNIQID])
‘We know that some of them have a hard time in isolation. They are scared, especially hearing all around that they are the major risk group,’ the manager of the Northside Senior Center in Williamsburg told Nowy Dziennik.

To Keep Working or Not? Chinese Home Attendants Face Dilemma ([link removed][UNIQID])
‘We are high risk and underserved people ourselves. We don’t want to spread the virus and infect our clients,’ one home attendant told World Journal. ‘But if we stop working, who would help them?’

Latinos Will Be Key in 2020. Here’s How One News Outlet Will Cover the Race. ([link removed][UNIQID])
In part two of the three-part City Limits-BRIC series Global Entry—which looks at the unique perspectives New York City’s ethnic press brings to the 2020 campaign story—we hear from a Spanish-language reporter about the particular concerns and multiple viewpoints that his readership brings to the table.



Coronavirus Resources

From Aid to Z: The Basics on COVID-19 Assistance for Renters, Homeowners & Businesses ([link removed][UNIQID])
Some resources and clarifying information for residential and commercial tenants and homeowners. we are staying committed to our well-being while cooped up.’

• New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene ([link removed][UNIQID]) COVID-19 information page

• Latest case count and other information from the New York State Department of Health ([link removed][UNIQID])

• the U.S. Centers for Disease Control ([link removed][UNIQID]) on Coronavirus

• the World Health Organization ([link removed][UNIQID]) situation reports on COVID-19

Need help or info? Check out our resource library. ([link removed][UNIQID])
Una Ciudad sin Límites
City Limits en Español ([link removed][UNIQID])

Primer trabajador agrícola indocumentado muere por COVID-19 en el estado de NY ([link removed][UNIQID])
Un viajero cayó enfermo. Unos pocos trabajadores agrícolas pronto lo siguieron. Ahora, uno está muerto. Algunos trabajadores han tenido que coser sus propias máscaras protectoras.

¿Dónde están las ayudas para los trabajadores indocumentados en Nueva York? ([link removed][UNIQID])
Los trabajadores indocumentados estan inelegibles para ayuda del gobierno federal—incluso cuando sus hijos nacieron en los Estados Unidos



** City Views
------------------------------------------------------------
Opinions on Policy and Politics


Amid the COVID-19 Crisis, School Budget Cuts are the Wrong Medicine ([link removed][UNIQID])

NYS Now Has Time to Get Cannabis Legalization Right ([link removed][UNIQID])

City Workers Who Die from COVID Deserve Line of Duty’ Benefits ([link removed][UNIQID])

If Ever There Were a Time for Clemency, It’s Now ([link removed][UNIQID])

The Role We Must Play in Countering Racist Scapegoating Around COVID-19 ([link removed][UNIQID])


Job Board


** City Limits
Publisher/Executive Director
------------------------------------------------------------

City Limits, a nearly 45 year-old New York focused award winning digital nonprofit digital news outlet is seeking a Publisher/Executive Director to help lead the organization’s growth.

Read more and apply ([link removed][UNIQID])


** City Limits
Audience Engagement Editor
------------------------------------------------------------

City Limits, award-winning nonprofit website that publishes in-depth and investigative policy news about New York City, seeks an Audience Engagement Editor to optimize site reach and reader engagement. This editor will play a critical role in creating a more vibrant and sustainable policy news source for New York City.

Read more and apply ([link removed][UNIQID])


** City Limits
Development Manager
------------------------------------------------------------

City Limits, an award-winning nonprofit digital news agency seeks a Development Manager who will play a key role in building audience and revenue for a growing newsroom by building the organization’s membership program and stewarding donor & foundation relationships.

Read more and apply ([link removed][UNIQID])
Our job board is full of positions in New York's public sector. Explore more jobs here ([link removed][UNIQID]) .
To get more of City Limits in your inbox, sign up for our housing newsletter, Mapping the Future. Subscribe ([link removed][UNIQID])

** Support our non-profit journalism
------------------------------------------------------------

Reader contributions make this work possible.

Support City Limits ([link removed][UNIQID])
============================================================
** Facebook ([link removed][UNIQID])
** Twitter ([link removed][UNIQID])
** Instagram ([link removed][UNIQID])
Copyright © 2020 City Limits, All rights reserved.
You are receiving this email because you opted in via our website.

Our mailing address:
City Limits
8 W 126th St.
3rd Floor
New York, NY 10027
USA
Thanks for reading and forwarding this newsletter. ** Sign up. ([link removed][UNIQID])
To receive less email from City Limits, ** update your newsletter preferences ([link removed])
or ** unsubscribe from all City Limits email ([link removed])