Some of the most suffering in our state has been in nursing homes, full of older adults with underlying health conditions. New data released by New York State in the last week has highlighted nursing homes as an epicenter of infection, where more than 3,500 people have died, though there still isn't enough testing to have a full picture. 

Here in our district, the Cobble Hill Health Center reported 55 recent deaths likely due to coronavirus, the highest in the state. A lack of testing (only one of those people was actually tested for the virus), nursing staff, masks, gloves and other protective equipment has contributed to making nursing homes susceptible to rapid spreading of the virus. Donny Tuchman, who runs the Center, shared that at some points, staff wore garbage bags for protection. Some worked 16-hour shifts, and still there were not enough staff to cover the need. At times, patients were dying so quickly that the center just could not keep up.

I visited the staff at the Cobble Hill Health Center twice this week, bringing masks with Representative Nydia Velasquez, and coffee and donuts with the Cobble Hill Association. Neighbors are cheering for the healthcare workers there every night. Staff are deeply appreciative of the community support (and the donuts too), but gowns and testing supplies and additional nursing staff are what they really need.

In response to the terrible news coming out about the spread of the virus and rising deaths in nursing homes, Governor Cuomo has announced an investigation into whether nursing homes are complying with required measures to protect residents. Nursing homes have responded by criticizing a March 25 directive, intended to keep hospital beds free for COVID-19 patients, that required nursing homes to admit or readmit people who may have had COVID-19, possibly contributing to the spread inside these facilities. 

That people are dying rapidly in our nursing homes, without even a hug at the end, is a tragedy that lays bare widespread failures in the systems we set up to take care of our elders. That the blame for this deterioration of caregiving has devolved into a “he said, she said” squabble is one more depressing piece of this rotten crisis. 

Still, I’m grateful to the staff at Cobble Hill Health Center, and in nursing homes around the state, who are trying their best to care for patients (and their own health) under impossible circumstances. This is a very hard time for them and their families, and of course for the many many families who are suffering through lack of information about their loved ones, or even a chance to say goodbye. 

The Cobble Hill Association is setting up a fund to support the staff of the Cobble Hill Health Center, who have grappled with so much heartbreak and stress over the last few weeks, you can contribute here. 

In this email: 
City Updates 
State Updates
Federal Updates
Upcoming Parent Call

City Updates

• While the rate of deaths and the rate of hospitalizations are beginning to trend down, the scale of the impact on our city is hard to wrap one's head around. 15,878 New Yorkers are presumed to have died from the virus, 37,995 have been hospitalized, and there have been more than 146,000 confirmed cases in the city.

• The City Council had our first virtual meeting this week, where we introduced critical legislation to protect essential workers, support tenants facing eviction, safely house homeless New Yorkers, and open streets to create more space for exercise and recreation. I’m proud to join my colleagues to introduce an Essential Workers Bill of Rights that would guarantee paid sick days for gig-workers, protect essential workers for being fired unfairly (including healthcare workers and others speaking out about unsafe conditions), provide premium pay to fairly compensate workers who are risking their health to keep our city running, and urge the state to address rampant misclassification that denies unemployment insurance, healthcare and other benefits to gig workers. We are moving forward with virtual hearings on all this legislation in the next few weeks, you can watch council proceedings live here and add your support for the legislation here. 

• Yesterday we had our first virtual hearing on a piece of the COVID relief package that would require the City to close congregate shelters and move people into hotel rooms. 48 people living in the city’s congregate shelters have died of the virus so far. Since the emergency began, the City has moved 2,500 homeless people into hotel rooms, and promised to move a thousand more by the end of this week. But that still leaves over 10,000 single adults in congregate shelters, and at least 3,500 people living on the street. The #HomelessCantStayHome campaign is calling for more empty hotel rooms to be made available for unhoused New Yorkers who are living in crowded shelters or on the streets and subways. I’ve been a vocal supporter of the campaign to get people out of unsafe shelters and into hotel rooms. The campaign, led by VOCAL New York and other community groups has been raising money to get people off the streets and into hotel rooms, you can sign their petition and contribute to their effort to directly offer hotel rooms to homeless New Yorkers. 

• Both the Mayor and the Governor announced plans for contact tracing to implement as we start to look toward a time in the future when we can begin, slowly, to reopen the economy. But we are still far from the scale of testing we need to be able to prevent the spread of the disease. Currently, New York has the capacity to do around 11,000 tests per day, far short of the hundreds of thousands we will need per day.

State Updates

• The state randomly tested New Yorkers at grocery stores over the last week and found that over 20% of NYC residents in their sample had the antibodies that show they have had the virus, fought it off and recovered from it. If this pattern holds (the sample of just people going to the store is not representative of the population as a whole) it signals some good news: more people have had the virus and did not get very sick, meaning the death rate is lower and more people may now have some immunity. 

• The NYS Department of Labor has updated the application process for unemployment insurance and hired thousands of people to help process applications, but there is still a huge backlog and we’ve heard from many of you, especially freelancers, that money has not yet come through. Updated information on how to apply is here. We will keep pushing to improve the process. Stay tuned for more resources (we are planning another webinar for freelancers in the coming days). 

• This week, immigrant advocates launched a campaign to demand that the state use a progressive revenue approach to fund a $3.5 billion dollar fund to provide emergency cash assistance for immigrants who are excluded from unemployment insurance and the federal stimulus checks. Learn more about the campaign and sign the petition here. 

Federal Updates

• The president signed into law today the $484 billion relief bill that replenishes the funds available to small businesses and added some more funding for hospitals and testing. Because of GOP intransigence, this federal relief package (known as “CARES 3.5,” because it only half-cares) falls far short of what is needed for many millions of Americans who have not been able to get cash assistance or unemployment or business loans, and does not provide funding to help states and localities meet their revenue shortfalls or provide more relief locally. Another 4.4 million people applied for unemployment last week nationally, raising the total to 26 million people who have lost their jobs in just the last 5 weeks. Advocates are pushing for a #Recovery4All that includes emergency federal assistance for immigrants and others who are suffering the most with the least support. 

Upcoming Parent Call

• Monday April 27, 7 PM: Parent Support Call with our office and Park Slope Parents. Register here.

Join us for our next parent support video call, as we work together to share best practice parents, commiserate, and offer some support for parents with school-age kids. We will hear some honest talk, as well as some tips about what is working, from parents with varied experiences with remote learning with their kids from preschool to high school age. Bring tips and suggestions for fellow parents about what is working for you and your kids. 

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