The Briefly for April 6, 2020 – The "We Have Infected the Tigers in the Bronx Zoo" Edition
Today - Low: 50˚ High: 62˚
Clear throughout the day.
Mario Salerno, hero. Mario's the landlord in Williamsburg who waived April's rent for all his tenants. (Rebeca Ibarra for Gothamist) The city is closing all dog parks and runs Baruch Feldheim, who was arrested for price gouging over 100,000 masks, over half a million gloves and 192,000 N95 respirators, is an asshole and his supply is being given to doctors and nurses for their fair market value. (Neil Vigdor for NY Times) The USNS Comfort is here with its 1,000 hospital beds, and there are 20 patients on it. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) China sent 1,000 ventilators to assist in the state's efforts to keep us all alive. (Alyse Stanley for Gizmodo) The state launched a new COVID-19 tracker that gives county by county information, including numbers on testing, infections, and deaths. (Dana Schulz for 6sqft) The city leased at least 20 hotels to deal with the coronavirus hospital surge, converting entire floors into hospital wards for a total of 10,000 additional beds. (Mary Frost for Brooklyn Eagle) 11 pieces of art to discover at a safe physical distance. (Noah Sheidlower for Untapped New York) Wear something over your nose and mouth when you go out in public. This is to save the rest of the city from you, even if you don't think that you're sick, you may still be carrying COVID-19. (Collier Sutter for Time Out) It's an awful benchmark, but here we are. New York's deaths from COVID-19 outnumber the deaths on 9/11. (Dana Rubenstein for Politico) A clarification on last week's "the NYPD won't show up if you have a minor car crash" story, outlining the scenarios where the NYPD will actually show up. (Gersh Kuntzman for Streetsblog) Amazon's PR campaign to shift blame to Christopher Smalls, the man who organized the walkout in their Staten Island facility, is failing. (Sydney Pereira for Gothamist) The Metropolitan Opera is back this week, streaming performances of Puccini, Mozart, Verdi, Wagner, Donizetti, and Gounod every night. (Adam Feldman for Time Out) State legislators are pushing for the city to provide EMS workers with housing during the COVID-19 crisis, as some have resorted to sleeping in their cars to avoid bringing the virus into their homes. (Anna Quinn for Patch) Complaints to 311 about noise have dropped significantly, despite everyone being told to stay home as much as possible. Reports are down over 30% from last year. Are we being quieter or are we deciding it's not worth bothering the police? (Zijia Song for Bedford + Bowery) RIP Carmine Notaro, the owner of Carmine’s Original Pizza in Greenpoint. (Greenpointers) Video: Union Square, Greenwich Village, and Washington Square Park in a pandemic. (James and Karla) Curious if a construction site near your apartment is deemed "essential?" Check out the new map from the Department of Buildings listing Essential Active Construction Sites. (Norman Oder for Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park Project) The bleak reality inside Rikers Island's coronavirus quarantine unit. (Angelina Chapin for HuffPost) A 51-year-old woman was beaten on a city bus in the Bronx last week by a group of riders who blamed her for the COVID-19 outbreak. Three 15-year-old girls were arrested for hate crime assault, menacing, and harassment. The NYPD is searching for a fourth teen. (Sydney Pereira for Gothamist) 360° Video: Driving through an empty Times Square. (ActionKid) The state's Attorney General's office ordered New York Sports Club to stop charging for membership while their gyms are forcibly closed. If anyone has ever had a membership with NYSC, you know how impossible it is to get them to stop charging your credit card. (Sophia Chang for Gothamist) Video: Learn about Manhattan's original citizens, the Lenape. (Matt Coneybeare for Viewing NYC) "Only in the last really 48 hours or so do they feel they’ve seen evidence around the world ― particularly a new study coming out of Singapore ― that shows more evidence that this disease can be spread by asymptomatic people." This wasn't a quote from the governor of Georgia, this was our own idiot mayor saying something that the rest of us have assumed for weeks. (Ja’han Jones for HuffPost) The city banned the use of Zoom for remote learning over security and privacy concerns. (Alex Zimmerman for Chalkbeat) The Department of Education's grab-and-go free meal service has been expanded to include anyone who wants food, no questions asked. There are 435 pickup spots across the city for pickups between 7:30 am and 11:30 am. (Sophia Cheng for Gothamist) What kind of idiot do you have to be to gather by the hundreds for a funeral for a man who died of COVID-19? The death itself should stand as a literal reminder to treat this pandemic seriously, yet the NYPD had to break up a crowd of hundreds who gathered for the funeral of a rabbi. (Molly Crane-Newman for Daily News) The best burgers in NYC still available for delivery. (Emma Orlow for Time Out) Thanks to Chris Walker for today's featured photo.