The Briefly for March 19, 2020 – The "These Are the Groceries We Refuse to Buy" Edition
Today - Low: 49˚ High: 53˚
Rain in the morning and overnight.
The first New York City dweller to test positive for novel coronavirus, the teacher who returned from Italy, no longer has the disease and is expected to make a complete recovery. With a negative test, it may mean that she's immune to the disease going forward. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) NYC United Against Coronavirus is a resource Google Doc that breaks out neighborhoods, and multiple ways to send and receive help. (NYC United Against Coronavirus) The Gowanus Dredgers, the people who canoe in the Gowanus Canal, have put together a Google Doc of Gowanus businesses with verified information bout what's open and what is not along with if a business has a fund for the staff. It's a very good model for other neighborhoods. (Katia Kelly for Pardon Me For Asking) Four ways to help the city's elderly people. (Collier Sutter for Time Out) Cheddar cheese ramen noodles? A look at the groceries we refuse to buy, even in a crisis. (Claire Leaden for SecretNYC) Looking at a map that visualizes ridership drops per subway station, you can get a clear picture of who has to go to work in a crisis and who has the luxury to stay home. (Ben Wellington for I Quant NY) The MTA sustained $87 million in weekly revenue losses, which might not be great news for an agency that was already projecting being half a billion in the hole in a few years. (Gersh Kuntzman for Streetsblog) If you're still taking the subway, Riders Alliance has a survey for you to take. 12 things to livestream or virtually explore. (Noah Sheidlower for Untapped New York) Despite the environment of fear, the empty streets, riderless transit, and patronless bars and restaurants, private construction continues undeterred across the city. (Rosa Goldensohn for The City) The city is working on drive-thru clinics for coronavirus testing, but there are no concrete plans for people without cars. (Julianne Cuba for Streetsblog) If hospital capacity is not vastly increased, Manhattan's hospitals would be overwhelmed with coronavirus patients even in the most conservative of possible scenarios. (Brendan Krisel for Patch) The USNS Comfort has been dispatched to the New York harbor. The hospital ship contains 1,000 hospital beds, which New York City is in desperate need of right now. (Curtis Brodner for BKLYNER) Union Square Hospitality Group is laying off about 2,000 employees. Danny Meyer announced that he was forgoing all of his compensation and donating it to a relief fund for all USHG employees. (Erika Adams for Eater) The volume of the unemployed has saturated the New York Department of Labor's phone lines and crashed their website multiple times. This is the new system and it's absolutely real. People whose last name begins with A through F should file on Monday; G through N on Tuesday; and O through Z on Wednesday. If you missed your day, you can file on Thursday or Friday. (Mary Frost for Brookly Eagle) A live music critic opines about having no live music without self-pity. (Jon Pareles for NY Times) Amazon has temporarily paused ordering CDs, vinyl, and all other items other than “household staples, medical supplies, or other high demand products” amid the coronavirus pandemic. Once the warehouses have no more, they won't be restocked until at least April 5. (Amanda Hatfield for BrooklyVegan) As the slow-rolling disaster of the COVID-19 pandemic trickles down, the trash hauling industry is bracing for impact without commercial business, there's less commercial trash to haul. (Danielle Muoio for Politico) Only 50 percent of a business's workforce can report to work outside their homes for the duration of the coronavirus outbreak, as mandated by Governor Cuomo. Businesses that provide food, medicine, and shipping supplies are exempt. (Kathleen Culliton for Patch) Central Park remains Manhattan's oasis during a crisis. (Roger Clark for NY1) A list of independent bookstores that are delivering cookbooks if you're looking for recipe inspiration. They're delivering normal books too. (Emma Orlow for Time Out) The Department of Justice announced late Tuesday night that it was closing many of the nation’s immigration courts through early April. (Beth Fertig for Gothamist) There are two specific populations where a COVID-19 outbreak would become a disaster. The first population is the people in the city's homeless shelters. A woman was identified as carrying COVID-19 within a shelter and has been hospitalized and the 8 people who shared a room with are all in quarantine. How do you enforce social distancing when you put between 8 and 20 beds in a room? (Greg B. Smith for The City) The second population is inmates.. An inmate and a Department of Correction officer who works at gate security on Rikers Island have both tested positive for COVID-19. The Board of Correction is recommending finding low-risk inmates to release in order to allow more social distancing to prevent the virus from spreading further (Sydney Pereira for Gothamist) Liquor deliveries by apps like Drizly or Minibar have skyrocketed since bars closed on Monday. Every day is like New Year's Eve. (David Gauvey Herbert for Grub Street) Photos: Personal goodbyes from bars and restaurants across the city. (Jen Carlson for Gothamist) Photos: The Brooklyn Botanical Garden, on its last day being open to the public. (Lore Croghan for Brooklyn Eagle) City Health Department officials have warned Hasidic medical professionals in Crown Heights that as much as 80 percent of the neighborhood may have already been exposed to COVID-19. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist) The Met is projecting a $100 million loss in revenues in the coming months, as well as the likelihood of layoffs. (Ben Yakas for Gothamist) Following yesterday's story about the Lyft and Uber Pool, the MTA has finally moved to limit Access-a-Ride vehicles to one passenger. (Michelle Bocanegra for Politico) Mayor de Blasio tried to walk back his shelter-in-place comments, but the damage has been done and almost everyone remembers the de Blasio from two weeks ago that everyone hates. (Amanda Eisenberg for Politico) The Times profiles Brian Lehrer, the voice of NYC on the radio. (Jazmine Hughes for NY Times) Takeout and delivery options for every situation. (Hannah Albertine, Nikko Duren, Bryan Kim, Arden Shore, & Matt Tervooren for The Infatuation)