The Briefly for May 5, 2020 – The "100s of Miles of Hell for His Downstairs Neighbors" Edition

Today - Low: 50˚ High: 61˚

Partly cloudy throughout the day.

The city's doctors are bringing their attention to a new mystery illness that is affecting children and is potentially tied to COVID-19. The symptoms are similar to toxic shock syndrome or Kawasaki disease and have affected children ages 2 to 15. All 15 children identified with this mystery illness have been hospitalized. There have also been some cases of the mystery illness in European children. If a child displays the symptoms of fever, rash, abdominal pain, or vomiting, contact a doctor immediately. (Joseph Goldstein for NY Times) A look at 13 times in history that the NYC subway shut down. (Noah Shiedlower for Untapped New York) Michael Ortiz set out to run 100 miles a week for 100 weeks, happening inside his Brooklyn apartment, and for some reason, the Times didn’t ask a single question of his downstairs neighbors. (Christopher Solomon for NY Times) A true COVID-19 comedy of errors. When Dorothea Buschell died in Bay Ridge, her family wasn't notified. She had a burial plot in Farmingdale, but her body was sent to and buried in a Morganville, N.J. cemetery. Her family, including comedian Elayne Boosler, was charged for tolls to get the body to New Jersey, a dress, makeup, gratuities, clergy, a mahogany casket, a cross and rosary beads, and all for a Jewish woman. The body? It can't be interred in the right cemetery until the pandemic is over. (Virginia Breen for The City) Brooklyn’s 39th Street Pier is being used as a long-term morgue storage facility with freezer trucks storing bodies so families can claim the bodies of their loved ones. This is instead of temporarily burying bodies on Hart Island, where the bodies of 522 COVID-19 victims were buried. (Gwynne Hogan for Gothamist) Video: Oddly satisfying time-lapses of the NYC skyline and Brooklyn Bridge being drawn (Howard Halle for Time Out) The NYPD shouldn't be enforcing social distancing. That's the message from Police Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch, who cites vague guidelines and mixed messages, leaving cops to "fend for themselves." He also said the NYPD is being "thrown under the bus" referring to the video of an officer making an arrest by threatening to tase a bystander and arresting him by punching him in the head multiple times. (Brendan Krisel for Patch) The NYPD doesn't seem to be great with following directions, even when they're provided, as evidence by the four officers who saved a cat that was stuck inside a car's engine. In the photos, three of four officers are wearing no face mask. (Todd Maisel for amNewYork Metro) Francisco Garcia, the NYPD officer based on his shield number, who was responsible for the violent arrest in the East Village, has been the subject of seven civil lawsuits in the last five years. (Jake Offenhartz for Gothamist) Police Commissioner Dermot Shea said he was "not happy" with the tactics used in the arrest and the NYPD deferred prosecution with no fines and no bail. (NY1) It's hard to not see the connections of how the NYPD handled stop and frisk or fare evasions to social distancing. While Francisco Garcia was making his arrest of a black on an East Village street, there were NYPD officers photographed handing out masks to white people in parks who weren't social distancing. (Lauren Evans for Jezebel) Trevor Noah is paying the salaries of The Daily Show's crew until production begins to ramp back up in the television industry. (Ishena Robinson for The Root) Mayor Bill de Blasio is asserting an emergency power to ban all outdoor First Amendment activity even if people wear masks and follow distancing guidelines after Reclaim Pride tried to hold a press conference to protestSamaritan's Purse in Central Park. They were told to disperse immediately under threat of arrest by the NYPD (Andy Humm for Gay City News) New York City is launching a massive drive to distribute millions of masks to residents in the coming weeks to help New Yorkers comply with state mandates requiring residents to wear face coverings while in public. (Brendan Krisel for Patch) Video: The Sakura Matsuri festival was canceled, but it doesn't mean you can't bring the cherry blossoms to you, although it will be considerably more difficult to do a TikTok with the trees this way. (Shaye Weaver for Time Out) When will restaurants return? Strap in, because it may be a while. Restaurants are in phase three of the state's reopening plan and arts and entertainment is in phase four. (Tanay Warerkar for Eater) The Squibb Bridge is finally open, but also impossible to practice social distancing on. Another chapter in the bridge's short, but troubled existence. (Jen Carlson for Gothamist) Here are NYC's 2020 James Beard Awards finalists. (Tanay Warerkar for Eater) Briefly HQ has ordered a few meals that I'd describe as "fat meals" in the last few weeks. Here's where to order healthy delivery in NYC. (Hannah Albertine & Nikko Duren for The Infatuation) Thanks to reader Madeline for today's featured photo!