Here’s what you need to know:
- An Amazon warehouse worker on Staten Island was fired after leading a walkout.
- The Empire State Building, honoring emergency workers, alarms some New Yorkers.
- The Central Park field hospital opens today.
- Governor Cuomo said that 1,218 people had died in New York.
- A man was accused of coughing on F.B.I. agents and saying he had the virus.
An Amazon warehouse worker on Staten Island was fired after leading a walkout.
A group of workers walked off the job at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island on Monday, and a sickout called by Whole Foods Market workers is set for today, as front line workers protest what they see as inadequate safety measures and insufficient pay for the risks they confront.
The spread of the coronavirus is highlighting the economic inequality that is a fact of American life. While white collar workers have begun answering emails and crafting PowerPoint slides from home, service workers and laborers — at least those who have not lost their jobs — have continued to report to work, putting themselves and their families in the path of the virus.
Amazon fired one of the workers who led the Staten Island walkout, Christian Smalls. Mr. Smalls said he had advised a colleague who was visibly ill to go home last week. She later tested positive for the virus.
Mr. Smalls said he had told management that the center should close for two weeks because there was no way to know how many other workers had been infected.
“She had been there the previous week,” Mr. Smalls said of his colleague, adding that other workers at the facility were complaining of symptoms like fever. “We don’t know how long she’s been positive.”
Not long after the protest, an Amazon spokeswoman said by email that Mr. Smalls had been fired because he had violated social-distancing guidelines and had come to the site Monday after having been told to stay home, “further putting the teams at risk.”
New York’s attorney general, Letitia James, called the firing “disgraceful” on Twitter and said she would ask the National Labor Relations Board to investigate.
Workers at Whole Foods have called for a sickout on Tuesday to demand paid leave for all workers who must isolate themselves and a doubling of pay to compensate for the risk of working.
The Empire State Building, honoring emergency workers, alarms some New Yorkers.
The tower lights of the Empire State Building blared red with a whirling red-and-white beacon on Monday night to pay respect to health care workers, police officers and firefighters who have confronted the spread of the coronavirus.
“Starting tonight through the Covid-19 battle, our signature white lights will be replaced by the heartbeat of America with a white and red siren in the mast for heroic emergency workers on the front line of the fight,” the building’s Twitter account said.
Some New Yorkers appreciated the tribute, but others found it less than comforting.
“The intention is great, but the effect is terrifying,” said one response to the tweet. “TURN IT OFF. TURN IT OFF,” said another.
Many who said that they lived close to the building expressed alarm at the signal. Others made memes.
In an unintentional nod at the city’s anxious mood, the tower also broadcast “Empire State of Mind,” the anthem by Alicia Keys.
The Central Park field hospital opens today.
Central Park, one of the world’s most well-known gathering places, will open its East Meadow to hospital patients today as the city continues to transform itself in extraordinary ways in the battle against the coronavirus.
A field hospital with 68 beds has been erected under tents on the meadow to treat coronavirus patients from Mount Sinai Health System’s hospitals in Brooklyn and Queens. It was put up by a nonprofit called Samaritan’s Purse, working with the city.
The move to leverage the park’s vast open space comes one day after a naval hospital ship docked on Manhattan’s West Side and an emergency 1,000-bed hospital at the Javits convention center opened its doors. Both of those are treating patients who are not infected with the coronavirus, to help free up beds in conventional hospitals for more virus patients.
“We’ve never seen anything like this,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said on MSNBC on Monday. “It feels like the kind of thing you experience in wartime.”
Governor Cuomo said that 1,218 people had died in New York.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said on Monday that the worst of the outbreak was yet to come, even as another 253 people died in the state in a 24-hour period.
“If you wait to prepare for a storm to hit, it is too late,” the governor said. “You have to prepare before the storm hits. And in this case the storm is when you hit that high point, when you hit that apex. How do you know when you’re going to get there? You don’t.”
Here were some other developments on Monday:
New York reported almost 7,000 new cases of the virus, bringing the total to nearly 66,500. Most of the cases were in New York City, where, officials reported later on Monday, 38,087 people been infected.
The number of virus-related deaths in New York City rose to 914 Monday afternoon, up 138 from around the same time Sunday, officials said.
Seven employees of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority have died of the virus, including a bus driver in Brooklyn and a subway station cleaner in the Bronx.
Gov. Philip D. Murphy of New Jersey announced 3,347 new positive coronavirus cases in the state, bringing the total to 16,636. There were 37 new deaths, for a total of 198.
Gov. Ned Lamont of Connecticut announced 578 new coronavirus cases in the state, bringing the total to 2,571. There were two new deaths, for a total of 36 in the state.
A man was accused of coughing on F.B.I. agents and saying he had the virus.
A Brooklyn man was charged on Monday with lying to the federal authorities about selling N95 masks and other medical supplies to doctors at exorbitant prices and with assaulting a federal officer after he coughed on F.B.I. agents and then told them he had the coronavirus, prosecutors said.
The man, Baruch Feldheim, 43, was charged with making false statements to law enforcement officers after he lied about stockpiling and selling equipment that is desperately needed by hospitals as they confront a surge in virus patients, the authorities said.
Mr. Feldheim repeatedly sold the equipment at a markup, according to a criminal complaint filed against him in Federal District Court in Newark.
On one occasion, in a transaction arranged via a WhatsApp group named “Virus2020!,” Mr. Feldheim agreed to sell a doctor about 1,000 N95 masks and other gear for $12,000, according to the complaint. That was about 700 percent above what the doctor, who was not identified, would typically pay, the complaint says.
F.B.I. agents went to Mr. Feldheim’s home on Sunday to get more information, the complaint says. At that point, the complaint says, he “intentionally coughed in their direction without covering his mouth,” even though the agents had said they were keeping their distance out of concern over the virus. He told the agents that he had tested positive for the virus two weeks earlier, the complaint says.”
Are you a health care worker in the New York area? Tell us what you’re seeing.
As The New York Times follows the spread of the coronavirus across New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, we need your help. We want to talk to doctors, nurses, lab technicians, respiratory therapists, emergency services workers, nursing home managers — anyone who can share what they are seeing in the region’s hospitals and other health care centers. Even if you haven’t seen anything yet, we want to connect now so we can stay in touch in the future.
A reporter or editor may contact you. Your information will not be published without your consent.
Reporting was contributed by Jonah Engel Bromwich, Kate Conger, Michael Corkery, Michael Gold, Christina Goldbaum, Andy Newman, Noam Scheiber, Matt Stevens, Tracey Tully and David Yaffe-Bellany,
https://news.google.com/__i/rss/rd/articles/CBMiTGh0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lm55dGltZXMuY29tLzIwMjAvMDMvMzEvbnlyZWdpb24vY29yb25hdmlydXMtbmV3LXlvcmstdXBkYXRlLmh0bWzSAVBodHRwczovL3d3dy5ueXRpbWVzLmNvbS8yMDIwLzAzLzMxL255cmVnaW9uL2Nvcm9uYXZpcnVzLW5ldy15b3JrLXVwZGF0ZS5hbXAuaHRtbA?oc=5
2020-03-31 13:15:27Z
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