The Blaz's tardy reopening of senior centers is a hot mess

 

 

 THE CITY

 The city’s 249 senior centers will completely reopen in two weeks and outdoor activities will resume immediately, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Tuesday.

The announcement — via Twitter — came the morning after a story by THE CITY detailing criticism over de Blasio’s’s failure to unshutter the facilities, which serve as lifelines for thousands of older New Yorkers.

The mayor’s turnaround caught some senior center operators off guard, according to Allison Nickerson, executive director of LiveOnNY, an umbrella group for senior service providers.

“I’m hearing from members that their phones are ringing off the hook wanting to show up for programs,” Nickerson said. “The provider said he has no idea what is happening.”

Later in the day, the Department for the Aging (DFTA) issued providers a reopening checklist and interim guidance. Employees and seniors must wear masks and spaces will have to be reconfigured to limit capacity to 25% of the certificate of occupancy, according to the new rules. Seniors should also keep six feet apart from one another. 

 “NYC’s seniors built our city, they’ve fought for our city, they’re vaccinated, protected and ready to move forward,” de Blasio tweeted after the announcement.

On Monday, Nickerson told THE CITY that DFTA’s lack of “operational detail” was “mayhem” and “making people crazy.”

The reopening plan comes as the mayor and DFTA Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez are trying to establish their vision for how senior centers, to be renamed older adult centers, operate in the future before the mayor leaves office Dec. 31, THE CITY reported Monday.

They also want to revamp so-called naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs) so they can collaborate to provide more services for older people.

Senior center providers will now be forced to submit their applications to the so-called request for proposals four days before the centers open.

DFTA has no plans to extend the application deadline past June 10, according to department spokesperson Dina Montes.

De Blasio’s office for weeks maintained that officials were waiting for the city Department of Health to sign off on the reopening of centers to protect a vulnerable population.

But Health Department officials declined to detail what safety metrics they are waiting to hit before letting seniors return to in-person meals and socializing.

Advocates for seniors noted that most restrictions on city gyms, movie theaters, museums, restaurants and more had been lifted since mid-May.

Cortés-Vázquez said seniors — meaning anyone 60 or older — will not be obligated to get vaccinated before entering the centers.

Restricting access to senior centers to just vaccinated older adults is prohibited under the Older Americans Act, which requires providing equal access to any individual eligible to attend.

Nurses protest lack of PPE's and enforcement of social distancing protocols at Rikers Island

 

NY Post

Frontline nurses at the notorious Rikers Island jail say they are struggling to treat inmates who don’t even have enough soap and running water to keep the coronavirus at bay.

Social distancing is not enforced at the jail, and there is a dangerous shortage of protective gear and test kits, nurses complained at a rally there on Thursday.

“Let me tell you something — COVID has hit hard beyond these walls,” said Rikers nurse Neshia McDonald, one of 30 nurses to march outside the jail.

“We are Rikers nurses, and we’re asking the public, please, we are doing the job that people are not lining up to do. And we are asking for your help.”

Nurses at the jail are mourning colleague William Chen, who McDonald said died after a COVID-19 patient threw up on him.

“This is not about coffee, donuts,” she said. “This is not about ‘Likes.’ This is reality. We’re asking you to keep us in your prayers because we are working.”

Governor Cuomo orders all non-essential construction to stop building

 THE CITY

 Gov. Andrew Cuomo will freeze most construction statewide in response to the pandemic virus sweeping New York, after outcry from workers and word of COVID-19 cases on job sites around the city.

On Friday the governor will decree most residential and commercial building temporarily off limits, according to a spokesperson for Cuomo’s office. Infrastructure and transportation projects will be allowed to continue, as well as emergency repairs, hospital building and work on affordable housing.

Until now, construction work has been classified as essential, exempt from a state “pause” that ordered the shutdown of a wide swath of workplaces.

Cuomo’s shift followed a rush of protest from construction workers and their family members. Significant numbers had begun refusing to show up for work, sources said. Word traveled on Facebook among workers about positive cases on job sites and an electrician’s death.

Stephen Jozef, 57, who had been working on Google’s offices at 111 8th Ave., died from the coronavirus Monday, his daughter said. The electrician was last on the site on March 6, leaving because he grew ill.

“We understand the need for essential electrical work but there are many jobs that aren’t,” his three daughters, Valerie, Amanda and Rachel Jozef, said in a statement.

 

Construction worker Stephen Jozef died on March 23 from the coronavirus. Photo: Courtesy of the Jozef Family

The carpenters’ union local released a statement Thursday asking elected officials to limit jobs to “truly essential” construction. “Our members’ lives are at stake,” it said.

Cuomo’s move came as some construction sites around the city temporarily closed for cleaning after workers tested positive for COVID-19 — including prized Cuomo public works projects at Moynihan Station and LaGuardia Airport. Both projects will continue under the new guidance.

Some in the industry feared that their coworkers have not yet fully appreciated the threat of the virus as work was allowed to continue.

“They’re being led to believe it’s no big deal,” one steamfitter said.

Excess NYPD Enforcement at Grab-and-Go

NYC’s Department of Education’s Grab-and-Go is an excellent program during this COVID-19 crisis.   I’ve passed by several schools where it has been implemented.   To insure the safety of the parents and children picking up these meals, NYPD has assigned crossing guards at the schools.  My observation – why so many?  I’ve seen between 6 and 8 posted at the corners (at the school and the next block), sometimes one on each of the 4 corners.   I don’t think that the traffic to the Grab-and-Go program justifies the numbers, especially since it takes place between 7:30 and 1:30.   During a normal school day, there’s only 1, maybe 2 guards assisting the entire school’s traffic (pedestrian and cars) during the peak morning and afternoon rush.

Recommendation : re-assign the excess to other much needed and important NYPD areas, such as monitoring the social distancing in our NYC parks, playgrounds and other public areas.  I’m sure the NYC hospitals also need crowd monitoring (social distancing).

 Anonymous