Winner of Vol. 71, No. 15
the Pulitzer Prize
Thursday, May 21, 2020
$1.00
After further review, Hebrew Home leads Bronx COVID deaths
What’s inside?
By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
Stay cool It’s going to be a hot summer, but finding a place to relax and cool off may not be easy this year because of the coronavirus. Page A11
JULIUS CONSTANTINE MOTAL
Roxana Vazquez carries daughter Mia to the car after picking her up from The Learning Experience, where she receives free day care. Vazquez is an ‘essential’ worker, counseling young children as a social worker in Westchester County.
Always art time Nina Velazquez wasn’t sure how she would continue to create, but at least for her, staying home is quite great. Page A8
Saluting heroes They are on the front lines — and maybe not necessarily the jobs you think. We celebrate our heroes who work to keep us safe. Always. Page A7
Being the biggest is a great way to draw attention — just not always the attention one might want. The Hebrew Home at Riverdale is the state’s largest non-profit nursing home with more than 750 beds. And as critics, government officials and the public as a whole keep a close watch on coronavirus data coming out of facilities like the Palisade Avenue facility, a so-called “reclassification” of more than two dozen deaths in the past 90 days has now put the Hebrew Home a hair above all other facilities in the Bronx when it comes to coronavirus deaths. After the state’s data audit, the Hebrew Home now has 63 deaths believed to be related to the coronavirus, a tad more than the reported 61 deaths at The Plaza Rehabilitation and Nursing Center on Kingsbridge Road. Yet it’s unclear how the Hebrew Home would compare to neighboring facilities if state health officials more closely scrutinized their on-site deaths. And state health officials are doing just that, visiting 160 nursing homes and 215 adult care facilities through the middle of the month, according to health department spokeswoman Jill Montag. Those visits include scrutiny on how coronavirus-related data is compiled and reported.
‘We were screening every employee that came through the gate. Testing gives us the information we need to make the right decisions.’ — Daniel Reingold
CEO, Hebrew Home at Riverdale
Getting a handle on the situation
Citywide, more than 3,100 people have died in nursing homes and adult care facilities since the beginning of March, including nearly 750 in the Bronx alone, as of Monday. Before the health department showed up at the front door, the Hebrew Home reported just 35 confirmed or presumed COVID-related deaths, although a daily report released by the state shows just 18 as of Monday. But just as health officials’ understanding of the coronavirus seem to change on HEBREW HOME, page A4
Essential workers of all kinds settle into some new routines City steps carefully as By KIRSTYN BRENDLEN
kbrendlen@riverdalepress.com
Thousands of businesses in New York are closed, deemed “non-essential” by Gov. Andrew Cuomo as the state continues following social distancing measures to slow the spread of COVID-19, the disease caused by the coronavirus. Even “non-essential” office workers are working from home, often juggling child care, school, and their day-to-day home lives, while trying to fit in work where they can. Of course, there are ROxANA also the workers deemed VAzqUEz “essential.” Often health care, transit or education employees — they’re still headed to work every morning to keep the city moving and healthy, even in a pandemic. Every morning, Roxana Vazquez drops off her daughter at The Learning Experience on Riverdale Avenue before driving to Westchester County, where she works with children as a clinical social worker. “It feels like the world completely stopped, but I’m still moving,” Vazquez said. “It’s really confusing. But I know I have to
be at work every day. I work with children, so there’s a lot of kids that need me right now, so I have to be present.” Vazquez’s work has changed dramatically as she’s tried to coach her clients through their everyday problems as well as the abrupt shift in their lives since the pandemic began in earnest two months ago. “I have my caseload that’s kids that I’m checking in with daily via video or via telephone,” she said. “These are kids who, even before the pandemic, were struggling emotionally. And now, after the pandemic, it’s like, you know, ten times worse for them. That’s why I have to be present every day, to help them get through this.” Trying to explain what’s going on to those children has also been difficult. Her older clients know what’s going on, to some extent, but the younger children she deals with can’t quite wrap their heads around how their lives look under distancing rules, with school cancelled and parks closed. They often can’t articulate how they feel, Vazquez said, but they may start to act out or regress in their progress working with her. “You know, before I make the calls, or before I make the video calls (to patients), I sort of brace myself,” she said. “Because I know that these kids, and even the parents SETTLING IN, page A4
Bronx fights to catch up
By ANTHONY CAPOTE of The Riverdale Press
Upstate New York is enjoying what Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls the first phase of an extended statewide stay-athome order — one that continues full force downstate until at least June 13. But New York City — and the Bronx, in particular — might not have to wait that long if it can meet the criteria of seven different metrics established by the state health department, including a 14-day decline in total hospitalizations and deaths, having at least 30 percent of hospital and intensive care unit beds available, and a sophisticated testing and contact tracing apparatus deployed. The testing and tracing mechanism is among the most important for regions in New York to hit in the city, not least because the more people the city can test in a day, the better overall picture officials will have on the sick or those who could potentially become sick in the coming weeks. Regions looking to start reopening must have at least 30 available tests
and 30 contact tracers per 1,000 residents. For a city of roughly 8.5 million people, that translates to somewhere in the ballpark of 250,000 available tests and the same number of contact tracers per month. As of May 15, more than 17,500 people were tested for SARS-CoV-2 in New York City across 23 city-run testing sites and various hospitals administering tests. By May 18, the number of city-run testing sites had expanded to 29, of which nine are in Manhattan, eight in Brooklyn, six in the Bronx, four in Queens and just two in Staten Island. The Bronx, however, still has one of the highest infection rates in the state. An analysis of COVID-19 data by the city’s health department revealed that of the top 10 most impacted ZIP codes in the city, five were in the Bronx. But that’s not even the most concerning news: The Riverdale-Kingsbridge area ranked ninth on that list, with an infection rate of 3,577 per 100,000 residents. In ZIP code 10471 — which spans north from about West 238th Street — there were 760 open cases according BRONX FIGHTS, page A4
Schools get tested on when — and how — to reopen By PATRICK LINDO plindo@riverdalepress.com
School doors remain tightly shut as the coronavirus makes its way through thousands of people in New York. But they won’t remain closed forever. When it’s time once again to reopen classrooms and school buildings, how will that happen? And what can administrators — and even parents — do to keep children safe? Gov. Andrew Cuomo closed all schools in the state as the coronavirus crisis erupted, and earlier this month said the closings will remain in effect for the rest of this academic year. But Cuomo hasn’t ruled out a reopening in the fall — but in order for that to happen, school administrators will need to draft plans on how they’ll keep students safe, and away from the virus that already has killed nearly 23,000 people in New York alone. “We want schools to start developing a plan to reopen,” Cuomo said in his daily coronavirus briefing on May 1. “The plan has to have protocols in place that incorporate everything that we are now doing in society, and everything that we learned.” That could mean social distancing, wearing face coverings and staying away from large gatherings of any kind.
‘We haven’t said ‘no’ to anything. We haven’t said ‘yes’ to anything.’
Richard Espinal, a member P.S. 7’s parent association, doesn’t think schools were ready for the sudden shift to remote learning in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. He believes that one way schools can adapt once they reopen is to move to alternating schedules, easing the burden on teachers and students, while keeping them separate.
— Hugh Keenan
Principal, St. Margaret of Cortona School While some researchers in Cambridge, Massachusetts, believe they’ve made some significant strides toward a potential vaccine, the uncertainty of how long the coronavirus pandemic may continue leaves many — like parents — wondering how or what schools should do if societal social distancing rules are still in effect when their kids return to a physical classroom. Richard Espinal is a father to two children and a member of P.S. 7 Milton Fein’s parent association. While he understands the importance of getting schools open again, he remains unsure if schools will be ready. Prior to the pandemic, many schools like P.S. 7 suffered from large class sizes — a scenario that doesn’t necessarily lend to good social distancing. Espinal did have a few creative solutions in managing classes, such as alter-
RIVERDALE EXCELLENCE 4601 Henry Hudson Parkway, Apt. A15 4 Beds | 5.5 Baths | 2,500 Sq Ft // $915,000 ALISON BARTLETT // 917.379.2045
SCHOOLS TESTED, page A4
Courtesy of Richard Espinal