April 12, 2020 Your Neighborhood — Your News®
Month xx–xx, 2019
LOCAL
CLASSIFIEDS
PAGE 7
‘It’s Dangerous’
Disposable gloves, face masks litter Brooklyn streets
BY JESSICA PARKS
As state regulators crack
down on plastic bags, a new type
of trash is taking over city streets:
disposable gloves and face masks,
which have been in heavy use as
residents of all fi ve boroughs try
to decrease their risk of contracting
COVID-19.
“I was shocked at the amount
of gloves and masks that was all
over the streets, on stoops, on railings,”
said Bernadette Morrissey,
a Madison resident and vice-president
of the Madison-Marine-
Homecrest Civic Association.
The new-age litter emerges
in contrast to a universal germaphobia
imposed on New Yorkers,
who have been advised to keep a
physical distance of six feet from
one another and to sanitize after
touching publicly-used objects like
doorknobs and railings. Some residents
worry the scattered protective
gear could be contaminated.
“Do they not realize that’s not
helping the situation?” Morrissey
asked. “What if there is the virus
on those gloves and somebody is
going to pick it up?”
Mayor Bill de Blasio touched
on the trash’s hazards on WNYC’s
“The Brian Lehrer Show” Friday
morning, stressing that wearers
of the precautionary gear must
properly dispose of them to prevent
spreading the infection.
“Not only is it littering, it is
dangerous littering,” the mayor
said on the radio show. “When
something needs to be discarded
you can’t leave it around because
it could create its own danger.”
While Morrissey noticed the
uptick of litter on her block, a
Georgetown resident told Brooklyn
Paper that a high volume of
disposable gloves and masks are
being left in parking lots, which
are more common in car-heavy
neighborhoods.
“People should properly dispose
of them, instead it’s all over
the parking lot,” said William
Tainowitz. “It’s insane.”
Meanwhile in Madison, Morrissey
worries about the additional
litter clogging up the area’s
catch basins and fl ooding the
neighborhood.
“If we get a heavy rain, these
things will be swept into the storm
basins on the corner and we will
start having fl ooding,” she said.
“So that is a major concern here.”
The city Sanitation Department
has noted their reliance on
residents to help keep the city’s
streets and sidewalks clean and
reminded that there are penalties
in place for litterbugs.
“New Yorkers are our partners
in keeping the City healthy,
safe and clean. To that end, residents
should not litter,” said
Spokeswoman Dina Montes. ”And
remember, littering is against the
law and can result in a $100 summons.”
Group homes
reel from
coronavirus
ourbreak
BY BEN VERDE
The coronavirus pandemic
has brought local hospitals and
nursing homes to their tipping
point, forcing doctors and nurses
to ration essential protective
equipment — but another class of
caregivers has found themselves
on the front lines, and fear their
struggle is going unnoticed.
Group homes that house people
with developmental disabilities
have been hit by the coronavirus
just as hard as nursing homes,
and have found their small residential
houses transformed into
around-the-clock medical facilities,
offi cials say.
Adding to the challenges,
some residents of the homes have
a hard time understanding the
gravity of the situation, leading
to diffi cult situations when a resident
falls ill and needs to be contained
to their room.
“We’re just like a nursing
home, we become an incubator. If
somebody gets sick it’s like somebody
getting sick in your house,”
said William Guarinello, CEO
of HeartShare Human Services,
which operates over 100 sites
across Brooklyn, Queens and
Staten Island serving children
and adults with developmental
disabilities. “How do you keep
them sequestered if they are an
active developmentally disabled
individual?”
And for the direct service providers
who care for the group
home residents, social distancing
is nearly impossible, as they continue
to perform tasks for residents
which they cannot do themselves.
“The nature of the work that
our DSPs do with them is hands-
Continued on page 4
Brooklyn streets are being littered with used gloves and face masks. Photo courtesy of William Tainowitz
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