6 JANUARY 20, 2022 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
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Adams encourages in-person work at Queens factory visit
BY MORGAN C. MULLINGS
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Mayor Eric Adams visited the Steinway piano
factory in Queens on Jan. 14 to thank the
workers for their hard work, and use the
opportunity to highlight the return to in-person
activities in the middle of a COVID surge. Adams
said he has had an optimistic outlook on the COVID
numbers recently, hoping the city is approaching a
peak in cases.
“The news seems promising,” Adams said. “Eric did
not say we peaked and we declined. So I don’t need
that to be the headline. I say it’s stabilizing. And based
on our optimistic views, we appear to be moving in
the right direction.”
NYC has gone from 42,641 new cases on Jan. 9, to
33,305 as of Jan. 13. If the numbers continue to trend
downwards, factories like Steinway have a chance to
stay open. “Steinway piano factory has been here for
150 years, a legendary industry here in New York City.
And COVID can’t stop it,” the mayor said.
Mayor Eric Adams visited the Steinway piano
factory, Steinway & Sons, in Astoria.
Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
He brought Deputy Mayor of Health and Human
services Anne Williams-Isom to the factory to go into
more detail on how the city can keep businesses open.
“It’s going to be diffi cult, but there are ways for us to
stay safe and healthy. You have to get vaccinated. It’s
the best thing that we can do to keep ourselves safe,”
Williams-Isom said.
She also urged the public to stay home if they feel
sick, which is standard practice, but comes as a slight
contradiction to the situation at hand. While Adams
has criticized parents and students for not showing
up to school and urged people to go back to work, the
reality is that the risk of transmission is still high,
and there are still not enough resources to make sure
that classrooms and factories and restaurants don’t
close down.
State Sen. Jessica Ramos joined the mayor to draw
more attention to this, saying, “A child in my youngest
son’s class tested positive for coronavirus and he was
sent home with tests to take — obviously having to
provide a negative result fi ve days later, but I quickly
learned from other neighbors that that was not true
for those who are in kindergarten or pre-K or 3K.”
She added that she is working with the Adams
administration to make sure that enough tests are
available for young people who cannot get the vaccine
or booster shot yet.
“So I’m very happy to be here this morning to call
attention to, yes, the importance of our economy. But
I don’t believe that we should put profi t over people
and we should be keeping people safe,” Ramos said.
Mayor considers remote learning option following calls from Queens lawmakers
BY JULIA MORO
EDITORIAL@QNS.COM
@QNS
Assemblywoman Jessica
González-Rojas recently penned
a letter to Mayor Eric Adams
pushing for a temporary hybrid
remote learning option, as COVID-19
rates increased during the holiday
season and in-person attendance has
fallen by the thousands.
González-Rojas said that she was
motivated to write this letter — alongside
state Senator Jessica Ramos and
Councilman Shekar Krishnan, and
signed by 19 other New York lawmakers
— as an Assembly member and as
a parent with a child in fi ft h grade in
Jackson Heights.
“I heard from dozens of teachers
and parents in my community that
were concerned about having their
children come back to school on Jan. 3,”
González-Rojas said.
The assemblywoman reached out
to Ramos, who is also a parent in the
area, to write a letter urging the mayor
to consider a remote option. González-
Rojas wanted to clarify that she was not
proposing closing schools, but instead a
hybrid model that would allow parents
to choose the best option for their kids.
When kids went back to school aft er
the holiday break on Jan. 3, González-
Rojas decided to keep her son home
for two days as COVID-19 transmission
rates skyrocketed, with 90% of
New York’s new cases caused by the
new variant, omicron, according to
the CDC. Since there was no remote
option, González-Rojas said, her son
wasn’t able to learn anything.
“He played video games all day. He
wasn’t learning; there was no access to
learning,” González-Rojas said. “I think
that is a travesty for our children.”
González-Rojas said that when her
son went back to school for two days
last week, he was exposed multiple
times as six students tested positive in
his class.
Republican lawmakers oppose the
remote option idea, as they wrote a letter
to Adams on Jan. 7 saying that they
support the mayor’s decision to keep
schools open. New York State Republican
Leader Rob Ortt said that remote
learning is detrimental to students,
and the city must avoid it.
“Remote learning has been a disaster,
and we must listen to the science and
keep our kids in school,” Ortt said.
“Elected leaders and school offi cials
must focus on solutions that keep our
classrooms open. Education is the ladder
of opportunity in America and this
state cannot aff ord to ruin the learning
and emotional well-being of our New
York students.”
During a press conference last week,
Adams said that the safest place for
kids is school. However, on Jan. 13, the
mayor said he is considering a temporary
remote option and is in talks with
the city’s teachers union, the United
Federation of Teachers.
“I have to make sure children are educated.
We lost two years of education,”
Adams said. “The fallout is unbelievable.
My goal is to continue to push
forward to get our children in school,
but I must entertain with the president
of the United Federation of Teachers if
there is a way to do a temporary remote
option.”
This came a day aft er González-Rojas
said her and other elected offi cials
met with Adams and Department of
Education Chancellor David C. Banks
to discuss the COVID-19 surge in city
schools.
Mayor Eric Adams said he’s considering a temporary remote option on
Jan. 13. Courtesy of Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Offi ce
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