12 FEBRUARY 6, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
We must not panic over the coronavirus
Peter Tu is urging calm aft er word
spread through Flushing that two
women were hospitalized with
symptoms of novel coronavirus Sunday.
As the executive director of the
Flushing Chinese Business Association,
Tu said the news had an immediate effect
across his bustling neighborhood.
“I heard businessmen are losing
more than 30 percent,” he said. “That’s
the situation now and people are much
more worried about how the coronavirus
is going to be.”
The city Health Department said the
two individuals, each over 60 years old
who had recently traveled to mainland
China, where the outbreak began, had
reported symptoms of coronavirus
that includes fever, coughing and
shortness of breath. The fi rst person
was admitted to Flushing Hospital
Medical Center and the second one was
hospitalized at New York-Presbyterian
Queens and elected offi cials urged their
constituents to remain calm.
“Nobody should be panicking,” Congresswoman
Grace Meng said. “People
should go about their daily routine
but be vigilant and prudent.” Meng
has been in constant contact with the
EDITORIAL
Many have taken to wearing masks in Flushing as a precaution against the coronavirus. Photo by Dean Moses
Centers for Disease Control and the
city and state health departments to
help monitor developments.
During his press briefi ng Sunday,
Mayor Bill de Blasio told New Yorkers
that the city “has the strongest public
health apparatus in the nation.” The
DOH is updating Councilman Peter
Koo daily to keep him apprised of any
new updates so that information is
relayed to community-based organizations
like senior centers and healthcare
providers.
The arrival of coronavirus has been
labeled an eventuality considering that
our city is a hub of travel. The Centers
for Disease Control activated an entry
screening program at JFK International
Airport for passengers arriving
from the city of Wuhan, China,
where the outbreak began, but so far
no passenger has required further
evaluation.
The bottom line is this: There is no
reason for residents of Flushing or
the rest of the borough to overreact
or discriminate against the Asian
community.
We’ve been through these emergencies
in the past with the SARS outbreak
in 2002, the swine fl u epidemic
of 2009, and the Ebola crisis in 2014.
Panic and fear broke out here but each
time the city’s public health apparatus
proved itself to be the strongest in the
nation.
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