40 DECEMBER 24, 2020 RIDGEWOOD TIMES WWW.QNS.COM
2020 YEAR IN REVIEW
QNS’ top web stories of the year
BY JACOB KAYE
JKAYE@SCHNEPSMEDIA.COM
@QNS
This past year was dominated by one thing: COVID-19.
Stories about the spread of the virus in the borough, the actions taken by
leaders to limit its spread and the countless ways in which it aff ected the every
day lives Queens residents were read on QNS.com millions of times.
Here are the top 10 most read stories on QNS.com in 2020.
1. FREE RESOURCES AND SUBSCRIPTIONS FOR
REMOTE LEARNING AND HOME SCHOOLING DUE TO
CORONAVIRUS
By Donna Duarte-Ladd, Olga Uzunova and Katarina Avendaño, March 16, 2020
The day this story was published, March 16, 2020, was the fi rst day New York
City schools closed down to prevent the spread of COVID-19. It was early days of the
pandemic and readers wanted to know how to keep their students engaged during
what was a very uncertain time.
In this story, readers could access resources and subscriptions that off ered students
lessons on history, math, art, reading and much more.
2. CORONAVIRUS COUNT: QUEENS LEADS NEW YORK
CITY IN VIRUS CASES
By Robert Pozarycki, March 24, 2020
Just as soon as the COVID-19 crisis began, Queens was leading the city in confi rmed
cases. Through no fault of their own, Queens residents were quickly living in the
world’s epicenter of the pandemic.
At the time this story was published, there were over 3,800 confi rmed COVID-19
cases in Queens. Overall, there were 13,119 in the city.
3. NEW YORK STATE ON PAUSE: CUOMO ENACTS
‘MATILDA’S LAW’ IN RESPONSE TO ONGOING SPREAD OF
COVID-19
By Emily Davenport, March 20, 2020
Aft er debating the scale of a shutdown for some time, on March 20, 2020, Governor
Andrew Cuomo put the state on PAUSE, or Policies that Assure Uniform Safety for
Everyone.
For the fi rst time during the pandemic, non-essential gatherings in New York
were canceled.
On the day the PAUSE was announced, New York state had 7,102 cases of coronavirus,
with 1,255 people hospitalized. Thirty-fi ve people died that day from the virus.
4. HERE ARE 10 THINGS TO DO WHILE IN QUARANTINE
THIS WEEKEND
By Alex Mitchell, March 20, 2020
On the day Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that New York City would be
shut down, people began to imagine their lives in quarantine.
By now, it’s almost guaranteed most Queens residents have completed every item
on this list, which includes redecorating your home, video conferencing with friends
and family and binge-watching the day away.
5. HOSPITAL WORKERS IN BROOKLYN WHO TREATED
CITY’S FIRST CORONAVIRUS FATALITY WENT INTO
ISOLATION
By Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, March 14, 2020
The fi rst known person to die from complications related to COVID-19 in New York
City was an 82-year-old woman from Ridgewood. Days later, the frontline medical
workers who treated her were sent into isolation.
The woman’s diagnosis wasn’t known until she had already been brought into
the hospital, possibly exposing the EMS personnel in the ambulance that took her
to Wyckoff Heights Medical Center, as well as those in the hospital’s emergency
room.
6. NEW YORK STATE LIQUOR AUTHORITY CHARGES
RICHMOND HILL BAR WITH VIOLATING EMERGENCY
SHUTDOWN ORDER
By Robert Pozarycki, March 20, 2020
One of the fi rst eateries to lose its liquor license aft er fl outing rules put in place
to limit the spread of COVID-19 was Richmond Hill bar New Oriental Guyana Restaurant
Inc., located at 115-22 Liberty Ave.
While many restaurants and bars would go on to have their liquor licenses suspended,
New Oriental Guyana Restaurant was one of the fi rst.
Several days aft er Governor Andrew Cuomo passed an executive order forcing
restaurants and bars to close their doors to indoor dining, the Richmond Hill bar
was found to have continued operations as normal. The bar packed in customers
and closed their gates to appear closed.
7. CORONAVIRUS COUNT: QUEENS LEADS WITH 4,667
CASES AS NYC TOTAL SOARS TO MORE THAN 15,000
By Alejandra O’Connell-Domenech, March 25, 2020
The day aft er Queens had become the epicenter of the COVID-19 in the city, state
and country, the number of COVID-19 patients in the borough continued to rise.
On March 25, 2020, there were 4,667 known coronavirus cases in Queens. There
were 4,407 cases in Brooklyn, 3,013 cases in Manhattan, 2505 in the Bronx and 999
in Staten Island.
8. QUEENS POLITICIANS CONDEMN NEW YORK POST
IMAGE OF FLUSHING AMID CORONAVIRUS CASE IN
MANHATTAN
By Carlotta Mohamed, March 2, 2020
Much to the ire of local elected offi cials, The New York Post used a photo of an
Asian man in Flushing to illustrate its story about the fi rst case of COVID-19 in New
York City.
In the early months of 2020, hate crimes against Asians in New York were on the
rise and believed to be related to the entirely false perception that they were more
likely to spread COVID-19. According to lawmakers like state Senator Toby Ann
Stavisky, the Post story did little to combat this dangerous narrative.
“Posting a picture of an Asian man in Flushing, Queens, while reporting about
a confi rmed case in Manhattan is troubling,” Stavisky said at the time. “This does
nothing but further the misconceptions that are hurting many people and businesses
in my district.”
9. STUDENT HOUSEHOLDS CAN SIGN UP FOR FREE WI-FI
VIA SPECTRUM WHILE DOE WORKS TO DELIVER 25,000
IPADS NEXT WEEK
By Angélica Acevedo, March 17, 2020
The transition to remote learning was and remains diffi cult for students and
families without access to the electronic devices needed for a virtual classroom.
In mid-March, days aft er schools closed for the fi rst time, the Department of
Education began to distribute around 25,000 iPads to students in need of online
access. At the time, about 300,000 students were without online devices.
To help ease the transition to remote learning, internet provider Spectrum announced
it would be off ering student households up to 60 days of free service.
10. WHEN AMERICANS CAN EXPECT THEIR
CORONAVIRUS RELIEF CHECKS
By Carlotta Mohamed, April 6, 2020
As unemployment spiked in Queens and across the country in the early months of
the COVID-19 pandemic, people were – and many remain – in dire need of fi nancial
relief.
In early April, it was announced that taxpayers would receive a payment up
to $1,200 per adult and $500 per child as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and
Economic Security Act, passed by Congress.
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