18 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARСH 19, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
сoronavirus
Stringer predicts at least $3.2 billion
loss in tax revenues due to coronavirus
City to expand health care facilities and medical personnel
BY ALEJANDRA
O’CONNELL-DOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@AODNewz
Th e city will rapidly expand its healthcare
facilities and pool of health care
workers to treat New Yorkers who have
become ill aft er contracting COVID-19,
the mayor announced on Monday.
“We understand that this curve is moving
rapidly,” said de Blasio. “I do not
believe that the United States government
is on a wartime basis right now …
if they did we would already have support
from federal agencies, so we will do
it ourselves.”
Th e curve that de Blasio spoke of refers
to a graph that illustrates how there could
be huge uptick in positive coronavirus
cases if no measures are taken. As of
Monday, there are 463 positive cases of
coronavirus in New York City, 134 more
from yesterday. So far, seven New Yorkers
have died due to complications from the
virus. Th e sixth fatality was a 56-year-old
Bronx man who worked as an investigator
with the Department of Correction. Th e
city says that he did not visit the inside
of a jail facility and only worked with one
other individual who is in self-quarantine.
Th e seventh was a 89-year-old man who
returned from a trip to Italy a week ago.
Th e city is currently working to identify
all spaces that can be converted immediately
for medical use and would be creating
and building out medical facilities
and retrofi tting facilities that have nothing
to do with healthcare in order to turn
them into hospitals as long as the city has
suffi cient medical equipment and personnel
to man them.
In order to meet this need, the mayor
said that the city is considering asking
retired doctors to practice again, students
who can be appropriately credentialed to
work and ask the military’s medical units
to come in if necessary. If New York state
continues to be an area where people are
disproportionately suff ering compared to
the rest of the country, the city plans
to ask the federal government to send
out-of-state health care workers to treat
patients in the city.
Some facilities that have immediately
been brought online include the Coler
facility on Roosevelt Island, a previously
defunct hospital, will be equipped with
350 beds and will be ready to see patients
in a week. City offi cials said that the
facility would most likely take patients
who need hospitalization but not intensive
care. Another facility that will take
more patients is a recently built nursing
home in Brooklyn, the mayor said. Th e
name of the nursing home was not readily
available. Th e facility would most likely
be ready with 600 beds within the next
two weeks.
Other locations include the Westchester
Square Medical Center in Bronx, which
will have 150 additional beds within the
next two weeks, and the North Central
Bronx Hospital, which will place 120 beds
on two vacant fl oors.
Medical facilities that are part of the
city’s Health + Hospital system, will begin
discharging patients more quickly than
normal to free up beds and will be canceling
all elective surgeries. Hospital higher
ups could potentially turn cafeterias
and parking lots into makeshift ICU units
with tents Th e city is also working to
secure more hotel space to be used to isolate
and quarantine city workers that need
to be quarantined away from their homes.
At the moment, the city has 250 hotel
rooms spread out among fi ve small hotels
to use at their disposal for quarantining.
Th e city also announced that there will be
fi ve drive-through testing sites for priority
patients. It is still unclear where those sites
will be in the city.
“Th is will be a race against time for
these new facilities,” said the mayor. “We
have no choice to expand rapidly and be
ready for anything.”
BY ALEJANDRA O’CONNELLDOMENECH
adomenech@qns.com
@QNS
New York City Comptroller and 2021
mayoral candidate Scott Stringer is calling
on the city to fi nd ways to set aside $1.4
billion in savings to ensure vital services
like hospitals, schools, homeless and city
police continue to run smoothly during
the coronavirus outbreak.
Th e comptroller’s offi ce predicts that the
city will lose $3.2 billion in tax revenue
over the next six months given the restrictions
on restaurants, hotels and travel.
On Monday, Governor Andrew
Cuomo banned gatherings of over 50
people in the state, restricted all bars
and restaurants to deliveries and takeout
and announced that gyms,
movie theaters and casinos
must close their doors indefinitely
beginning at 8 p.m.
Th e same restrictions on public
life were also announced
by New Jersey Governor
Phil Murphy and
Connecticut Governor
Ned Lamont.
Essential businesses
like gas stations, grocery
stores and pharmacies
remain open.
The comptroller
conservatively predicted
that hotels
will only use 20 percent
of their rooms,
restaurant sales will
decline by 80 percent, real estate revenue
will drop by 20 percent and retail
sales will also decline by 80 percent
over the next year.
The effect of coronavirus
on the city’s economy
“could be much
broader and deeper
than the aft ermath
of 9/11
or the 2008
recession” a
spokesperson
from
the New
York City
In d e p e n -
dent Budget
Offi ce said.
In order
to help create the savings fund, comptroller
is calling on the state to defer
sales tax payments from hotels, restaurants
and small retail stores due by
March 20, and for the city’s Department
of Small Business Services to extend its
assistance program to include nonprofits,
especially those in the arts and culture
sector.
Last week, Mayor de Blasio announced
that the city would off er loans to up to
$75,000 to businesses with fewer than 100
employees if they can document a 25 percent
loss in customers as a result of the
coronavirus.
Th e comptroller is calling on the city
to further help businesses by doing away
with small business fi nes and fees and to
consider other measures like deferring tax
payments.
Photo by Todd Maisel
Mayor Bill de Blasio holds a roundtable discussion on coronavirus.
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