16 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARСH 26, 2020 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
сoronavirus
Coronavirus forces NYC schools into daunting experiment
Queens College donates masks, gloves
and supplies to help combat coronavirus
BY BENJAMIN MANDILE
editorial@qns.com
@QNS
Queens College’s School of
Mathematics and Sciences stepped up
to help take control of the impending
shortage of personal protective equipment
(PPE) New York City hospitals are
facing in the coming weeks in the fi ght
against coronavirus (COVID-19).
Professors, faculty and lab technicians
scoured their laboratories for usable
materials for the “frontline workers” and
medical professionals, according to a
representative from the Queens borough
president’s offi ce.
Th e donation comes in response to
a call from Gov. Andrew Cuomo and
Mayor Bill de Blasio, each of whom
called for donations from New Yorkers
as the number of PPEs in hospitals starts
to dwindle.
“Messages such as, ‘Now I remember
that I always kept as emergency backup
a few boxes of disposable lab coats,’
and ‘Th e cases (not open) of gloves are
kept on the shelves. You can give all the
cases’” were sent in emails between professors,
faculty, college lab technicians
and campus security on Saturday.
Acting Queens Borough President
Sharon Lee lauded the eff ort and said it
was a “brilliant” and “swift ” move on the
part of the college.
NYC Emergency Management offi -
cials picked up the supplies Sunday to
“funnel” them to those in need.
“We hope this inspires similar actions
throughout Queens,” said Lee. “Against
COVID-19, every eff ort helps bend the
curve and will save precious lives. We
can make a bigger impact against the
curve if we act together and act now.”
Photos courtesy of the Queens Borough President’s offi ce
REUTERS/Caitlin Ochs
Lydia Hassebroek looks out at the view from her
window, during her fi rst week of home school
after New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo
signed an executive order closing New York
public schools statewide due to public health
concerns over the rapid spread of coronavirus
disease.
BY JONATHAN ALLEN
Reuters
Her students are used to seeing her in the
classrooms of Adrien Block Intermediate
School 25 in Flushing, but on Monday
morning “Miss Brooke” appeared instead
on their laptop and phone screens, sitting
in her suburban kitchen.
“Th ese are interesting times,” Brooke
Wacha, smiling calmly, told her students,
among the 1.1 million children in the
largest public school system in the United
States, which began a grand, unwieldy
experiment in remote learning as the
coronavirus outbreak largely confi nes
Americans to their homes.
“I’m hoping to make this process as
easy as possible and I don’t want to put
any extra stress on the families,” she said
in the video she had uploaded to a private
YouTube channel. “So, just with this
week, hang in there, work on fi guring out
the technology.”
Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza,
predicted “hiccups” as the system is atomized,
dispersed across countless apartments
in the city‘s richest and poorest corners
and linked only by the internet and
occasional phone calls.
The challenges are enormous.
Some city schools have no prior experience
with remote learning. Not every
student’s parent or guardian is tech-savvy
or even available in the day to supervise
schoolwork. Th e school system serves
many children with special needs, including
those in the care of Wacha, who specializes
in teaching children with autism
and cognitive impairment.
Parents spoke of trying to fi nd a quiet
corner in cramped apartments for their
children to crack on with assignments.
“My husband’s going to be working from
the kitchen counter and he’s going to be
on the phone,” said Rosie Creamer, whose
9-year-old son, Charlie, is a fourth-grader
at Manhattan’s Public School 40.
Charlie would have to sit at his desk in
his room, and Creamer had resigned herself
to having to sit with him, “because if
he can get out of doing it, he will.”
MTA implements new bus boarding
measure to facilitate social distancing
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Getting on and off the bus while maintaining
a safe distance between straphangers
became easier on Monday,
March 23, with rear-door boarding
available on local and Select Buses.
Th e latest social distancing measure
aims to protect commuters — most likely
essential service staff , as non-essential
workers are prohibited from going
to work come Monday morning — but
also to lower the risk to transit workers
on the front lines of snuffi ng out the
epidemic.
Union leaders from the Transport
Workers Union Local 100, the
Amalgamated Transit Union and MTA
Chair Pat Foye announced this will be
the norm as long as the public health
crisis exists.
Th e only buses where boarding will
remain the same are express lines. On
these, commuters will not be allowed
to occupy the fi rst three rows to protect
drivers.
“While Governor Cuomo has ordered
non-essential workers beginning Sunday
night to remain in their homes and not
take mass transit, we are taking aggressive
action to protect our thousands of
frontline employees who are delivering
a critical service to New York, moving
the healthcare workers, fi rst responders,
utility workers and essential employees
who are protecting us from this public
health crisis,” Foye said. “Transit workers
are the lifeblood of this city and region
and we are going to do everything we
can to protect their health and safety.”
TWU Local 100 President Tony Utano,
in a statement, pointed out that as essential
workers there are understandable
risks during crises, but that acceptance
can only go so far without the proper
measures. Not only did he say rear-door
boarding would be an adequate measure
but stated that it would be a morale
booster.
“We know we are essential workers
providing an essential service during
this national emergency — but we also
need to be protected to the greatest
extent possible,” Utano said. “Th is is
Photo by Dean Moses
the right move. It will better protect our
bus operators, give them some peace of
mind, and demonstrate that their concerns
have been heard.”
Sunday morning, Cuomo held his
daily press conference updating the public
on developments in the coronavirus
spread and blasted members of the public
who are still utilizing public space
against the recommendations of the government.
Moreover, he said he had met
with Mayor Bill de Blasio and Council
Speaker Corey Johnson to urge them
to open up roadways as well as better
enforce congestion measures that ban
gatherings of more than 10 people at a
time.
Opening streets would off er new
forms of transportation to be utilized on
a more widespread basis and would go
along with Cuomo’s mandate to include
bicycle repair shops in the range of
essential services allowed to stay open
during the state of emergency.
“We also recognize maintenance
workers for their rigorous daily disinfecting
of the buses. Hopefully the public
will listen to the governor and travel
only when essential,” said ATU Local
726 President Daniel Cassella.
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