New York on pause: life in the world’s COVID-19 epicenter
New York City and Long Island residents rely on a thorough government response to relieve them of the crisis.
By Julianna Coyle
New Yorkers look to Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s daily briefings for transparency regarding COVID-19. Since the pandemic first took over New York, Cuomo has preached preparedness, accuracy and, above all, honesty, some residents said. With the New York State on PAUSE program extended to May 15, Gov. Cuomo is not only imploring New Yorkers to stay home, but asking the federal government to step up.
Since early March, New York has increased available testing, stockpiled ventilators and brought in emergency medical support from volunteer medical personnel and the USNS Comfort. These measures have been critical in flattening the curve with over 130,000 cases in New York City and nearly 60,000 cases on Long Island.
Carsyn Cebulski, a 19-year-old student at East Carolina University, has found it difficult to cope with the isolation at home on Long Island.
“I was already home for spring break when I found out that I wasn’t going back to college this year,” Cebulski said. “Online school and quarantine has been frustrating, but seeing my friends in states less affected than New York hanging out and going to parties on Snapchat is even worse when I can’t even go outside without wearing a mask.”
Although social distancing efforts have shown promise, it is not enough to know when the state will “unpause” and life will return to normal.
Many workers have filed for unemployment as they have been laid off or out of work due to the strict shutdown of all nonessential businesses. Michael Cole, 51, shows concern for the economic impact of keeping all nonessential workers at home for an extended period of time.
“For the first time in 35 years I’m unemployed,” he said. “If I don’t get back to work soon I will be financially ruined.”
However, the work life pause is an imperative measure in order to keep overwhelmed hospitals afloat, Cuomo said. Makeshift hospitals due to a shortage of beds, mobile morgues and a lack of PPE were the scary reality during the “peak” of the pandemic in New York. To accommodate the surge in patients mid-March, New York healthcare workers looked to the government desperately for support.
Tara Walsh, 30, is an occupational therapist who tested positive for COVID-19 while working at Northwell Health Hospital on Long Island.
“Initially I felt that the response was slow, which caused a lot of unnecessary chaos and confusion,” she said. “Now that we have somewhat of a grasp on things, it feels as if the response to our needs has been met.”
Amid the chaos, hospitals play a snippet of The Beatles’ “Here Comes the Sun” when a COVID-19 patient is discharged. With the trend of statistics slowly going down each day, Gov. Cuomo encourages New Yorkers to remain hopeful that it will all “be alright” soon.
