courage2

Here's a local thing -- the teams that pick through trash to find redeemable bottles are back on the streets. Think of their risk. They must be super hard-up for cash.

Aellyce

One thing I personally am not a fan of, and heard the same from medical workers who are the primary "recipients", is all the screaming and horn honking people do every day at 7pm. I hear it very loudly every day from my apartment. My landlady is a nurse who works in several hospitals and she was one who told me that she often goes home to take a nap between two shifts and she said the screaming and honking makes her even more grumpy. She was not the only one telling me that. What do other NYC residents think? Maybe we should invent something more thoughtful and pleasant?

courage2

People have always expressed gratitude by making noise. I wouldn't want to chide them for showing they care, even if not everyone appreciates how they do it. For instance, when I have problems, physical expression of sympathy (pre COVID-19) makes me feel awkward, but I know people offer hugs from true warm feelings, and I try to suppress a flinch.

<3

courage2

I hope you're feeling better, Aellyce. Illness is so draining, COVID or not! Stuck at home, have you found anything about NYC that makes you glad, in spite of or in association with COVID-19?

DriGuy

I hope this is the case, because I live in a sparsely populated county where people are spread out, rather than concentrated, and there have been no reported cases yet. And I do think this helps flatten the curve, but what I worry about personally is that a year from now, if things settle down and I've avoided the crisis. I will still be as susceptible as I am now. Until there is a vaccine, this thing will continue to linger about, with continued flareups here and there.

I doubt that my county will ever look like NYC, but I don't know that for sure. And this virus will still be on the hunt long after the distancing guidelines are lifted. Right now, NYC is not representative of the rest of the country, but on a personal level, anyone who contracts the bug will be as bad off as a guy from Manhattan.

Now having tried to explain myself better, I can actually see some possible flaws in my original concern. But I'll have to think about it more before I sort it out.

Aellyce

Thanks courage, I indeed feel pretty good, now the 3rd day in a row, so probably it is fair to hope the sickness is over. I am currently trying to decide how to get to my COVID testing appointment today if there will really be heavy rain storms as predicted just for that time. Maybe just take an extended shower to purify my body and soul even better.

Wow, you are asking a really big question "in spite of" - there are a million things I am grateful for in NYC, I love to live here and this is why I have stayed now for >10 years - by far the longest in one city for me since moving out of my family home at 19. I am not originally from here, not even American, but I have always felt I fit right in, naturally. Of course there are less positive aspects of living in the city as well, but for me and my lifestyle the benefits by far outweigh the downsides. I have not had any dilemmas about leaving the city during the past 10 years, which is quite something for me. NYC is what I call home now, not my city or country of origin, I have never experienced any emotional bond to places before. I am sure part of ut is aging as well.

In association with COVID - personally I have not experienced much of anything since isolating in my apartment. Oh, I am grateful for my neighborhood being much more quiet now - normally I hear a lot of street noise but not now. I was looking into finding a different apartment/neighborhood, the noise being one factor, but now that is delayed and I feel much more content as I only hear ambulances and the 5-min cheering daily now One personal thing that is related to the current situation: I have a tendency to experience a mood decline in the spring, it's been sort of like clockwork during the past 10 years, and staying sober has not erased it (of course it is much better sober). Not this year, so far! Kinda started a bit in February but then bang!, evaporated. So this spring has so far been quite the opposite - in spite of being a bit sick, my anxiety has been really low during the past month and even when I was physically tired, my motivation level was consistently pretty high. It is not some sort of hypomanic episode at all but clear, quite calm, focused, productive good mood. So its seems COVID has successfully treated my spring blues this year

On the global level, I think the way NYC handles this fast-emerging situation, all things considered, is very impressive. Of course there are isolated violations, but overall we really do what we can, I think. The availability and speed of medical help for those in need has also been outstanding so far - of course the real challenge comes now as hospitals near saturation. I don't know much about social situations other than there is apparently free food available for those in need and help for the elderly to get groceries and medication. Before I locked myself in, I also had the impression that people overall were more considerate and polite and a stronger than usual general community spirit emerged.

I actually told a friend a couple weeks ago that even if I had an easy option to temporarily escape and survive COVID somewhere else (like quite a few from my circles), I would not. Besides all the fear and frustration, I find experiencing all this in NYC very interesting. I think it is easier for me than many others because I am on my own, have no one else to worry about, no scares about own employment and income. It is certainly very different (and bleak) for way too many people.

I look forward to finally getting out a bit today, gloomy weather or not. Have a peaceful day everyone!

courage2

Absolutely. My perspective sits in the luxury of good health.

I was thinking yesterday about when the pandemic is nearing its end, and people like me who look at the numbers will be all like, "hey, it's over, only a few cases a day now." -- And those "fe" people still getting sick and dying from it, what do they care where their case falls on the curve?

Aellyce

Finally today I saw the impressive emptiness and social distancing in NYC. It was actually so nice to take a long walk in the quiet city, part of me wishes it would always stay like this on weekends or something like that

courage2

Here's a sobering (!) indication that the COVID-related mortality numbers in NYC may be missing *lots* of undiagnosed people. Our reported numbers include only those with positive tests. But...

Aellyce

I also saw that about the underreporting due to undocumented deaths earlier. That is disturbing also in a sense that so many people drop down dead in isolation.

The whole testing thing definitely needs a lot of improvement. Including the attitude of testing staff - when I went to the hospital yesterday to find out they had given me the wrong kind of appointment, the nurse spent about 5 minutes explaining in a rather arrogant manner that it made no sense for me to be there for swab after 12 days of symptoms. Of course, but explain it to the scheduling staff or whoever handles the patient reports and scheduling. I also hear from many sources that people who want to see a doctor and have COVID testing outside of the ER are still turned down a lot, and often in similarly arrogant ways. Of course everybody's stress is understandable, but they should make more effort in handling patients, so that people are actually comfortable seeking help and feel that they qualify. Right now the media are making somewhat enthusiastic reports that finally the flattening of the curve has started - but how reliable and real is that?

Steely

I'm taking heart from a flattening of the curve but I want to see it layed out cold! Until a vaccine is developed we'll just have to listen to the birds, the quiet, and reflect, whilst keeping our distance with really clean hands.

Thinking of you America.

Thinking of our planet.

Thinking of a better world. Lessons learned. Bring on Pete Seeger, "Where Have all the Flowers Gone?"

saoutchik

My heart goes out to all of you in New York, fingers crossed that the lockdown will impact on the number of fatalities soon. I know that the people there have the courage and spirit to get through this and come out stronger.

courage2

This is a lovely piece of writing. I got all verklempt.

https://nyti.ms/2y4dcPe

Hevyn

Oh, that was wonderful Courage. Somehow I missed it yesterday.

Aellyce

I don't want to be negative and first I didn't want to post about my experience today, but I think it is good to have a fuller picture. I went out a bit earlier today and my neighborhood, again, is not deserted at all - far from it. There were almost as many people out as on a normal Saturday. Many wearing masks, gloves, and definitely keeping distance from others who walk by, but some did't seem to care too much again (or still). Standing or sitting really close, quite a few people eating on the street together (which I seriously cannot comprehend). I wanted to take a picture to show you guys but didn't have my phone on me, I left it home so I don't contaminate it. I must be living in some really weird community. I'm kinda surprised because this is definitely not some kind of minority-inhabited, low-income, or otherwise special neighborhood.

The other day when I walked to my hospital through a different area, that looked completely different, nearly empty. The weather wasn't nice then and today is gorgeous, that is certainly a factor, but still... I've also seen at one building entrance people moving large pieces of furniture out - seemed like moving house. So weird! Well, I'm a bit of a hypocrite here I guess given that I was also out to see all this, but at least not with a bunch of movers or with buddies having a picnic.

Joe787

I'm right across the Hudson over in Jersey City, so unfortunately not too far removed from the epicenter. I've seen and heard a lot of ambulance traffic this past week and am happy today has been siren free so far.

At this point, like most, I've become fairly acclimated to the quarantine lifestyle and find it somewhat peaceful despite the underlying reasons and their consequences. Hope we all get out of this with safe loved ones sooner rather than later.

courage2

Some flags were flying at half-mast today -- not on official government buildings, so I guess the buildings might have lost some residents or employees.

I got to thank a policeman standing in front of his precinct headquarters over a big banner that read NYPD STRONG. About 2,000 NYC PD members in uniform have tested positive. That seems to be about 3 in 50 -- almost 6 times the NYC population rate. There's an even bigger number on NYPD employees out sick, which may be due to low-level symptoms or medical advice after possible exposure -- I know those are 2 reasons people are required to stay at home. I gotta salute the men & women patrolling the streets.

Newbeginning421

I think once Antibody test start being distributed in mass we can start to come out of this which will probably take a month or so. Hang in their guys! Think we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel as the curve starts to flatten as well.

biminiblue

nm, it gets too political at the end (the original article I linked. I hadn't read the whole article.)

courage2

I keep running numbers and the only thing I can think is that New York has an extremely different population density than any other locality where the virus has been present a significant amount of time:

NYC is 27,000 people per square mile; Hubei province is only 820/ sq mi; London is 15,000/sqmi but I can't find good numbers for London only cases (density figures from Wikipedia). So far NYC's mortality rate among confirmed cases is 6%*. Hubei's mortality for confirmed cases was 5% as of 3/15, the last day WHO reported out Hubei separately from the rest of China. So those rates are pretty similar -- thus far, a confirmed case has about the same chance of recovering in Hubei or NYC. The giant difference is in case prevalence -- per 100,000 population, 1317 New Yorkers have tested positive, compared to only 115 Hubei'ers per 100,000. That's 10 times the prevalence!

I don't think it's because NYC is over-testing, because if that were true, we'd have a lot more confirmed cases who survived, and therefore a LOWER mortality rate. So all I can figure is density.

Anyone have alternative hypotheses?

*I'm only counting deaths with a confirmed positive COVID-19 test result -- NYC is now providing those counts and also counts including those without tests but with COVID on the death certificate, but I think the former counts are probably better for comparison with WHO numbers.