Posted on by Brendan Birth

Coronavirus Update From New York City: May 7, 2020

I hope that all my readers are doing well, staying healthy, and staying safe.

I continue to remain physically healthy, and so does the rest of my family. We also remain financially healthy, as nobody in my family has lost jobs due to the pandemic. I have also been able to get two things done on the blogging front:

  • I had a guest post on another blog. Namely, I had a guest post on how segregation in a major city is not just a Philadelphia issue (the blogger has written about racial segregation in her home city of Philadelphia, among other things). Thanks to fellow blogger Kayla for publishing this post, and I encourage you all to check out her blog, Dear Destiny!
  • I now have a page on my blog titled “2020 Coronavirus Diary.” On that page, I have links to all of these weekly update posts on the coronavirus in New York, as well as blog posts relevant to the coronavirus. This page was created with the goal of others being able to see what the virus was like in New York City, an epicenter of it.

While I’m happy these things happened, these are really temporary distractions from the current grim reality. Last week, I made a mention of my mom’s calculation that we have sixteen friends, family members of friends, or friends of friends who have died from the coronavirus. Now, I think that count is above twenty.

My state is continuing to experience declines in hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions, and deaths. A few weeks ago, we were losing 700-800 New Yorkers a day. Now, we’re losing 200-300 New Yorkers a day. Granted, every life lost is awful, but I present this contrast between 700-800 daily deaths and 200-300 daily deaths to hopefully show others (particularly those who are eager to reopen before hospitalizations and deaths drop down significantly) that these measures, harsh as they may seem, are saving lives.

Hopefully, these positive trends in New York continue in the coming weeks. On May 15th, parts of the state will start to reopen, starting with parts of the state that haven’t been as severely affected by the coronavirus as other parts of the state (so New York City is likely not reopening on May 15th). At that, New York will start with some industries in less affected parts of the state where social distancing can still be practiced in the work that is done (for example, some forms of construction). Given how badly New York has been hit by the coronavirus, Governor Cuomo seems to be (rightly, in my opinion) taking a cautious approach to reopening the state.

So, when you’re hearing stories around this time next week about New York starting to open back up again, that may apply to people in parts of the state, but it likely won’t apply to New York City.

Do you have any outstanding questions about how I’m doing or how New York is doing? If so, feel free to ask in the comments section below!

15 Replies to “Coronavirus Update From New York City: May 7, 2020”

  1. I’m so happy you and your family continue to be safe Brendan. I will definitely check out Kayla’s blog and your guest post. And I think your Coronavirus Diaries page is brilliant. Can you imagine ten years from now people going there and having everything that was happening in NYC right there in one place?

    How horrible that we’re happy(?) the death toll there has dropped to 200-300 a day. I hope the reopening of parts of the state go well. I would imagine that NYC wouldn’t even begin to start until sometime in June. Here in AL, confirmed cases and deaths continue to climb, but we started reopening last week, although it was much more cautious than states like GA. I do a post every Friday called Family Fridays, where I update the numbers among other things. I hope the next week brings more good news. Stay safe.

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    1. My guess is also that we will wait until at least sometime in June. Given the cautious approach that Governor Cuomo is taking (once again, cautiousness is good here I think), I don’t think he will rush things back.

      I’m glad that Alabama has been more cautious than Georgia, though I hope that your state is cautious enough. I am VERY concerned about Georgia, quite honestly. And I look forward to seeing more of your Family Fridays post. Stay safe!

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    1. Thanks. We are definitely trending in the right direction, and I hope these trends in the right direction will be something for other states and other countries to consider when trying to figure out what policies may work best with the coronavirus.

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    1. I agree. That many deaths a day is staggering, but I am glad that we are going in the right direction. As I said in response to another comment, hopefully others will learn from how New York has approached this, because clearly what we’re doing is working from a saving lives perspective.

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  6. it’s encouraging to see those signs of improvement. Also, I tried to read your guest post (I am from Philly), but I can’t get past what appears to be a mandatory email subscription screen. Maybe once I read a few posts I’ll sign up, but not right off the bat…

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