Tag: Coronavirus

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Access to Free Coronavirus Testing: An Important Issue

The other day, I was searching for where I could get a free Coronavirus test. Namely, I was looking to hopefully get what is called a PCR test—the test that usually takes a couple of days to get the results from, but is also very accurate.[1] And so, I called around and looked around to see where I could get my test.

The first place I called said that their test would cost $290. When I first heard this, I asked whether he meant $2.90, stunned that it could possibly be $290. But it was $290. A place taking advantage of legitimate fear about the Coronavirus to charge nearly $300 for a test that you can get for free in certain places should be ashamed of itself.

The second place I called said that their test would cost $125. Okay, so it’s not as bad as $290, but it is still far from free.

Eventually I was able to get a free Coronavirus test from a public hospital that was about 15 minutes away from where I work. I was blessed. Yet, I left myself feeling extremely bothered by the fact that a place had the gall to charge $290 (or even $125) for a test that everyone should have easy access to in order to make sure that they are not spreading the virus (even asymptomatically, which can commonly happen even among vaccinated individuals) to other people. 

My experience here leaves me with a bothersome question: Are there other places where the only testing options nearby are places charging ludicrous fees? I hope the answer is no, but I fear that the answer is yes.

Even if the answer is no, an effort needs to be made to make sure that as many of the testing sites as possible are made as cheap as possible (ideally free). That way, instead of having a few free testing sites in each area where the lines are long, there are a lot of free testing sites in each area where the lines are short and the chances of coming across someone else with the virus are relatively low. After all, one should desire for it to be as easy and quick as possible to get tested, so that they can see whether they have the virus and need to act accordingly.

But if the answer is yes, then I personally think this is something where government needs to step up its game and provide free options for testing. In a case where we’re trying as best as we can to control the spread of the virus, it seems ridiculous that we would have areas devoid of free testing sites so that it is practically impossible to get a low-cost or no-cost test for the Coronavirus.

Ultimately, with the fact that even fully vaccinated people can transmit the virus and spread it, it is extremely important that we make sure that all people, regardless of vaccine status, have easy access to free Coronavirus testing. This is an important issue indeed, because nobody should have to pay $125, let alone $290, just to see whether they have the virus and could potentially spread it to others.

[1] https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/covid-19-diagnostic-test/about/pac-20488900

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Coronavirus Update From New York City (Again): August 12, 2021

I had really hoped that I was done with these updates on the Coronavirus, but the Delta variant of this virus had other plans.

Just a couple of months ago, things had looked relatively hopeful, between the number of people vaccinated and the low rate of infection. However, infections have increased drastically over the past few weeks, to the point that the United States is averaging over 100,000 cases per day. It is no different in New York City, where we have gone from averaging just over 200 cases per day a few weeks ago to now averaging nearly per day.[1]

Even more disturbing is that there are increasing stories of so-called “breakthrough cases,” or cases where people who are fully vaccinated have tested positive for the virus. What this means is that vaccinated people, such as myself, can get Delta and spread it, potentially–an especially big concern as some kids are going back to class for school (and of particular concern among the under-12 population that is not eligible to get vaccinated yet).

With this combination of news, I concluded that unfortunately, it was time to relaunch my weekly updates. In this set of weekly updates on the Coronavirus in New York City, I hope to document both how I/my family is doing with the situation, how New York City and/or New York State is doing, and how the United States is doing as a whole. These updates are my way of conveying how things are like where I am, and it is also my way of making sure that certain messages that need to be conveyed about this virus are conveyed.[2]

Speaking of conveying information, I should convey that one of the best things people can do to protect themselves and others is to get vaccinated. Research is suggesting that vaccinated people who get Delta are infected for a shorter period of time than the unvaccinated, which means the potential for less spread.[3] Data also suggests that breakthrough cases account for only a tiny fraction of COVID hospitalizations and deaths–showing that even with the Delta variant, the vaccines are highly effective in preventing one from getting a severe cases of the virus.[4] So if you haven’t been vaccinated yet, I beg you to get vaccinated! It is for your own good, as well as the good of those around you.

However, we should be mindful of the fact that we should do more than make sure we are vaccinated. As much as some people may hate to read my saying this, I think we need to mask again–both indoors as well as times we encounter crowds outdoors.[5] I also think we should start to (again) limit the extent to which we are around large and tightly-packed crowds, both indoors and outdoors (so this so-called “Homecoming Concert” that’s being held in my city in a couple of weeks is a big mistake, in my personal opinion). We should (again) practice social distancing as much as we can, and we should (again) make sure to avoid poorly-ventilated indoor spaces as much as we can.

This is annoying, and I want this virus to be over as much as anyone else, but we need to do all we can to protect the vulnerable, whether it be immunocompromised people or children or people still with COVID symptoms who are therefore unable to get vaccinated.

[1] https://www1.nyc.gov/site/doh/covid/covid-19-data.page#daily

[2] People should, first and foremost, listen to public health experts. However, I recognize that people also listen to other people they trust, whether it be politicians they trust, friends they trust, and writers they trust. As such, while I am not a scientist, I feel a big responsibility to make sure that accurate information regarding the science of the virus is conveyed to my readers.

[3] https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/variants/delta-variant.html

[4] Hopefully people won’t be treated to a paywall, but if so, you are warned, because The New York Times sometimes has a paywall: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2021/08/10/us/covid-breakthrough-infections-vaccines.html

[5] https://health.ucdavis.edu/health-news/newsroom/8-things-health-experts-want-you-to-know-about-the-delta-variant/2021/07

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Accessibility Options I Hope to See Remain After COVID-19

One of the common refrains I’ve heard from many in the disability advocacy community is that COVID-19 has resulted in everyone from employers to religious communities creating accommodations that would’ve been helpful for people with certain kinds of disabilities to have to begin with. Some in the disability community have even noted the irony that many of the accessibility options that were previously deemed too inconvenient or difficult to implement have only been implemented during COVID-19 now that the ability of able-bodied people to function was being compromised. And that is true—it is ironic indeed.

One of the concerns is that once we get past COVID-19, many of the things that made the world more accessible in certain ways for people with certain kinds of disabilities will disappear. I hope this concern does not turn into reality. As such, on this day, the 31st anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act being signed into law, I want to highlight the following things that I hope to not see disappear from an accessibility standpoint after COVID-19[1]:

More Ability to Work from Home

Unfortunately, the streets, sidewalks, and subways (for those who have subways), to name a few, were not necessarily designed for people with accessibility issues in mind. As such, everything from snow mounds at street crossings during the winter to unreliable subway elevators at all times of year make it exceptionally difficult for people with mobility limitations to navigate around in ways that they get to work in good time.

As such, having greater ability to work from home and not have to worry as frequently about navigating the outdoor obstacle course to get to work seems wise. Working from home came into place at many companies due to COVID-19; hopefully this option can stay, for people in industries where working from home is possible and for people who could use the ability to work from home to begin with. All that being said, I should make it clear that this should be done in addition to, not instead of, making sure that countries, states, cities, and towns are made wheelchair-accessible.

More Livestreamed Religious Services

This is not the first time I have talked about accessibility of religious spaces on my blog—I expressed dismay about the opposition to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) within American Christianity in the past. I wish religious institutions were not exempt from ADA, but until that day comes, there are going to be religious spaces without some basic accessibility features, such as ramps and wheelchair-friendly bathrooms.

In the interim, a good step would be to have more livestreamed religious services, so that people have more of an opportunity to watch their services from home. Livestreamed services have also become a much more common theme than before because of COVID-19, in order to keep people from coming to religious spaces and potentially contributing to the spread of the virus. Hopefully, these livestreamed services will continue and not go away just because able-bodied people feel safe going to church again.

More Doors that Could be Opened Automatically

Before the pandemic, such a device was viewed by some as an item just too expensive to implement. But as many of us turned into germaphobes as a result of the pandemic, having doors that could be opened without our touching them suddenly became a necessity, regardless of what the expense might be. For people with certain kinds of physical disabilities, automatically opening doors were a necessity long before any global pandemic.

Given the necessity of automatically opening doors, regardless of any pandemic, I am hoping that this is something that we continue to have even post-pandemic. While a germaphobe might not want to touch a door due to COVID, a person with certain kinds of physical limitations may be completely unable to open a door in the first place, regardless of whether they want to or not.

There are clearly certain ways that the world has been made more accessible for people with certain kinds of disabilities (and particularly, physical disabilities) as a result of COVID-19. However, it is important to be realistic and realize that this pandemic has not cured the world of all its ableistic tendencies. For example, the pandemic has not resulted in religious buildings becoming more accessible, in subways receiving more elevators, and in sidewalks that need ramps for wheelchairs receiving such ramps. If anything, the fiscal peril that many, ranging from religious institutions to local governments, are facing due to COVID-19 will give a lot of places the excuse that they cannot afford to make certain places and spaces more accessible for people with disabilities (as to whether such places truly cannot afford such improvements, I guess one can only judge on a case-by-case basis). Still, there are certain ways our world has become more accessible due to COVID-19 that will hopefully remain after the pandemic.

Are there other forms of accommodation that you hope remain after COVID for the sake of people with disabilities? If so, please comment below.

[1] Note that this is by no means an exhaustive list. There may be other forms of accessibility that have only come into place that I’m forgetting right now—if there are any such things you want to highlight, please feel free to respond in the comments section below.

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My (Hopefully) Final Coronavirus Update From New York City: May 27, 2021

Ever since I got my second COVID-19 vaccine dose, I’ve been thinking about if, when, and how to end my weekly updates.

Tonight’s post is the culmination of that thinking.

My thinking was that it would be time to end these weekly updates once everyone in my family was: a) vaccinated, b) at full immunity, and c) in a neighborhood where the COVID test positivity rate was low.

And now, all three things are the case.

My parents their second vaccine doses in mid-March, I got my second vaccine dose in late April, and my younger brother got his second vaccine dose in early May. As all of us are not only fully vaccinated but to a point where we are all at maximum immunity, the risk of any of us getting COVID (let alone seriously getting ill from it) seems extremely low. It’s not impossible to get COVID even if you’re vaccinated (look at the outbreak that happened with the New York Yankees baseball team as an example), but the chances are very low.

Additionally, the test positivity rate for COVID in my neighborhood is now extremely low–at just over 1%. It is good news that the test positivity rate is as low as it is. The good news means that I am no longer reporting from a COVID hotspot, and it means that the concern that existed about all of us in New York when I started my first iteration of these posts (or even when I started my second iteration of these posts) does not exist to the same extent. If such concerns come back, I will resume these weekly update posts, but unless and until that happens, I think now is a good time to end these weekly update posts.

I should emphasize that just because I’m ending my COVID update posts doesn’t mean that COVID as a whole is over, either in the United States or around the world. Far from it. Hundreds are still dying from the pandemic every day in the United States, while worldwide we are at our highest death rate since January. If we think we’re done with this pandemic, we are very badly mistaken. To that end, those who aren’t vaccinated should get vaccinated, while at the same time practice the appropriate public health precautions until being fully vaccinated.

Last, but not least, I want to thank all of you, my readers, for being a part of this journey. It has been quite the journey, but I am thankful for the fact that many readers have joined me on it.

Please note that I will not write a post next Monday, since next Monday is Memorial Day.

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Work From Home and the Environment

I should start by making this much clear: we are not in a post-COVID world. Far from it. For all of the talk of reopening things right now, COVID is still very much a factor. We are losing hundreds of Americans per day.

However, at some point we are going to be looking at the other side of this virus, and at that point, we are going to need to think about what different workplaces look like after the virus. Granted, many workplaces are already thinking about this.

Some workplaces cannot function virtually and therefore may end up looking the same as they were before the virus. There are many professions, such as many service industries, manufacturing, construction, and much more, that must be done on site and cannot be done virtually. There are other workplaces that have tried to function virtually, but with significant problems since the pandemic began—teaching comes to mind as one such profession.

However, some workplaces have discovered that they can function virtually quite well, and in some cases as well as they did before the virus. In such cases, it would be best from an environmental standpoint if work from home became a long-term condition.

In many countries, including the United States, transport is the number one cause of greenhouse gas emissions.[1] Furthermore, the overwhelming majority of said transport comes from the car,[2] which is the vehicle of choice for many to head to work. What this means is that if fewer people needed to go to a workplace, fewer people would need to drive. And if fewer people need to drive, there’s less pollution coming into the air, contributing to the problems of dirty air and global warming.

Basically, work from home is environmentally friendly.

Now, the question of whether continuing to work from home after COVID (in industries that have been able to work from home during COVID) is going to be, in many cases, an office-by-office decision, depending on how well different offices felt they were able to function during the pandemic. Some offices may decide that they didn’t function well when they worked virtually, and therefore will head back to their offices after COVID. Other offices may feel on the fence about this question. Other offices yet may feel that they have functioned quite well from home during the pandemic and will be more than happy to work from home after the pandemic. Other offices yet may feel that they have functioned relatively well during the pandemic but would find it useful to have a combination of a combination of in-person work and working at home. However, especially for offices that are on the fence—particularly offices that are in areas where the only way to get to the location (or by far the easiest/most convenient way to get to the office) is by car, perhaps environmental considerations could also play into the thought process in such a decision.

For as much as some of us may like to think of key decisions on the environment as some far-away thing for people in some distant land to deal with, the reality is that all of us as individuals, as well as our bosses as individuals, have a role to play in taking care of the environment. And, perhaps in cases where offices functioned well while working virtually during the pandemic, the decision to continue working from home after the pandemic can be more than an office functionality decision, but an environmental one, too.

[1] https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions

[2] https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20200317-climate-change-cut-carbon-emissions-from-your-commute