Upper West Sider With Three Kids Tests Positive for Coronavirus; His Wife and Children are ‘Mildly Symptomatic’
A 51-year-old man living on the Upper West Side has tested positive for the coronavirus, Mayor de Blasio said in a briefing on Friday night. The man is “mildly symptomatic and isolated at home,” he said, adding that the man has no preexisting conditions that the city knows of. The man is married and has three daughters, ages 8, 10 and 11.
Update, Saturday night: Two other members of the family tested positive.
The man’s wife and daughters are “all mildly symptomatic, essentially showing the kind of symptoms associated with a cold.” They were tested for the virus today but results have not yet come back. Disease “detectives” are also tracking contacts that everyone in the household has had. The Upper West Side man is connected to a New Rochelle lawyer who worked in the city and may have infected several other people.
Now that the virus has begun a “community spread,” meaning it’s not just being carried by people who traveled abroad, the spread could be harder to track. People with symptoms — fever, cough and/or shortness of breath — should stay home instead of going to work or school. If you have those symptoms, call your health care provider to see if you ought to get tested.
The city also gives the following prevention advice:
You should go about your daily life, but take the same precautions that you would during cold and flu season:
- Get your flu shot — it’s not too late. Although the flu shot will not protect you from COVID-19, it will help prevent the flu which has similar symptoms to this coronavirus.
- Cover your nose and mouth with a tissue or sleeve when sneezing or coughing — do not use your hands.
- Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, or use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer.
- Do not touch your face with unwashed hands.
- Stay home if you are not feeling well.
See de Blasio’s full briefing on the virus here:
We need to know the school. This is vital info
I believe the children go to Collegiate School and Spence School. Same case as this WSR post… https://www.westsiderag.com/2020/03/06/uws-private-school-closed-for-coronavirus-cleaning
Collegiate is an all boys school
Collegiate is an all boys school. This post said the man had 3 daughters.
So sorry! Realized that after the fact.
Wow, this is how rumors get started.
Any “facts” presented here in the comments sections are suppositions and suspicions.
Get a grip, people.
Your confusing two separate incidents, A man who has both a child at collegiate and Spence went on an international trip and came back and notified the school. Only out of precaution were both schools closed and it has not been reported this man is even ill
The one in the upper West Side is different, he is a 51 year old man who has a connection to the lawyer from New Rochelle where this outbreak originated. More than likely we are talking about a Jewish day school and the only one for girls on he West Side is Manhattan Day on 75th off WEA.
I’ll ask the question we all want to know the answer to: WHERE IN UPPER WEST SIDE???
Westside is in Manhattan,NYC.
Just listened to the video. I don’t think De Blasio said what you are reporting. I think he said that a man and wife with three children are being tested. Not that the test showed he or they had the virus
De Blasio spoke about the current cases of coronavirus, not everyone in the city who is being tested. Every news outlet in the city is reporting that he is a positive case:
https://www.ny1.com/nyc/all-boroughs/coronavirus/2020/03/06/new-coronavirus-case-confirmed-in-new-york-city
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/06/nyregion/coronavirus-new-york.html
https://gothamist.com/news/coronavirus-yeshiva-university-more-cases-nj-ny-updates
We have also reached out to DOH to get a further clarification given the comments we’ve received on this post.
Update: DOH has reconfirmed the information in our post as accurate.
Where on the upper west side? Shouldn’t we all know if we live here???
Why does it matter? It could be your neighbor …
Allison, what will you do if you know exactly where?
Don a HAZMAT suit when you walk by the building?
Move to another neighborhood?
Calm down. 22 people have been diagnosed, which means hundreds actually have it. You can’t avoid it. But you will likely be fine.
We need to look to what the countries that have had some success in slowing the spread are doing. Hong Kong and other countries announce each day the home addresses of infected persons. This is not so people can start wearing hazmat suits, but rather if a person is experiencing symptoms and they find out that their close neighbor has been diagnosed then they are more likely to seek testing and thus facilitating the ability to identify cases and quarantine them before spreading to others.
Sorry Scott.
The authorities have the need and right to know.
You do not.
Scott, this is NYC. If your neighbor has it, lots of people have it. It just hasn’t been diagnosed.
You shouldn’t get tested if your neighbor has coronavirus but you feel well.
How would you define neighbor? If someone two buildings away has it, does that mean you’re at increased risk?
Relax, let your brain do the work. Give your emotions a rest.
If the test results are not back how can you report he is positive?!
The children and wife’s test results are not back yet but the father is confirmed.
we must know. we must know where they live! lol…
cue the crowds with torches and pitchforks! (Lowes is closed, where do I get my pitchfork?)
Where in the upper West side
Calm down, people! You’re all panicking. Just take preventive care of yourselves and don’t go out if you feel unwell. Stop the hysteria!
Yes — you’d think we’re in the throes of a zombie apocalypse.
It’s predicted that up to 70% of the world’s population will have it in the next year or so. Odds are most people commenting here (and their families) will get it. So this whole “OMG! I NEED TO KNOW NOW WHERE ON YHE UWS THIS IS HAPPENING?!?!” is truly idiotic. Yes, even the moneyed sheltered UWS will be affected
Which block is this that is “roped off”?
No you don’t need to know where they live. It’s a HUGE HIPAA violation, not to mention safety issue for people that are diagnosed.
The HIV/AIDS epidemic in the 80s is exactly why healthcare privacy laws were enacted. What you do need to know is that it’s here, local, and nothing changes re: recommendations. WASH YOUR HANDS, get all of the vaccines you can (and should), but there is absolutely nothing else you can do by knowing the person’s name, address, and where their kids go to school.
Which has since been debunked since it’s in warm weather places right now. The only continent not impacted (so far) is Antarctica. Facts are your friend, and for FFS panicking has never helped anyone, ever.
Always wanted to visit Antarctica before all the ice melts and it becomes NJ. Perfect timing.
“FFS”??
English please?
“For Fuck’s Sake”
IT’S NOT THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE!
Try to stay calm, for God’s sake.
Yes it is
Good luck with the limited hospital and govt resources there when you bring it there with you. You’re much safer just staying in NYC and adjusting your life to limit exposing yourself and others.
Will be able to buy a three bedroom in that building for under 100K now
LOL
Even the Carribbean has cases. You leave now and you risk taking the virus with you. It’s been circulating probably for weeks. Many people who may have thought they just had the flue may likely have had the virus. In healthy people symptom are no worse – in children, so far, they are lighter.
Panic is the worst thing anyone can do. Stay home. Do what you would normally do in flu season. Wash hands often (20 seconds with soap), don’t touch your face, mouth, eyes. Don’t cough openly or into hand. Cough into tissue or elbow. Sequester yourself from others if you’re ill. CALL your doctor and describe symptoms. DO NOT Go to ER, DO NOT Go to doctor. Call first. Go to NYC1.com or 1NYC.com and read their daily updates.
If you’re not a trust-fund baby, can you share what you do for work that you can just pick up and leave for 6 months to the caribbean? I want to be part of that lifestyle.
So many posts expressing fear.
How about we wish our neighbors well and that they have a speedy recovery.
All this blather about the need to know which building is ridiculous. Suppose you live in the West 80s and you discover it’s in the West 90s. Will you never go anywhere in the West 90s? Suppose it’s the building right next door to your home. Will you never go home again? This is how dangerous panic can begin, often spurred by false “information” spread by people who are completely freaked out.
Americans should be more worried about , obesity , diabetes , clogged arteries , heart disease and mental health that’s what’s killing Americans ………… I’ve never seen a country eat so much garbage in my life !!!!!! But you’re giving the virus all this attention 🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️🤦♀️ #Insanity
Agreed. Over 325 million people in the United States and HOW many cases of the virus? 🙄
Hmm… be careful on that plane. And in the cab or Uber to the airport. Never know whose been in it before you. And the airport! OMG don’t touch anything in the airport! Or you could stay home wash your hands and know that if you get sick you’ll recover.
Take a chill pill, Billy.
You’re not helping, nor are you leaving.
what are you talking about. The number of people in the Caribbean who have contracted the novel coronavirus continues to grow with the Pan American Health Organization confirming Friday an additional positive case in the Dominican Republic and eight new ones in the French overseas territories
I have to laugh. Everyone is panicking. Its going to spread no matter what. Cases are starting to show up in the Caribbean. Stock up and be ready. That’s it. Simple. Wash your hands. Start quarantining yourselves if your so scared to step outside.
It’s possible the daughters all go to Spence, it’s possible the go to another private school, it’s possible they go to public school. Heck maybe all three go to my kids’ public school.
If it’s public school, they’re not planning to close them until a student is a confirmed case, which we know to be too late to slow the community spread because of the contagious period before the onset of symptoms, let alone testing.
Carranza wants to keep schools open as long as possible to feed hungry kids and give the thousands of homeless kids in the system some regularity. It’s a noble mission for the kids.
When old folks start dropping I hope he reconsiders.
As for the location of the family’s apartment, I’m less interested in that than where mom and dad work, where the kids go to school, which gym they use, etc. — places they spend a lot of time. I’d personally probably avoid those places until they’re sanitized.
The info will trickle out when the dad is in the ICU. Note for instance that it took well over a week to find out that New Rochelle and his wife work at a law practice right next to Grand Central. Hm I wonder if they were driving to work or taking Metro North every day. Doesn’t take a genius to figure it out.
They’re trying to avoid panic and the shut down of neighborhoods, tourism, etc.
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-health-hongkong-dog/hong-kong-coronavirus-patients-dog-could-be-first-human-to-animal-transmission-experts-idUSKBN20R24S
Reuters human to animal transmission. Quarantine all dogs.
omg you sound like a monster
100% 2 boys at Collegiate and sister is at Spence.
They all made fun of China and their supposed lack of transparency. Meanwhile we haven’t even tested more than 3,000 people while countries like South Korean were testing 10,000 PER DAY from day 1. And they laughed at China because they didn’t let our precious CDC in their country.
I went to a City MD on 88th and Broadway today and was horrified to find that one of the doctor’s assistants was coughing nonstop. She was wearing a flimsy mask and did not cover her mouth. The mask was completely open on the sides which makes everyone susceptible to her germs. I asked the doctor why someone who is clearly sick was allowed to work with patients and she responded that the assistant was wearing a mask. My point of the story is that it seems like our healthcare practitioners are not properly prepared to deal with a virus like corona. I feel like my health is now in danger having been at that City MD. I am not sure who to report this to so that medical facilities like that one can be better prepped for patients and for their own safety.
We healthcare professionals do not always have the liberty to take time off when we have a cold or a cough because we are the ones to help assist and take care of the sick and chronically unwell (which is a good portion of the country). Hopefully, that particular personnel just had a cold, and that is good that they were wearing a mask to protect others. It’s one thing if they were not wearing a mask and coughing all over you, and guess what…that “flimsy mask” is what every healthcare office has in the city. SO if you can design a better mask right away, I am sure we would all be more than happy to have that.
What criteria or decision was made for a 50ish year old with mild symptoms tested? Had they been in contact with someone with the virus?
It was noted in the article.
“The Upper West Side man is connected to a New Rochelle lawyer who worked in the city and may have infected several other people.”
Finesse is needed not to alarm while also not withholding information. Our current administration limits information (300 days without a press briefing [source:Feb. 27th 2020] relying on incorrect statements via Twitter and incorrect information by the president and his staff. There would be less concern if there was a foundation of trust between the White House and the public.
There you go. Get it off your chest.
Do you remember Obama’s response to Ebola? I do. He kept the flights from West Africa humming throughout the summer and early fall of 2014 despite thousands of deaths in 3 or 4 countries there.
Only after one traveler from Liberia landed in Dallas, checked himself into a hospital and infected 2 nurses did Obama get off his duff and order advanced screening of visitors from West Africa. And it took him 3 weeks after the Dallas catastrophe to do this.
Then there was Obama’s constant finger-wagging, telling everyone not to be bigots, that Ebola is the new normal, which it isn’t and should never be.
I could go on. Obama rolled the dice with our nation’s security. But yeah, what about bad orange man!
Scott, get a life! What Obama did is completely irrelevant. We have a situation to deal with in 2020.
The flu virus kills between 20 and 80 thousand people in the US per year. This is very similar symptom-wise. Get a grip people. Most people will not even realize they had it
I suspect all those telling us to stop being hysterical are actually trying the suppress their own hysteria, while the writer who wants to know which building just has a case of plain, good old-fashioned UWS nosiness. I know I do.
Ha. Nod to David Foster Wallace.
Oh yeah?!
Well, my family is getting picked up by a helicopter on the roof OUR building (Yes, we own the whole building) which will whisk us away to a private air strip (only peasants have to go to commercial airports) where THREE military grade fighter jets await us. One for each of us, so we can stretch out.:)
From there it’s on to our private island off the coast of REDACTED REDACTED where I have constructed what is essentially an 80,000 square ft, ultra luxurious panic room. It’s got enough caviar, champagne and suntan lotion to last for years!
I think we’er going to be OK too, Doctor. I hear from some of my lower level employees that Palm Springs is very nice. Enjoy.
Really??
Well I’m writing this from my families bunker under our high rise. This bunker is our private space before we all get whisked away to the underground tunnels that will take us to pristine areas in hollow earth.
Chances are high that every person commenting here demanding to know where the infected man and his family live (you really want to know *who* it is, don’t you?) will be infected with covid-19.
Instead of outrage, building communities should be planning NOW how they will weather the outbreak for at least 6 months. Is there a plan for staffing continuity when the doorman or super becomes sick? Have adequate supplies been ordered to protect staff and disinfect common areas? Is there a process to check on the sick in isolation and the exposed in quarantine? What about the pets and children of sick residents recovering at home? Is management’s emergency contact info accurate?
UW Siders can take the low road or the high road in this crisis. I’ve worked in disaster response and trust me, the former has no upside and only does harm.
@ Distress Family , , , LOL funny reading all the comments you’ve generated. Even funnier that those peeps thought you were serious! 🙂
Comments section was pretty good. 4/5 on entertainment factor.
ANONYMOUS PARENT wins for calling outs boys school when he has 3 daughters. The all caps for their name really sealed the deal.
Blessings and peace, everyone.
As a life long resident of the “Peoples Republic of the Upper West Side” I’m shocked. shocked I say to see all the hypocrisy here.
Any medical information can not be released led with out the express written consent of the author.
Does the PRUWS have a flag with insignia? A knife with a shmear of cream cheese overlapping a bagel?
Ok, this made me laugh.:)
Some graphic designer out there should get on this right away.
Can’t we just argue about bike lanes
Just wondering if the NYC Dept. of Education has directed all teachers to create home study materials for their students for the time in which our city’s school system is ordered to shut down. Waiting until the last minute would be foolhardy.
The DOE hasn’t asked us to prepare any materials but they’ve been surveying principals about their schools capability for remote learning.
Shameful and painful, these humorous, agist remarks about a disease that threatens to kill hundreds of us older residents, thousands worldwide. I’m 88 years old, able to care for myself with god’s grace from neighbors younger, healthier, those without mean callousness, flippancy flaunted here and one suspects welcoming a cleansing plague to dispose useless humans and lift fortunes of stock market greeders. May your idol mammon smash your citi-bike tickers under a heartless garbage truck.
A plague that wipes out half of humanity or more would be the best thing that could happen to Mother Earth. Give her some time to recuperate from the destruction wrought by humans over the last 100 years.
Shut things down already! Esp. Schools! Don’t wait till it’s too late! It’s much more contagious than the ‘regular’ flu.
Just listened to a webinar about how to defend against COVID-19 with Dr Andrew Saul (scientist, not medical Dr, but works with many of them. Lots of Viramin C is his answer as it is an antiviral. Check him out. He suggests 1000 mgs with each meal and in between for adults. It could be irritating to your stomach, so just back off some. Anything is better than nothing.
The man from the upper west side who is ill is connected to the man in New Rochelle where this outbreak started. He is more likely Orthodox and we are taking a girls religious day school, most probably Msnhattan Day School on 75 off WEA l
Collegiate and Spence are unrelated. A man, a parent who apparently has children in both schools came back from an international trip and immediately told the schools and out of precaution both schools were closed. There has been no information as to whether this man is even ill.
This is correct. I have been told that the man is part of the modern orthodox population on the UWS (a person whom I know – and I will not post any facts for privacy reasons). I can assure you that all schools and synogogues are taking this seriously and alerting all relevant families. There have been closures. Unfortunately it is occurring during one of the most celebrated joyful holidays – Purim – and many events and parties have been cancelled.
Guys, look. There are 12 million people or whatever in the area, and like 10 available test kits. This horse is out of the barn. Don’t foment a mob against those unlucky enough to have been confirmed carriers. Don’t spread rumors about your neighbors! We are in this together, don’t make mistrust the norm.
All we can do is be vigilant–wash your hands, and stay home if you feel sick. n.b. WASH YOUR HANDS!