Monday Bulletin: Nursing Home Reversal, Restaurant Relief, Sidewalk Samaritans, Jerry Stiller’s ‘Best’ Seinfeld Moments
Birding in Central Park on a beautiful Sunday morning. Photograph by Barry Langer.
May 18, 2020 Weather: Mostly cloudy, with a high of 69 degrees.
Notices:
Our calendar is full of events you can enjoy from home.
News:
New York State has reversed a mandate that may have led to increased nursing home deaths from COVID-19, according to the Wall Street Journal. “After mounting criticism and thousands of deaths in New York nursing homes—including several individual facilities that have lost more than 50 residents—the state on Sunday reversed the mandate, which said nursing homes couldn’t refuse to accept patients from hospitals who had been diagnosed with Covid-19. New York now says hospitals can send patients to nursing homes only if they have tested negative for the virus.” The state has attributed more than 100 nursing home deaths on the Upper West Side to Covid-19.
The Daily News reported the horrific story of a six-year-old girl who was allegedly stabbed by her father in an Upper West Side homeless shelter on 103rd Street. She is expected to recover.
The City Council passed a package of bills to provide restaurants with relief and a better chance of surviving the coronavirus crisis, Patch reported. “Bills approved by the council Wednesday will set caps on third-party delivery fees, prevent delivery services from charging restaurants for simple phone calls, waive sidewalk cafe fees and prevent commercial landlords from harassing restaurants impacted by coronavirus or holding restaurant owners personally liable for unpaid rent.”
Outside the church of St. John the Divine, on Amsterdam between 110th and 113th, Sidewalk Samaritans are giving away essential supplies to those who need, but cannot afford them, according to ABC7NY. “…Sidewalk Samaritan (a nonprofit) hands out shoes, socks, shirts, toiletry kits and even jackets, sleeping bags and beverages which were donated by other organizations.”
An administrator at an Upper West Side private school allegedly helped students cheat, leading to the cancelling of important test results, the New York Post reported. “Rodeph Sholom School, a nursery-to-8th grade campus that charges up to $53,000 in yearly tuition, plus synagogue fees, has also been barred from giving the SSAT, an admission test used by elite private high schools, for three years.”
The Ringer recapped the greatest Seinfeld scenes with Jerry Stiller, the beloved comedian and longtime Upper West Sider who died last Monday. “When George Steinbrenner pays Frank and Estelle Costanza a visit to tell them that he fears their son is dead, Frank is distracted by a bigger, well, grievance. “What the hell did you trade Jay Buhner for?!” he yells at the Yankees owner (in a tone that every living human has for sure heard their father use while watching a game on TV that he doesn’t realize is tape-delayed). “He had 30 home runs, over 100 RBIs last year, he’s got a rocket for an arm … you don’t know what the hell you’re doing!” Next to Stiller, Estelle Harris seems to be stifling a giggle with her tissue.”
Finally, stories from the Times and the Post about moving out from, and spreading out in, New York City. “In April, a little more than half of the requests for (mail forwarding) destinations outside New York City originated in Manhattan, led by neighborhoods on the Upper West and Upper East Sides.“ And a worrisome sign outside some bars: “Outside popular bars on the Upper East Side, the Upper West Side, the East and West Villages and in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, The Post found booze hounds arriving for the takeout cocktails and then staying — and staying — to sip drinks on packed sidewalks and soak up the lively scenes.”
Andrew Cuomo slipped in a new law that grants immunity to nursing homes and other healthcare facilities from legal liability regarding covid-19.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/05/13/nyregion/nursing-homes-coronavirus-new-york.html
I’d be curious to know what % of COVID cases and deaths on the Upper West Side were in nursing homes, as opposed to the general population of the neighborhood.
WSR, The Daily News has the location of that shelter wrong. It’s not on W 103rd, it’s on the northeast corner of W 104th and Broadway, between 104th and 105th.