01 april 2020
11:42
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Hospitals in New York are preparing for the large influx of corona patients. But it is already clear that the number of available beds will not be enough. Afraid to wait in a much too quiet Big Apple.
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Aambulance sirens never end, first-aider Craig Spencer observes after his shift at the New York-Presbyterian hospital. He thinks the bellowing through the empty streets is ‘ghostly’. On the other hand, chaos reigns in New York hospitals. Some 140,000 hospital beds would be needed to deal with the corona epidemic. That is 30,000 more than previously estimated. And that while the state of New York only had 53,000 before the epidemic.
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Even after 9/11, Broadway theaters reopened after 48 hours. Nowadays, notes are hanging everywhere on tightly sealed doors in the theater district.
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The authorities are trying to make up for that shortage by deploying, among other things, an emergency hospital in the Jacob Javit’s Convention Center. There should be about 1,000 extra beds.
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Pause
New York has rapidly become the epicenter of the corona crisis in the United States. The number of infections doubles every three days. While more and more seriously ill corona patients are being kept asleep in intensive care units, the city has also been put into a coma to get the virus under control.
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© Mediafin
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New York has coined a euphemistic term for that near-complete lockdown: a “pause.” But taking a break, that’s strange to the city. Even after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, Broadway theaters reopened after 48 hours. Nowadays, notes are hanging everywhere on tightly sealed doors in the theater district. In a month, the makers hope to be able to bring their musicals back to the stage.
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The economic impact will be huge. The ‘night economy’ alone has 25,000 companies in New York. About 300,000 people earn their living in restaurants, bars, concert halls, theaters, museums and galleries, often without many labor rights. Some popular restaurants have already closed their doors and all their employees have been fired. Little is left of the vibrant nightlife that New York owes its reputation to.
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Distraught
Hotels are also struggling to stay open. Taxi drivers have no customers as the multitudes of international tourists and business travelers stay away. The Disney characters who take their picture with them in Times Square for a tip have been in a bad mood since all the bars and restaurants closed last week – paying rent is becoming an impossible task for them. The homeless are desperate. “Please,” begs a man at the entrance of an abandoned subway station.
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Across the US, 37 million jobs are at risk, Cornell University estimates. Already 3.3 million Americans applied for unemployment benefits last week. That is almost five times the previous record from 1982. The American social safety net has big holes. Temporary unemployment like ours does not exist. Losing your job often also means losing your health insurance. And the country already has 87 million people who are not or insufficiently insured against the sky-high bills sent by American hospitals. The fear is that these people will avoid care or even just go to work, because most Americans do not have a pot for emergencies. 40 percent of them could not afford an unexpected expenditure of 400 dollars before the corona crisis.
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There is now a wave of layoffs on top of that. By the second quarter, up to 30 percent of the US workforce could be unemployed, said Fed central bank chair in St. Louis, James Bullard. The Morgan Stanley investment bank is more conservative, but still counts on 13 percent. Analysts estimate the contraction in the economy at as much as 30 to 50 percent.
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Praised for his firm leadership in the hardest-hit state, Governor Andrew Cuomo says he is already thinking about ways to get the New York economy back on track once the coronavirus is defeated. Recovered patients may be able to return to work earlier than the rest of the population, or young people may be given the green light earlier to resume normal life, he outlined in his daily press briefing.
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Dire shortage
But first there is the fight against corona. In addition to a shortage of hospital beds, there is also an acute shortage of respirators and medical personnel. Cuomo promises to turn his state upside down to solve those problems. Retired nurses are called to stand by. The hospitals try to use one ventilator for two patients at the same time.
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But until that battle is over, life will be quieter in New York. “The town is so peaceful, too,” says Cheyenne Tommer, a 29-year-old mother of three walking past an abandoned park on the Lower East Side on her way home from work as a food delivery person. ‘But also quite scary. You don’t know if someone is lurking in a corner. ‘ Her boyfriend: ‘This is really weird, for a New Yorker. I’ve never seen New York so empty, never so quiet. ‘
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