Briefing 3/30: Coronavirus-Related Homicide, Biggie In Brooklyn, PAUSE Extended

Happy Monday! We hope your weekend was a great one from inside your homes. Here’s the latest on the coronavirus.

• As of 10 a.m., there are at least 36,221 positive cases of coronavirus in NYC. In Brooklyn, that number has gone up to 9,521. There is a total of 790 coronavirus-related deaths in all of NYC. In Brooklyn, the number of deaths is 188. Keep staying at home!
• Governor Andrew Cuomo extended NY on PAUSE until at least April 15.
• Congresswoman Nydia Velázquez has ‘presumed coronavirus infection.’
• An 86-year-old woman is dead after she was knocked to the ground by a stranger for allegedly violating social distancing rules. The NYPD is investigating possibly its first coronavirus-related homicide, the Daily News reported.
• Father Jorge Ortiz-Garay, a priest at St. Brigid’s Church in Wyckoff Heights died from complications due to the coronavirus, NY1 reported.
• CNN highlights Brookdale Hospital amid the coronavirus. It’s a warzone, CNN reported.
• A man was arrested for allegedly running an illegal club in Gravesend. The club had no liquor license. According to NY1, this is the first arrest under Mayor Bill de Blasio’s executive order.
• The hospital ship, USNS Comfort, has almost arrived at NY Harbor.
• Birthing partners will now be ALLOWED in the delivery room at hospitals, according to a new executive order from Governor Andrew Cuomo.
• A video of Brooklynites singing Biggie from outside their windows has gone viral:

• Tom Robbins remembers extraordinary neighbor Rebecca Reich – who truly made “Brooklyn a better place,” he writes in City Limits.
• New York state announced that English Language Arts (ELA) and Math assessments would be canceled for the 2019-2020 academic year. Here’s what that means.
• Restaurant owners are organizing to fight for their businesses, we reported last week.
• Have you checked out our story on community-funded coffee deliveries to hospital workers?
• As the coronavirus continues to spread, young volunteers are stepping up to do their part in helping their communities, we reported.