Apr 6, 2020 2 min read Announcements

Briefing 4/6: Boro Park Funerals, Tiger Tests Positive For COVID-19, Zoom Banned

Every day at 7 p.m., New Yorkers clap, cheer and bang pots and pans to thank healthcare workers. (Photo: Michael Appleton/Mayoral Photography Office)

Good morning! There’s still a coronavirus pandemic. We hope you had a wonderful weekend, that was hopefully spent staying at home. Here are some new numbers:

As of 5 p.m. yesterday, the total number of cases in NYC is 64,955. In Brooklyn, the number has gone up to 17,520. The number of coronavirus-related deaths in the City is now 2,472. In Brooklyn, 668 people have died. Stay safe, stay indoors!
NY accounts for at least half of the deaths in the US.
People are still having crowded funerals in Boro Park. Please stop! On Sunday, the NYPD was forced to break up a funeral after dozens of mourners gathered in violation of the state’s social distancing rules, the Daily News reported.
There’s another wonderful profile of the Brooklyn Hospital Center in the NY Times. This time, it’s about their ICU: A Brooklyn I.C.U. Fights for Each Life in a Coronavirus Surge.
The owner of the Brooklyn Nets, Joe Tsai and his wife Clara Wu Tsai, donated 2.6 million masks, 170,000 goggles, and 2,000 ventilators to New York, CNN reported.
Dog parks are also now closed in the City.
Father Gioacchino Basile, 60, a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark who had been ministering as pastor of Saint Gabriel Church in the East Elmhurst section of Queens, died from the coronavirus. “The Diocese of Brooklyn stated upon his arrival at St. Gabriel’s, Father Basile immediately cultivated a vibrant sense of community in the parish, most notably with the institution of an annual parish celebration of the Feast of St. Gabriel, the Patron Saint of the parish, celebrated on February 25,” AB7 News reported.
A tiger at the Bronx Zoo tested positive for the coronavirus, NBC NY reported.
Council Member Stephen Levin and NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson are calling for the immediate transition of all high-risk shelter residents & street homeless New Yorkers to isolation beds, & PPE for all staff.
Early data shows African Americans have contracted and died of the coronavirus at an alarming rate, ProPublica reported.
NYC has banned the video conferencing platform Zoom in city schools weeks after thousands of teachers and students began using it for remote learning, citing privacy reasons, Chalkbeat reported.