Briefing 5/19: Some Hospitals To Allow Visitors, Community Town Hall & New Loans Available

Briefing 5/19: Some Hospitals To Allow Visitors, Community Town Hall & New Loans Available
Lights in Downtown Brooklyn. (Photo: Zainab Iqbal/Bklyner)

It’s Tuesday! The coronavirus is still out there. Please continue to stay safe, practice social distancing, and continue wearing face coverings. Here are some new numbers as of this afternoon:

  • There were 577 new positive confirmed coronavirus cases in NYC, compared to the 665 cases from yesterday, bringing the total number of confirmed positive cases to 191,650.
  • As for deaths, there were 76 new confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in NYC, compared to the 95 deaths from yesterday, bringing the total number of deaths in the City to 16,059, with 4,829 probable deaths.
  • Some NYC hospitals will allow visits to resume under a pilot program, the Governor announced this morning. In Brooklyn, the two participating hospitals are Maimonides Medical Center and NYC Health + Hospitals/Coney Island. The program will start by next Tuesday and visitors must wear personal protective equipment, including masks, and will be subject to temperature checks.
  • The City Council’s push to house more homeless people in hotel rooms has stalled. But, the body’s Black, Latino and Asian caucus is now formulating a list of demands that would be worked into a compromise, the Daily News reported.
  • The NY Times followed a grocery delivery man as he picked up and delivered groceries during a pandemic. Have you read it yet?
  • There will be a community town hall featuring NYC Council Speaker Corey Johnson on Tuesday, May 19th, at 7 p.m to discuss COVID-19 response, housing, small business relief, unemployment, education, and more. You can register for it here.
  • New loans are available for small businesses in Council Member Brad Lander and Assembly Member Robert Carroll’s districts only, we reported.
  • We wrote about an extraordinary neighbor, Amber Adler, who spends her days giving back with her kids by her side. “It’s important to give back because life is about human connection and how you treat others. I want to care for my community because my community is my extended family. It’s helped me and I am here to help it.”