Briefing 5/8: Racial Disparities In Arrests, New Refrigerated Trucks & More

It’s finally Friday! We hope you have a wonderful weekend and are able to celebrate Mother’s Day with the mother figures in your life. Here are some new numbers as of this afternoon:

• There were 1,377 new confirmed positive coronavirus cases in NYC, compared to the 1,421 new cases from yesterday, bringing the total to 176,086 positive cases in the City. In Brooklyn, there were 398 new confirmed positive coronavirus cases, compared to the 440 new cases from yesterday, bringing the total to 46,977 cases in the borough.
• There was a total of 43,913 hospitalizations in NYC. As for deaths, there were 227 new confirmed coronavirus-related deaths in the City, compared to the 224 new deaths from yesterday, bringing the total to 14,389 deaths in NYC, with 5,313 probable deaths. In Brooklyn, the number of deaths has gone up to 4,337.
• 40 people were arrested for social distancing violations. Of those arrested, 35 people were black, four were Hispanic and one was white. More than a third of the arrests were made in Brownsville, the NY Times reported. To address the racial disparities, Mayor Bill de Blasio believes the solution is to add more police presence and limit the number of people in parks.
• A number of refrigerated trucks are parked in a lot at the 39th Street pier in Brooklyn to hold dead bodies, Fox News reported.
• “Police… stormed a newly opened up street in Downtown Brooklyn, pushing aside the barricades meant to block cars, and wrongly telling workers who had set up the new public space that they needed a permit to participate in what the cops obviously didn’t know is a key mayoral initiative,” Streetsblog reported.
• It’s Mayor Bill de Blasio’s 59th birthday. Happy birthday!!
• The deadline for survivors to file a claim under the Child Victims Act will be extended to January 14, 2021.
• An 87-year-old matriarch is back home from NYU Langone Hospital–Brooklyn, where she was recovering from coronavirus, just in time for Mother’s Day to be celebrated with her daughter, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, we reported.
• In an act of kindness, the Häagen-Dazs in Park Slope personally delivered a birthday cake, which was on the house, to a doctor in New Jersey, we reported.
• Here’s where to order last minute Mother’s Day Flowers.
• Running very late for Mother’s Day gifts? No worries. Just check out your local businesses!