[ad_1]
Weather: Mostly sunny, but cool. High in the upper forties.
Parking on the alternate side: In effect until Thursday (Thanksgiving Day).
For months, New York appeared to keep the virus at bay.
But now public schools are closed, indoor meals may soon follow, and restrictions continue to be imposed on more neighborhoods as cases increase. The city’s average seven-day positive test rate was 3.06% on Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
With the holidays coming, officials fear that increased gatherings and socialization will leave some areas struggling with a second wave for months. “It is a dangerous situation,” Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said Monday. “And that’s exactly where we’re going.”
Here are five things to know about the outbreak in New York:
Parts of Manhattan now fall under state zoning restrictions.
Since October, Mr Cuomo has relied on targeted restrictions to contain outbreaks of the virus, dividing hot spots into multi-level areas red, orange and yellow depending on their severity. Certain areas of Upper Manhattan, including parts of Washington Heights and Hamilton Heights, will be designated as a yellow zone, Cuomo said Monday.
The restrictions are the first in the rounding under the multilevel system. Indoor and outdoor meals will be limited to four people per table, while places of worship will be limited to 50% of their capacity.
On Staten Island, stricter rules will be put in place.
Less than three weeks ago, Mr de Blasio announced that two postal codes on Staten Island had worrying increases in test positivity rates. From now on, the southern end of the borough will be classified in the orange zone.
In this zone, which includes Tottenville, Great Kills, and Bay Terrace, high-risk non-essential businesses such as gyms will close and indoor dining will be banned from Wednesday. The north side of the borough will remain a yellow zone.
Mr Cuomo also warned that Staten Island hospitals were overcrowded and he said an emergency hospital for patients infected with the virus would open in the South Beach neighborhood.
Plans to reopen the city’s public schools have not been finalized.
Mr de Blasio gave some details on Monday on how the estimated 300,000 students who received face-to-face instruction in the city’s public schools would return to classrooms after the shutdown last week. “A lot of details need to be worked out between city and state,” he said.
He added, however, that “most vulnerable” groups of students would be prioritized in return plans, especially young children and those with special needs.
Other areas of the state remain of concern.
There are also concerns about virus numbers in upstate New York. Mr Cuomo said on Monday that parts of Syracuse, Rochester and their suburbs would be designated as orange zones.
The state will now have dozens of areas with varying levels of restrictions. Mr Cuomo warned that the area around Buffalo, where test positivity rates in some suburbs are above 9%, is on the way to becoming a red zone, the tightest level of lockdown.
Mr Cuomo also said parts of the Great Neck and Massapequa Park on Long Island will become yellow areas.
What we read
A group of New Yorkers gathered to register Astor Place Hairstylists, which was due to close after nearly 75 years due to slow business during the pandemic. [New York Post]
Another person was pushed on city metro tracks, the third incident in a week, as reports of criminal assaults and other crimes among runners continue to rise. [NBC New York]
An appeals court rejected an offer to revive a battle against rezoning efforts at Inwood, possibly ending the fight for the future of the Manhattan neighborhood. [The Real Deal]
And finally: Grand Army Plaza is undergoing a renovation
John Freeman Gill writes:
In the moments after the presidential election for Joseph R. Biden Jr. was called on November 7, a cheering crowd spontaneously gathered at Brooklyn’s Grand Army Plaza to celebrate.
But just above where hundreds of people gathered, the soldiers and sailors memorial arch was in need of repair: the roof of the 80-foot granite monument failed. Invasive reeds grow from the broken tiles. At the end of 2018, mortar fell from about one of the arch’s nine-ton keystones.
To remedy the degradation, the first full restoration of the arch in 40 years will be undertaken next year, funded by $ 6 million from Mayor Bill de Blasio. The project will stabilize and rejoin the outer shell of the waterlogged monument, replace the roof, and repair some of the interior iron stairs, among other improvements.
About $ 3 million will also be used to replace the irregular paving around the Bailey Fountain in the center of the plaza and restore the berms planted around its periphery. The work is expected to be completed by 2022, after which the interior and roof of the arch will be open to the public on special occasions.
Jonathan Kuhn, director of art and antiques for the parks department, said the most successful monuments are those that transcend their original function.
Over the long life of the monument, he said – from being seen as an elegant entrance to Prospect Park to becoming a place of community gatherings for Black Lives Matter protests – he “came to represent the district”.
It’s Tuesday – know your story.
Metropolitan Diary: Play solo
Dear Diary:
In 1971, I was 16 years old and I was living on the Coast Guard base on Governors Island. One Sunday morning, I took the short ferry ride to the southern tip of Manhattan.
Right in front of the terminal was a cement staircase with high walls. The acoustics of the space were ideal for playing my soprano recorder. The area was largely deserted that morning, as usual on Sunday.
After playing for a few minutes, an older man wearing a fedora and a three-quarter length coat appeared at the bottom of the steps. He was holding a violin case.
“What do you have here?” he said with a strong accent.
Reflexively, I stood up and pulled the recorder against my chest.
He gestured with his free hand to his violin and spoke like a very young child.
“No, no, you see?” he said. “I have mine.”
Not detecting any threat, I handed him the recorder. He turned it over in his hands, studied it before returning it.
“Keep practicing,” he said. And then he was gone as quickly as he appeared.
– Steven Hanson
New York Today is published on weekdays around 6 a.m. register here to get it by email. You can also find it on nytoday.com.
What would you like to see more (or less) of? Send us an email: [email protected].
[ad_2]
Source link