“I could have never imagined this would happen,” said Tyler Glenn, the club’s bartender when the fire broke out.

 Glenn, who is 25 and uses they/them pronouns, was working their first shift at Rash, which opened last October. Glenn went to the basement for beer to stock the bar, while other staff stepped outside for a cigarette.

“I came back upstairs, and I didn’t even realize what was going on at first,” Glenn said. “It looked like the smoke machine had cranked up a million notches. It was so smokey and hot, and hard to breathe.”

According to the NYPD, no arrests have been made, and the incident is being investigated as an act of arson. 

“I started blacking out and it was really scary, and the next thing I remember is busting through the door and running over to Birdy’s, yelling ‘someone needs to call 911,’” said Glenn.

They suffered second degree burns and were treated and released from the hospital.

Tyler Glenn, a bartender at Rash, suffered second degree burns on their face and was hospitalized for two days. Photo courtesy of Tyler Glenn.

The Myrtle Avenue strip that Rash calls home is a well-known queer nightlife scene. Birdy’s, Happyfun Hideaway and Mood Ring are down the block, with larger LGBTQ friendly venues like Nowadays nearby. One patron at Birdy’s, Keaton Slansky who uses they/them pronouns, ordered drinks for the folks fleeing Rash.

“Two people were huddled outside and shaking, covered in soot,” Slansky said. 

They spoke to the bouncer, who said the Rash job was new for him as well: it was his second day at the club. The bouncer told Slansky that he didn’t recognize the perpetrator, and that he would have noticed someone walk in with a big red canister of flammable liquid. Other staff at the scene also said that they didn’t recognize the perpetrator, or see him enter the bar.

Last August, a popular queer-owned bar in nearby Bed-Stuy found a brick thrown through its front window, just after the touring bus of nonbinary political candidate Paperboy Prince parked down the street suffered the same fate. 

“People seem to be treating this as a string of incidents,” said Slansky. “Bushwick is like the queer hub of Brooklyn.There was the stabbing a few months ago, then there was this incident where someone let out a pepper spray bomb at Nowadays.”

The only customer at Rash when the fire broke out, Ashley Glenn (no relation to Tyler Glenn) had accompanied staff outside to smoke a cigarette. Seconds after she stepped outside, the bar caught fire and people started running out of the building. She described an “atmosphere of fear” in her community in the wake of this incident.

“Everybody’s freaked out,” she said. “Obviously, it’s all speculation, but it feels targeted because of premeditation and everything. It’s really depressing because after having lost Bossa, it was really great to have Rash as a new spot for the queer scene.”

The Bossa Nova Civic Club was a predecessor of Rash in queer nightlife, until it was shuttered by a kitchen fire in January. Tyler Glenn, who worked at Bossa before it closed, said they are relying on funds gathered by the Rash co-founders to stay afloat. “Until these wounds heal, I won’t be able to go into any of my other bar jobs,” they said.

 The evening’s host and DJ, Lunática, was also hospitalized with burns. The co-founders of Rash, Jake Sillen and Claire Bendiner, have launched a GoFundMe to support staff with medical bills and restore the club. In the two days since the fire, the GoFundMe has raised $41,833, from community members, allies and local businesses.

Since the fire, the bar’s instagram has posted periodic updates and boosted donation sites for staff impacted by the blaze. When the flames had gone out, the account posted a black screen, with the words “Everyone is okay,” and a heart to keep followers informed. Tyler Glenn wishes they hadn’t needed to.

“I really hate that there is this pattern in the LGBT nightlife community,” they said. “I wish people could just go out and have fun, especially when so much is going on in the world. I wish our safe spaces weren’t places of tragedy.”

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 “I am pledging my support to the new mayor, Eric Adams because we’re all going to have to coalesce together in harmony and solidarity if we’re going to save this city that we love,” said Sliwa in an emotionally charged speech. 

Sliwa was viewed as a longshot candidate since the beginning of the race, raising a mere $1,177,599 in campaign donations and taking out $5,551,432 in loans, according to the most recent report from the New York City Campaign Finance Board. His monetary assets paled in comparison to Adams’ $19,487,280. 

Sliwa’s campaign party began on a promising note, with 80’s disco blaring from the speakers and an impressive buffet for attendees at Midtown Manhattan’s Empire Steakhouse. But as polls closed at 9 p.m. on , Sliwa trailed Adams by nearly 90,000 votes within minutes. 

The red beret-wearing leader of the Guardian Angels campaigned on a platform against city-wide vaccine mandates while promising the implementation of no-kill animal shelters and additional security throughout New York City’s streets. 

Sliwa relied heavily on debate theatrics and headline-grabbing antics to remain relevant throughout his campaign, often making boisterous claims regarding his opponent. 

“But tonight is a night where we offer our friendship and our solidarity with our new mayor ,” Sliwa said. “He’s going to need it.”

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Damayanti Wallace, a queer Black poet, community organizer and Chicago native, recounted police disrupting recent open-mic nights where queer youths of color often found sanctuary.

“I was able to be around these adults who were queer and in queer relationships and it was so loving and so welcoming and so beautiful and, also, so messy,” they said. “I remember [when] cops would come into the open mics and try to stop whatever we were doing or [when] my mentors [had] to go stand at the door so the police wouldn’t come in.”

Wallace is a co-founder of GoodKids MadCity, a non-profit youth organization fighting to end inner-city violence, call for community resources and to abolish police. Through both their work and their experiences as a queer Black person, Wallace has seen the individual struggles of each identity, as well as the unique tension with police born from this intersection.

“Policing is inherently violent to a Black queer person because it’ is the embodiment of all of the things we are running away from or fighting on a day to day basis,” they said. 

To Julian Mohammed, a Black gay man based in Harlem, the tension is unsurprising. With two police officers for parents, Mohammed grew up around law enforcement. This closeness helped illuminate more overarching issues within the force, he explained.

“I know for a fact they do treat minorities different,” he said. “I’ve heard that from their mouths, that if a minority walks up to them they’re gonna be more likely to perceive it as a threat. That’s more common, I guess, in the neighborhoods they’re in.”

The issue, to Mohammed, is that police officers simply do not care about certain communities.

“I’ve seen a lot of cops say ‘f——’ and I don’t know if they’re just saying it because everyone used to say it back then,” he said. “But I feel like if you were hate crimed  or anything, it’s gonna get brushed under the rug.”

Police discrimination may be a driver of poor health outcomes and inequities among Black LGBTQ+ people, according to a 2020 paper published in Social Science & Medicine. The same paper found that four in ten Black LGBTQ+ men claimed they’d faced police violence in the last year. Another study found that Black transgender people are 50 percent more likely than their non-Black counterparts to be arrested following a police stop.

The singularity of these difficulties has left Wallace disillusioned with policing.

“You place black and queer together and it’s almost like you’re placing yourself in your own special kind of hell,” Wallace said.

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“It was like Moses in the basket,” said O’Leary.

Pass by on any given day and you’re liable to see Hayden and his fellow employees sitting outside, taking in the neighborhood, and chatting in an Irish brogue.

Established in 1854, McSorley’s is full of New York history, including an original, framed invitation to the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge. For over 150 years, McSorley’s has attracted nightly regulars and tourists alike, all looking to enjoy the historic atmosphere and a cold beer.

The Irish pub has adapted well to the Covid-19 pandemic, setting up outside covered street seating. It continues to be well-frequented, with a steady flow of customers each evening, despite social distancing restrictions.

Employees now wear masks, and patrons sit outside, but little else has changed at this East Village icon. The cheese and raw onion plate is still a staple, and the drink menu remains charmingly simple – light or dark ale are the only options.

Hayden O’Leary (left) sits outside on a green ale barrel, next to his fellow McSorley’s employee, September 14, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking

White tents stand next to the sidewalk outside of McSorley’s to allow customers to social distance during the pandemic, September 17, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking

Self-described “regulars” sit and drink a beer outside of McSorley’s Old Ale House off of East 7th Street in East Village, New York, September 14, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, white tents stand outside of McSorley’s Old Ale House to accommodate outside seating and social distance requirements, September 14, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking

McSorley’s patrons sit outside and drink the pub’s signature dark and light ale, September 17, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking

Linda Badgley (right) sits with a friend at McSorley’s outdoor seating, September 17, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking

A dog named Byron sits outside of McSorley’s – his owners having just enjoyed a beer, September 17, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking

A McSorley’s bartender gives the check to a table of customers sitting under the outdoor tent, September 17, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking

Two bartenders stand at the empty bar inside of McSorley’s Old Ale House. Due to the pandemic, patrons are no longer permitted to sit inside amongst the establishments many decorations. September 17, 2020. Photo by Tori Luecking.

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“I am happy that schools are finally reopening and things are starting to get back to normal,” said Noorulain Kazim, a mother of two. 

The most challenging aspect for many has been keeping kids disciplined which schools help with and keeping them focused on school work. .

Noorulain Kazim, 31, said that her kids, Jawad and Maleeka who go to Beaconhouse School, do not go to bed on time and get distracted easily. Jawad starts playing video games on his tablet or switches on the TV to watch cricket, while Maleeka turns the video off on Zoom and goes back to sleep. 

“In this episode, the person who is the most burdened and traumatized is the mother,” said Kazim.

Without domestic help, a mother finds herself overwhelmed with household work and expectations of the school. Not only does she have to explain the concepts to the kids again, but also has to keep track of their deadlines, and upload assignments on Google Classroom. Connectivity issues and frequent power breakdowns have added to the misery.

Unum Shafiq, a mother of a 5- year- old preschooler, believes that online classes do not help at all and her son’s comprehension levels have significantly dropped. For her, school is about the wholesome learning experience in a facilitated environment.   

“My kid in kindergarten has classes that go on for three and a half hours but he hardly retains anything,” she said. “When he goes to school, the physical presence of the teacher makes a lot of difference. Now he stares at the screen where the letters of the alphabet are on display and can only hear his teacher’s voice, which is a big disconnect.”  

After school hours for Unum are particularly tiring and it is very difficult for her to keep her kid busy. 

“On regular days, my son comes back from school exhausted,” she said. “After playing a little, doing his homework, and his Qura’an classes, he is drained and falls asleep.” 

Umum lives in a joint family and her husband and father-in-law have been very supportive and involved throughout, but she said that her sister and some of her friends do not enjoy that type of support.

Gardening as an extracurricular activity at school has kept Anaya Abbas engaged in the last few months. Photo by Midhat Abbas

For Midhat Abbas, a mother of two girls, Alizey, 9,  and Anaya,7,  who go to Dawood Public School, the last few months have been really hectic too. The girls start their day in front of their screens at 8:30 a.m. School ends at 2 p.m., with a 30-minute break in between. Extra curricular activities like gardening and cooking classes have added a little life to this monotonous routine, but have stretched the mothers, who support these activities  further, leaving them no time for themselves. 

“Before COVID, us mothers would go for breakfast once the kids went to school,” said Abbas. “Since the pandemic, we have met over Zoom once. We hardly ever get time for other activities. I have started feeling very depressed due to this.” 

For some families though, mental health and depression are privileged-people problems. Midhat’s friend has a family of three school aged kids, who do not have proper electronic equipment to take online classes. One of the kids takes the classes on the mother’s phone, one joins via the father’s, and one marks attendance through the aunt’s device. 

Fatima Abbas, who has two primary school kids, said her kids’ school have not experimented with online classes. They have instead moved to an assignment based continuation of studies where she has to bring back handouts and homework from their school every week and turn in the ones from the previous week. 

The government of Pakistan announced reopening of schools in phases, with students of grades 9 to 12 returning Sept. 15 , secondary students  Sept. 23, and the primary school students and preschool kids Sept. 30.

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“We were laboring under the impression that young people were not affected by Covid-19, and that was good news,” said Cuomo. “It is very possible that this has been going on for several weeks, and it hasn’t been diagnosed as related to Covid.”

Once the virus starts acting on kids, they may experience complications like inflammation of blood vessels that can be lethal if these reach their hearts. But health specialists did not have the knowledge of this being linked to Covid-19 until now. 

In addition to the possibly misdiagnosed cases in New York, health officials say there might be others nationwide that have not been linked to Covid-19. When the pandemic arrived in to the state. in March, the world had seen very few rare cases of kids affected by the virus. Experts believed adults and seniors were the most vulnerable.

 Children contaminated with coronavirus present difficulty to swallow liquids, diarrhea or vomiting, paleness, in addition to some of the symptoms that adults experience, like trouble to breathe and chest pain. But kids do not necessarily cough, lose the sense of smell and taste, or have muscular pain.  

Early recognition by pediatricians, referral to a specialist and critical care is essential.

Three New York children have died,  a 5 year old in the city, a 7 year old in Westchester County and a teenager in Suffolk County.

The State Department of Health is partnering with the N.Y. Genome Center and Rockefeller University to conduct a genome and RNA Sequencing Study to understand why the effects of the coronavirus are different in children, and how to treat them.

Cuomo said many of these children did not show respiratory symptoms previously associated with the coronavirus when they were brought to hospitals, but all of them tested positive either for Covid-19, or for its antibodies.

In countries like China and Spain, where there have been very few cases of coronavirus infections in children, one of the first steps to end lockdowns has been to allow kids to go on the streets accompanied by adults for a few hours a day. But for New York that now represents a risk.

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The moratorium, scheduled to end on June 20, will now last for an extra 60 days, until Aug. 20. 

“I hope it gives families a deep breath,” he said during his daily coronavirus briefing. “Nothing can happen until Aug. 20. And then, we’ll figure out between now and Aug. 20 what the situation is.”

Cuomo added that officials will ban late-payments or missed-payment fees during the eviction moratorium and will allow renters to use their security deposit as payment.

Last week, protesters called for Cuomo to cancel rent for New Yorkers facing financial hardships due to the pandemic. Tenants rights groups and nonprofits across the country have rallied to halt rent and mortgage payments, holding online and in-person protests and using the hashtag #CancelRent on social media.  

“I understand the anxiety, I understand the stress,” said Cuomo, “but let’s remember who we are and what we’re all about and what principles matter to us.”

So far, New York has reported over 332,900 Covid-19 cases and more than 26,200 deaths. The rate of hospitalizations and intubations in the state have gone down, said Cuomo. The governor said the infection rate of healthcare workers is about the same or lower than the general population, according to data from Westchester, Long Island and New York City, the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the U.S.

This evening, JetBlue flew three planes approximately 2,000 feet above New York City to salute health-care workers, law enforcement and firefighters as part of the citywide initiative Clap Because We Care. 

The New York-based airline, however, was met with backlash as New Yorkers who pointed out the city’s history with terrorism. During 9/11, the deadliest terrorist attack in the U.S., two low-flying planes crashed into the World Trade Center, leaving over 2,700 people dead. 

JetBlue tweeted a reminder for the flyover this morning, and users did not hold back, calling the initiative a “terrible idea” and pleading the airline to not go ahead with the plan. 

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said, “Nothing like a corporate PR campaign that burns jet fuel at low altitudes over vulnerable communities dying from a respiratory virus that compounds on our preexisting and disproportionate exposure to air pollution to show healthcare workers we care.”

But not everyone agreed.

Thank you @JetBlue for always outwardly supporting law enforcement & all first responders! 💙

It was a beautiful sight seeing our NYPD flag flying high in the sky during tonight’s flyover salute to healthcare heroes & first responders! 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/0BE68zRveC

— NYPD 19th Precinct (Stay home. Stop the spread.) (@NYPD19Pct) May 8, 2020

Earlier today, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced officials may limit entry to parks to prevent crowding and enforce social distancing norms during the pandemic. 

“At some parks, just the configuration of the park lends itself to overcrowding,” de Blasio said during a briefing. “We can’t let that happen and we have to limit the number of people going in.”

He did not provide specifics of the plan or mention which parks would be shuttered, but said details will be announced tomorrow. Playgrounds within parks had already been closed. 

New Yorkers recently flocked to parks amid the warm May weather after spending weeks indoors to prevent the spread of Covid-19. De Blasio said he directed police officers to prioritize breaking up large gatherings and enforcing social distancing norms. 

In Brooklyn, almost every person arrested for not social distancing has been black or Hispanic, according to the New York Times. The burrough’s district attorney’s office said that, from March 17 through May 4, 40 people had been arrested. Of the arrests, 35 were black, four were Hispanic and one was white. 

At the White House, President Donald Trump today said his staff will be tested daily for Covid-19 after a member of the U.S. Navy who works as one of his personal valets tested positive for the virus. 

The valet, member of a military unit dedicated to the White House, started exhibiting symptoms on Wednesday morning, said CNN, which first reported the story. Both Trump and Vice President Mike Pence were tested once again after officials learned the military aide tested positive. Trump and Pence tested negative, according to White House press secretary Hogan Gidley. 

Trump said he’d had “very little personal contact” with the person. 

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 Patients who have taken remdesivr, have shown improvement in their condition over a quicker period of time.

 “Remdesivr has a clear cut significant positive effect in diminishing the time to recovery,” Fauci said at a corporate executive meeting at the White House.

 According to the New York Times, Remdesivr could be the first drug to be approved for the treatment of the coronavirus by the Food and Drug Administration, as there are no alternative drugs that have proven to be effective in treating the virus.

 The news of the treatment drug has sent positive signals to investors, with the S&P 500 gaining almost 3% in shares.

 Despite this, the World Health Organization has not yet made comments on the drug, saying that it is too early to see whether or not it will be effective in treating the virus.

Florida will reopen on Monday

 Governor Ron DeSantis plans to reopen Florida on Monday with hard-hit regions including Miami Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties remaining in lockdown.

 “The only thing we have to fear is letting fear overwhelm our sense of purpose and determination,” DeSantis said.

 The governor believes that the best way forward is to reopen the state in phases. The first phase, which will be executed on Monday, allowing small businesses such as restaurants and retail stores to operate at 25 percent indoor capacity. Schools will remain remote, visits to age care centers will still be prohibited. Bars, gyms, and other social venues will remain closed.

 Florida currently has almost 35,000 confirmed cases, and their testing still lags behind nationally.

 In contrast, New York, one of the worst-hit states by the coronavirus, does not plan to reopen until 30 percent of hospital beds and ICU beds are available after elective surgeries resume and that there is no significant increase in hospitalization and diagnostic testing around the state.

 Bill de Blasio causes outrage amongst the Jewish community in New York City

 New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio sparked outrage amongst the Jewish community in the city after condemning Hasidic funeral-goers on twitter for failing to follow social distancing guidelines.  About 2,500 ultra-Orthodox Jewish men were mourning the death of  Rabbi Chaim Mertz. They stood shoulder to shoulder and did not practice social distancing guidelines.

 “My message to the Jewish community, and all communities, is this simple: the time for warnings has passed. I have instructed the NYPD to proceed immediately to summons or even arrest those who gather in large groups. This is about stopping this disease and saving lives. Period,” the Mayor said on twitter.

 In response to the tweet, The Orthodox Jewish Public Affairs Council called the mayor bigoted for generalizing and pointing fingers at an entire community over the mistakes of the mourners.

 “Even if no leader took a stance, it is bigoted to generalize a community; especially the same day that thousands of New Yorkers failed to social distance to watch a flyover.” The OJPAC said in a tweet.

Hey @NYCMayor, there are 1mil+ Jewish people in #NYC. The few who don’t social distance should be called out — but generalizing against the whole population is outrageous especially when so many are scapegoating Jews. This erodes the very unity our city needs now more than ever. https://t.co/jcYO9QQred

— Jonathan Greenblatt (@JGreenblattADL) April 29, 2020

 The Mayor  later apologized for his tweet during a press conference.

“People’s lives were in danger before my eyes and I was not going to tolerate it,” he said. “I regret if the way I said it in any way gave people a feeling of being treated the wrong way, that was not my intention. It was said with love, but it was tough love, it was anger and frustration.”

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