“I think many of us have experienced it in our own families, in our own lives, why it’s such a dangerous disease,” said DeBlasio. “This is not as easy to just walk away and leave us alone and go quietly into the night. No, we’re gonna have to fight it back if we want to rid ourselves of it.

De Blasio said that the first batch of 30,000 tests are expected to be delivered by Friday, May 8th. The city can then expect a weekly delivery of 50,000 tests by the week of May 17th.

“This seemingly simple piece of plastic actually proved to be a complex matter, because it has to be done just the right way, and it has to be kept sterile, in packaging like this until the point when it is actually going to be used on a patient,” said DeBlasio, holding up a 3D printed swab stick. “So getting this right proved to be actually a complex matter,””

The city has formed a coalition of multiple organizations to make the test kits, including  Print Parts and Albert Einstein College of Medicineto develop the tests, Viral Transport Medium (VTM) to deliver them to hospitals. DeBlasio acknowledged all lab workers on the frontlines of coronavirus.

“All of you are also heroes in this effort. I want to express my deep thanks to all of you. But I want to especially thank those who have worked in our public labs,” said DeBlasio. “ It’s been a big part of how we fight back to have the public health lab non stop getting results for New Yorkers who need them.

Governor Cuomo also stated in a press conference today that New York and seven other northeast states will collectively buy $5 billion worth of equipment and supplies for its healthcare workers. 

“New York State alone buys about $2 billion of medical supplies. And that’s one state.” said Cuomo. 

#BREAKING: NY, NJ, CT, PA, DE, RI and MA are launching a regional purchasing consortium to jointly procure PPE, tests, ventilators and other medical equipment.

This will increase our market power and help prevent price-gouging.

States are stronger when we work together.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) May 3, 2020

The coalition, Cuomo said, which consists of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Delaware, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, will hopefully increase the states’ market value and avoid faulty vendors.

“Why should they do business with one state right when they can do business with an entire country?This consortium I think will help us get the equipment and get it at a better price,”he said.

The coalition is a result of President Trump expecting governors to obtain their own supplies.

“There was competition among states, there was competition among private entities to get this equipment,” Cuomo said. “We just drove up prices by our own competition.”

Cuomo also mandated that all hospitals are required to have a 90 day supply of equipment.

NEW: New York State will require all hospitals to have on hand a 90-day supply of PPE at quantities sufficient to meet the rate of use during the worst of this crisis.

— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) May 3, 2020

The announcements of these newly formed partnerships comes as the weather gets warmer, and large numbers of people take to the streets. As of yesterday, NYPD issued a total of 51 summonses, including 43 in parks, according to Police Commissioner Dermot Shea. Six motorcycles were also seized in Astoria Park. 

“We expected this and prepared for this. NYPD is out in force,” said De Blasio. “If you want to go out for a while, get some exercise, get some fresh air, that’s totally understandable. Don’t linger too long. Get back home while you’re out there, keep that face covering on, keep that social distance.”

DeBlasio also said that while going to parks was okay at a distance, large purposeful gatherings were unacceptable. He gave examples of places such as Japan, Hong Kong, and Singapore, which eased restrictions early on and are now experiencing a second wave of coronavirus. 

“I want you to look at that image of the boomerang, get it in your mind and think about that’s the thing you do not want,” said DeBlasio.  “We cannot afford a boomerang with this disease in this city. ”

The post NYC now producing its own coronavirus test kits appeared first on Pavement Pieces.

Protesters gathered outside an East Harlem town hall meeting last night to push back against Mayor Bill De Blasio’s plan to rezone some sections of the neighborhood.

They held up signs that said things like “East Harlem is not for sale,” and “Say no to racist rezoning.”

Salome Leon was one of the protesters. She’s part of a group called Movement for Justice in El Barrio, which aims to stop gentrification in the neighborhood.

“We’re here because what De Blasio is saying is a lie,” Leon said. “He keeps saying rent won’t go up with these new developments, but they will, and we won’t be able to afford it anymore.”

Leon said she’s lived in the area for the last 19 years. She raised her children just down the street from the Johnson Community Center, where the town hall meeting took place.

“De Blasio keeps using the affordable housing mandate as an excuse for these buildings being built. But the landlords aren’t complying,” Leon said. “We want him to ditch the rezoning plan. It doesn’t help the people who live here.”

The East New York Neighborhood Plan was announced by the mayor’s office in 2015, and is meant to create 1,500 new affordable housing units in the borough, according to De Blasio.

Contrary to what Leon and her fellow protesters claim, De Blasio said the rezoning would actually help more people get out of shelters and into permanent housing.

“When this is all over, we’ll have four thousand, five thousand people into new homes,” he said.

Last year, the city council passed the Mandatory Inclusionary Housing bill, which forces developers in certain areas to make at least 20 percent of a building’s units affordable housing units.

Ethel Velez is president of the New York City Housing Authority’s Manhattan North Council of Presidents.

She pushed back against the mayor at the meeting, asking why so much money was going into building new affordable housing, while the existing units were falling into disrepair.

“Public housing is the only low income housing option that we know of,” Velez said. “If we’re going to talk about preserving public housing, then we need money, too.”

Some residents also pushed De Blasio about his motives for the rezoning, claiming he was giving out development contracts to campaign contributors.

“I have spent plenty of time in the last four years taking on landlords and developers,” De Blasio said to the town hall participants. “I’ve done a lot that goes against any interest of the real estate industry. So you might disagree with me on the vision, but don’t look for a motive that isn’t there.”

De Blasio also said current affordable housing buildings will never be switched over to private companies — a concern that many Harlem locals brought up over the course of the two hours.

“East Harlem has the highest amount of affordable housing units in the country,” De Blasio said. “If we don’t keep investing in new affordable housing, though, a huge number of people won’t be able to continue living in the city.”

New York City mayor Bill De Blasio addresses questions about the plan to rezone East Harlem during last night’s town hall meeting. Photo by Kristen Torres

The rezoning plan says the city will rush the construction of 1,200 new public and private affordable housing units over the next two years in the neighborhood.

It rezoned certain areas of East Harlem to allow construction of mixed use buildings, meaning developers can have storefronts on the ground level, and housing units on the upper floors.

“Look, I get it. There’s a lot of bad connotation when it comes to saying anything we do is privatized,” De Blasio said. “But everyone is going to keep what they already have. We’re just taking the opportunity to develop new units.”

The post East Harlem residents protest planned rezoning appeared first on Pavement Pieces.