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STOP THE SPREAD OF COVID-19! LEARN HOW TO TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND OTHERS AT HOME.
WHAT ARE THE SYMPTOMS OF COVID-19? • The most common symptoms are fever, cough, sore throat and shortness of breath. Other symptoms include feeling achy, loss of taste or smell, headache, and diarrhea. • Most people with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will have mild or moderate symptoms and can get better on their own.
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WHO IS MOST AT RISK FOR SERIOUS ILLNESS? • People age 50 or older (people age 65 or older are at the highest risk) • People who have other health conditions, such as:
Lung disease Asthma Heart disease Obesity Diabetes Kidney disease Liver disease Cancer A weakened immune system
If you are sick with COVID-19 symptoms, assume you have it. When you are sick: • If you have trouble breathing, pain or pressure in your chest, are confused or cannot stay awake, or have bluish lips or face, call 911 immediately. • Call your doctor if you are age 50 or older or have a health condition that puts you at increased risk, or if you do not feel better after three days. • Always contact a doctor or go to the hospital if you have severe symptoms of COVID-19 or another serious health issue. • Do not leave your home except to get necessary medical care or essential food or supplies (if someone cannot get them for you). • If you must leave your home:
Avoid crowded places. Stay at least 6 feet from others. Cover your nose and mouth with a bandana, scarf or other face covering. Wash your hands before you go out, and use alcohol-based hand sanitizer while outside. • Household members can go out for essential work and needs but should monitor their health closely. If you or someone in your home is sick: • Create physical distance:
Do not have visitors. WHAT SHOULD I DO IF I GET SICK
WITH COVID-19 SYMPTOMS?
Stay at least 6 feet from others. Sleep head-to-toe if you share a bed with someone who is sick, or sleep on the couch. Keep people who are sick separate from those at risk for serious illness. • Cover up:
Cover your nose and mouth with a bandana, scarf or other face covering when you are within 6 feet of others.
Cover your cough or sneeze with a tissue or your inner elbow. • Keep it clean:
Throw tissues into the garbage immediately after use. Wash your hands often with soap for 20 seconds, especially after you cough or sneeze. Use alcohol-based hand sanitizer if you are unable to wash your hands. Frequently clean surfaces you touch, such as doorknobs, light switches, faucets, phones, keys and remote controls. Wash towels, sheets and clothes at the warmest possible setting with your usual detergent, and dry completely. Do not share eating utensils with others, and wash them after every use.
• If you have been sick, stay home until: You are fever-free for three days without Tylenol or other medication and It has been at least seven days since your symptoms started and
Your symptoms have improved • Reminder: New York is on PAUSE. This means that even if you have been sick, you should only leave your home for essential work or errands, or to exercise, while staying at least 6 feet from others. WHEN CAN I LEAVE MY HOME AFTER BEING SICK?
NEED HELP? • If you are having a medical emergency, call 911. • If you do not have a doctor but need one, call 844-NYC-4NYC (844-692-4692). New York City provides care, regardless of immigration status, insurance status or ability to pay. • For more information, call 311 or visit nyc.gov/coronavirus.
HARLEM COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS HEALTH Newly Unemployed? Understanding Your Health Insurance Options
With millions of people nationwide filing for unemployment since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, many individuals and families across the country are suddenly finding themselves without health insurance at a precarious time. Fortunately, new options may be able to help those on tight budgets.
“The sudden and unexpected loss of health insurance only compounds the stress caused by job loss amidst this unprecedented economic and public health crisis. However, unemployed individuals have more options for affordable health insurance than they did during past economic recessions thanks to provisions in the Affordable Care Act, along with actions recently taken by Congress and some states,” says American Medical Association (AMA) president, Patrice A. Harris, M.D.
Whether you recently lost your job-based health insurance or were uninsured before COVID-19 struck, the AMA, a longtime advocate for health insurance coverage for all Americans, is highlighting the following options: • Affordable Care Act (ACA) Marketplaces: Family and individual health plans can be bought in the health insurance marketplaces created by the ACA. Losing a job is a qualifying life event that allows unemployed individuals up to 60 days to enroll in a marketplace health plan before the close of a special enrollment period. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, certain states have reopened enrollment periods when all consumers -- not only those who have experienced a job loss -- can enroll in marketplace health plans and potentially qualify for financial assistance to purchase these plans based on their income.
Subsidies available to eligible individuals through the health insurance marketplaces can help with premiums and out-of-pocket costs, making coverage more affordable. The Kaiser Family Foundation can help calculate an estimate of premiums and subsidies based on an individual’s income, age and family size. It will also estimate an individual’s eligibility for Medicaid. • Medicaid: While each state’s program has unique attributes for coverage, Medicaid can offer no- or low-cost coverage for those with the lowest incomes with limited cost-sharing requirements. Unlike the ACA marketplaces, there is no defined open enrollment period for Medicaid, and eligible people can sign up at any time. State eligibility requirements and income qualifications vary by state. Every state covers low-income children, pregnant women and people with disabilities, while 36 states and the District of Columbia have expanded Medicaid coverage so that adults with income up to 138 percent of the federal Discount applied at time of purchase. Terms and Conditions Apply. * Subject to 3rd party credit approval. Minimum monthly payments required. Receive a free American Standard Cadet Toilet with full installation of a Liberation Walk-In Bath, Liberation Shower, or Deluxe Shower. Offer valid only while supplies last. Limit one per household. Must be fi rst time purchaser. All offers subject to change prior to purchase. See www.AmericanStandardBathtubs.com for other restrictions and for licensing, warranty, and company information. * CSLB B982796; Suffolk NY:5543IH; NYC:HIC#2022748-DCA. Safety Tubs Co. LLC does not sell in Nassau NY, Westchester NY, Putnam NY, Rockland NY. ✓EXPERIENCE YOU CAN TRUST!
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poverty level can qualify. • Beware Short-Term Plans: The AMA cautions patients to avoid shortterm limited duration plans whenever possible, especially during this pandemic. Short-term plans are designed to fill temporary gaps in health insurance when comprehensive coverage may not be an option. But it is important to understand that these plans offer very limited benefits and do not usually cover COVID-19 testing and treatment, preexisting medical conditions, mental health services, prescription drugs, and preventative and wellness care.
“Avoiding gaps in coverage should be a top priority for anyone who has recently lost their health insurance,” says Harris. “The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of having meaningful health insurance coverage.”
HARLEM COMMUNITY NEWSPAPERS COMMUNITY Congressman Adriano Espaillat Outlines His Vision and Efforts
To Revive the 13th Congressional District
By Jennifer Cunningham
Rep. Adriano Espillat said Harlem’s business community’s economic revival from COVID-19 will take a combination of both loans and grants to small firms and direct payments to residents.
Rep. Espaillat (D-New York) said he’s pushing to ease the red tape around the Paycheck Protection Program so that businesses with loans that aren’t ready to reopen can keep their funding and have more time to become operational. He’s supporting efforts at the federal level to create grants for business owners and keep unemployment and stimulus money flowing to residents. And he’s called for a temporary rent assistance and utility payment forgiveness to further help businesses recover.
More than 80,000 Americans have died from the coronavirus, and the economic shutdown the virus prompted has sent unemployment skyrocketing to almost 15 percent - a level not seen since the Great Depression.
In late March, the federal government passed the $2.2 billion CARES Act, which included one time $1,200 payments to most Americans as well as initiatives like the Paycheck Protection Program, which provided forgiveable loans to businesses to keep their workers employed. But
lief through the renewal of the neighborhood’s Empowerment Zone’s tax credit initiative: businesses can apply for $3,000 a year worth of tax credits per employee, that are retroactive for up to three years, he said. The Empowerment Zone is also working directly with community banks and credit unions to facilitate access to funding, while Columbia University’s Small Business Center is helping business owners with their applications, he said.
Rep. Espaillat also supports giving $2,000 a month in additional stimulus to the public and extending the currently enhanced unemployment benefits through 2020 - which are proposals from Democrats for the new proposed stimulus package.
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small business owners complained that they couldn’t get through on the first $349 million round of funding, which ran out in two weeks.
The government replenished the PPP Program, and this time around, Rep. Espaillat said about $60 billion went to Harlem community banks like Carver Federal Savings Bank, Industrial Bank and other local community banking institutions to directly help small businesses.
But Rep. Espaillat said that more relief is needed, including direct grants to businesses to help offset unseen operational costs as they get back on their feet. “Grants are the best way to do it - there’s got to be some regulation,” Rep. Espaillat said. “A loan, if you can’t get it forgiven, is a debt. Saddling businesses with debt after they’ve been shut down for two, three, four months isn’t going to help our economy bounce back.”
Rep. Espaillat, who represents New York’s 13th Congressional District and, which includes Harlem, Inwood and Washington Heights, and is a member of the House’s House Select Committee on Small Business, said he’s been working with the Greater Harlem Chamber of Commerce and speaking directly to local business owners to get a better understanding of how the economic shutdown has affected them and what the federal government can do to help.
Harlem business owners will receive direct re
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