QUEENS CHRONICLE, Thursday, April 9, 2020 Page 8
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P Resolute at the turn of the tide EDITORIAL
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e’re doing it, Queens. We’re beating the horrible coronavirus. Now we just have to stay the course, be sure not to waver in our resolve, continue to bear the tremendous difficulties that have reshaped our lives so greatly, so swiftly — and we will win. This is no time to go wobbly. Our lives depend on not doing that. We’re losing a tremendous number of those lives every day. On Tuesday we lost 779 statewide, the highest daily number yet, bringing the total to 6,268 since the COVID19 pandemic began. But, as counterintuitive as it seems, other developments occurring simultaneously give us reason to hope that we are indeed at or very near the apex of the crisis, that sometime soon we will have turned the tide. As Gov. Cuomo points out in his must-see, fact-filled daily virus briefings, the deaths are a lagging indicator of where we are in the battle against the virus. Many are people who have been in the hospital for a week or two, connected to a ventilator, who just couldn’t be saved. Each loss is horrible, but we always knew the death rate would rise. What’s not rising over the last several days is the number of people being admitted to the hospital due to the virus. It went from 1,427 last Thursday to 358 Sunday. The
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number given intensive care fell from 395 last Friday to 89 Monday. New intubations dropped from 351 Friday to 69 Monday. If those numbers continue to fall, or even just level off where they are, victory is within our grasp. But the only way to keep going in the right direction, the only way to ensure we can achieve a new normalcy (too much has been changed forever to say we can ever “go back to normal”), is to keep doing what we’ve been doing. Cuomo on Monday extended his stay-at-home order another two weeks, until the end of April. It must be adhered to. Still no eating out, no getting a haircut, no going to the gym, no visiting the grandparents. It’s terrible, it’s taking a tremendous toll on our economy and our psyche, but it’s the only way. To relax our vigilance too soon in the face of this unseen enemy would be to lose our battle against it. Our position today may be like that of the World War II Allies when, after the first British victory against the Nazis, Winston Churchill said, “Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning.” The Allies did not waver. They did not let their guard down. They did not celebrate prematurely. They fought ever harder. They won. We can do that too.
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Dear Editor: Watching as USNS Comfort was entering the New York Harbor on March 30, I recalled another Monday morning more than 10 years ago. Then, on Nov. 2, 2009, USS New York, built with World Trade Center steel, arrived in New York City. And I did realize that there is something similar in these two events. The arrivals of both Navy ships to New York made us feel better, gave us more hope that we would overcome all our problems and become even stronger. Of course, this time we face a situation that is much more dangerous than it was on 9/11 — our new enemy is invisible and silent. Ten years ago, I joined thousands of New Yorkers to greet USS New York on Manhattan’s West Side; this time I watched the arrival of USNS Comfort on TV in my Queens apartment. Unfortunately, many people went to meet this ship and “played Russian roulette” by failing to follow the so-called “social distancing” rule. Victor Maltsev Rego Park
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Thanks to essential workers Dear Editor: 2020 is a challenging year that will go down in history. Most of humanity is stuck in their homes, only going out to go food shopping or for medication, or depending on delivery ser© Copyright 2020 by MARK I PUBLICATIONS, INC. All rights reserved. Neither this newspaper nor any part thereof may be reproduced, copied, or transmitted in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, microfilming, recording or by any information retrieval system without the express written permission of the publishers. This copyright is extended to the design and text created for advertisements. Reproduction of said advertisement or any part thereof without the express written permission of MARK I PUBLICATIONS, INC. is strictly prohibited. This publication will not be responsiblefor errors in advertising beyond the cost of the space occupied by the error. Bylined articles represent the sole opinion of the writer and are not necessarily in accordance with the views of the QUEENS CHRONICLE. This Publication reserves the right to limit or refuse advertising it deems objectionable. The Queens Chronicle is published weekly by Mark I Publications, Inc.at a subscription rate of $19 per year and out of state, $25 per year. Periodicals Postage Paid (USPS0013-572) at Flushing, N.Y. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Mark I Publications, Inc., 71-19 80th St., Suite 8-201, Glendale, NY 11385.
Easier jobless benefits
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f course the state website people need to apply for unemployment benefits keeps crashing. It’s getting at least six times the amount of traffic it ever had before, probably more. Like so much else surrounding the coronavirus crisis, the system just wasn’t ready for what was to come. Nearly half a million people in New York State tried to apply for jobless benefits in March. Now, however, the state is working to fix the problem, partnering with Google to update the site. The Labor Department has increased the number of servers it uses for it from four to 50, to better handle the unprecedented traffic. And it’s hired 1,000 new workers. But there’s another element that also needs to be addressed immediately: the requirement that people speak with a live person at the end of the application procedure before they can get approved. Reports say some people are calling 50 times a day for days on end trying to get through without success. The phone requirement should be waived during the virus crisis. Officials say benefits will be retroactive, but people need the money now. They can’t afford to be put on hold for any longer.
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vices for essential items. I would like to thank the brave men and women who do need to go out to the workplace to help provide the rest of the world with food, medication and delivery of essential supplies for our basic needs. Thank you to medical professionals for going out into the battlefield, risking their lives to save others. Thank you to the mail carriers, the maintenance workers in apartment buildings, the delivery trucks and people working in supermarkets and drug stores. Thank you to police officers and firefighters for keeping us safe. Thank you also to performers who have posted videos of scenes from Broadway to satisfy humanity’s need for culture. We are all in the same boat, and we hope we’ll come out of this stronger, knowing what truly matters in life. My prayers go out to all individuals and their families who have this horrible virus. Let’s continue to self-isolate and
let’s hope this will be over sooner than predicted and medical science will learn from this and be able to prevent it in future years. Debbie Vogel Rego Park
A day in the (virus) life Dear Editor: It was Saturday morning at 9:20 in the Glen Oaks Village shopping area where I do my shopping. My first stop was Walgreens drug store. When I got there, the guard in front would not let me in ’til someone walked out. He told me he could not allow more than 10 people in at a time. I finally got in and bought what I needed. My next stop, which was near the end of the block, was Key Food. I found the same situation there: One walks in and one walks out. In this time of COVID-19