This column, from the weekly opinion piece MATTER OF FACT, first appeared on BrooklynReporter.com, the Home Reporter and Spectator dated March 12, 2021
A year is a long time, but this past year has felt especially long. This time last March, everything changed for everyone, everywhere. The virus we had seen on the news, wreaking havoc in China in January and then in Europe during February, had reached a tipping point here in the States.
The first reported case of the coronavirus here in Brooklyn was on March 5, 2020. One week later, the state of New York would record 109 new cases in a single day. A week after that, 1,012. Another week on and the figure eclipsed 7,000, on its way to the early-April peak that exceeded 12,000 daily new cases.
On March 11, 2020, Dr. Anthony Fauci testified before a congressional committee that “It is going to get worse.” Fauci recommended that “there not be large crowds,” specifically citing “people in the audience where the NBA plays.” Later that day, an assembled crowd in Oklahoma City were told that that night’s NBA game between the Thunder and the Jazz would be postponed. A player had tested positive. Later that night, the league suspended their entire season.
The Brooklyn Nets had four players test positive within days of the postponement of their season. Beloved New York Post sports photographer, Anthony Causi – a born and bred Brooklynite – had worked the Nets last games in Brooklyn before the shutdown, on March 4,, 6, and 8, snapping photos from his usually spot, just feet from the players. Tragically, five weeks later, he died of coronavirus.
That same day that Dr. Fauci issued his dire warning and the NBA canceled their season, the Dow Jones plummeted, The World Health Organization officially designated COVID-19 a pandemic, and President Trump gave an Oval Office address on the growing public health crisis. Trump had spent the previous two weeks dismissing concerns about the virus, from his February 27 remark that “It’s going to disappear… like a miracle” to his March 7 response to a question about it, where he said, “No, I’m not concerned at all.”
New York City schools remained open for two more days, but over that weekend, Mayor de Blasio announced that schools would be closed beginning March 16. After several days with a city mandate that restaurants and bars reduce capacity by 50 percent, many establishments made their own decisions to close to protect their customers and staff. On March 16, Governor Cuomo limited all restaurants to takeout and delivery only.
“Whereas last year, during the spring peak of the outbreak, more than 1,800 New York City residents were admitted to the hospital in a single day with coronavirus, that number was 206 on March 6, 2021 and has been falling.”
The following few months saw quiet streets, shuttered businesses, and all of New York City’s 1.1 million public school students learning from home, rather than in school buildings. Those early weeks of the shutdown were also a time when even if you were isolating at home to stay safe, the realities of COVID-19 were inescapable: from the news, social media, the continuous blaring of ambulance sirens every night, and, unfortunately, when you got word of someone you know or one of their loved ones being taken by the virus.
We are not back to normal yet, but we have come a long way. Despite frequent closures in the system, many kids are attending school in-person and news broke last week that high school students can resume, as well, on March 22. Restaurants and bars have faced incredible challenges, but they operating with reduced indoor capacity, new outdoor seating, and delivery and takeout options.
Whereas last year, during the spring peak of the outbreak, more than 1,800 New York City residents were admitted to the hospital in a single day with coronavirus, that number was 206 on March 6, 2021 and has been falling.
We have all been negatively affected by this. I know my family has. I am fortunate I am able to work from home, but a year of learning remotely and being unable to see family or other kids is becoming increasingly difficult for my children and I share their frustration.
Vaccinations are continuing to roll out and we should make more progress in reclaiming some elements of “back to normal” over the next two months than we have in the past year. Hang in there and we will get through this together.
