The local paper for the Upper East Side YOUR MONEY OR YOUR LIFE ◄ P.2
WEEK OF APRIL APRIL-MAY
30-6 30 2020
ON THE FRONT LINE OF TESTING
CORONAVIRUS
Christopher Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine is developing a COVID test now awaiting FDA approval City Council Member Mark Levine. Photo courtesy of Council Member Mark Levine.
SHOULD THE BEACHES OPEN?
PUBLIC HEALTH
City Council health chair calls for a safe option, but other elected officials aren’t on the same page BY JASON COHEN
As temperatures begin to rise and summer is around the corner, the question remains will NYC open its beaches amid COVID-19? While parks and playgrounds are closed, one elected official feels people should be able to relax in the sand and swim in the ocean. New York City Council Health Chair Mark Levine told the Westside Spirit that New Yorkers can’t be
BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM
A Weill Cornell Medicine professor is working to develop a coronavirus test that he thinks could be the most sensitive test on the market,
and one that would ultimately expand the city’s testing capacity exponentially. In addition to his duties at Weill Cornell, Christopher Mason is the co-founder of Biotia, a health tech startup that was launched out of Cornell Tech. Biotia uses DNA sequencing and artificial intelligence to rapidly and accurately identify global pathogens in order to guide patient treatment and improve patients’ health out-
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We basically get to help expand capacity for COVID testing in New York City, which is very critical for getting the country back to work.” Christopher Mason of Weill Cornell and Biotia comes. Since 2015, Mason has been using this technology to swab New York’s subway system for microbes in order to build a genetic profile of the city. As the coronavirus outbreak began, Mason started swabbing the subways in New
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ABC: NOT AS EASY AS 1-2-3 The Association to Benefit Children has moved to the front lines in the pandemic. p. 5
PANDORA’S BOX
Ben Kallos’s cat appeared in the first-ever remote meeting of the City Council. p. 6
cooked up inside all summer, so finding a way to safely keep the beaches open should be a priority. “The alternative you give is no safety valve to the city and going to the beach with no lifeguard protection,” Levine said. “With summer coming, we are going to see less support of social distancing.” He feels with coordination from the Parks Department and other government officials it can be done. Levine said the hours will likely be limited and there would need to be strict security measures that would enforce social distancing. “We should start devel-
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INSIDE
‘THE EMOTIONAL JOURNEY IS ALWAYS VERY SIMILAR’
Amy Klein’s sincere guide to getting pregnant provides women a roadmap to infertility and obstacles. p. 9
Christopher Mason of Weill Cornell Medicine. Photo: Patricia Kuharic
Crime Watch Voices Voices NYCArts Now City City Arts
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Restaurant Ratings 14 Business 16 15 Minutes 11 Real Estate Estate 17 Real 12 15 Minutes 21
Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, May 1 – 7:35 pm. For more information visit www.chabbaduppereastside.com.