The local paper for the Upper East Side TESTING THE TESTS ◄ P.2
WEEK OF JULY
16-22 16-22 2020 2020
READY FOR ‘BLENDED LEARNING’?
EDUCATION Volunteers urging New Yorkers to stop at St. James Recreation Center testing site on Fordham Road in the Bronx. Photo: NYC Health + Hospitals
MICROBE HUNTING CORONAVIRUS
The city is fighting a blockby-block battle to keep the number of virus cases down BY MICHAEL ORESKES
The microbe hunters of New York are using every tool and tactic they can think of to seek out and contain the coronavirus. They crunch data. They sample sewage. They yell over bullhorns to convince people to get tested. Those are just a few snapshots from the biggest public health fight the city has ever waged. One of the biggest challenges has been to orchestrate all the elements. Early on, for example, there were so few coronavirus tests available that they had to be strictly rationed. Now there are plenty and the city is urging everyone to get tested. But as more people
get tested some labs have been overwhelmed. Some test results are so slow coming back - as long as ten days - that they are useless. Even what a city spokesperson called the “typical” time frame of three days for results is far too slow for quarantining and contact tracing to be most effective. “This means people aren’t isolating when they’re contagious,” warned the chair of the City Council Health Committee, Mark D. Levine. “It’s a major obstacle for contact tracings. And it’s discouraging people from even getting tested. This has to be fixed ASAP.” “We now see in New York and around the country delays in getting testing results, and we need to beat that back,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Monday. He urged President Trump to invoke the Defense Produc-
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Schools to open in September, but many details still in flux BY EMILY HIGGINBOTHAM
Students, teachers and parents will once again need to adapt to a new mode of education this fall as the city attempts to balance health and safety with the need to get students back in the classroom. Last week, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that schools will re-open come September, but classroom attendance will be limited to one to three days per week in
order to keep the spread of coronavirus under control. The city will be implementing new precautions, such as face coverings for every students and staff member (which will be provided to those who need them), hand washing and hand sanitizer stations, and deep cleaning after each school day. The city hopes a partial reopening, which will include smaller class sizes, staggered schedules and the option to remain a full-time remote learner, will be the answer to the most difficult logistical question, which is, how will students and teachers maintain social distance inside school buildings?
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‘THEY THREW US A CURVE BALL AGAIN’ UWS restaurant owner Joe Germanotta - Lady Gaga’s dad - on the city’s changing rules for outdoor dining. p. 11
FOLK ART FOR ALZHEIMER’S PATIENTS
The American Folk-Art Museum hosts a series of Zoom sessions for seniors and their caregivers. p. 8
MAKING MEMORIES FROM MOZZARELLA
Big Mozz’s cheesemaking class has become a smash hit. Our reporter tried the hands-on experience. p. 14
Mayor Bill de Blasio with Schools Chancellor Richard Carranza (left) at City Hall on July 8, at an announcement about preliminary school reopening plans. Photo: Office of Mayor Bill de Blasio, via flickr
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OURTOWNNY.COM
It’s up to individual principals to decide what “blended learning” — which is what the Department of Education is calling the mix of remote and in-person education — will look like at their school. The DOE has laid out a variety of models principals can choose from, depending on the size of its student population and the square-footage of the buildings’ classrooms. For example, one model would split the school’s population into three groups: two groups of in-person learners (groups A and B) and one group of full-time remote learners. Groups A and B will
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Jewish women and girls light up the world by lighting the Shabbat candles every Friday evening 18 minutes before sunset. Friday, July 17 – 8:06 pm. For more information visit www.chabbaduppereastside.com.