NY now a city of worries

The glittering New York City, a bustling tourist destination, is now a land of worries. New York is the most affected state in the US, now the epicentre of the coronavirus pandemic. Of the more than 188,000 people infected by the virus in the country, New York has reported nearly 76,000 infections and 1,714 deaths.

"If you call New York the epicentre of coronavirus in the US, Queens would be epicentre in New York," said Sultana Rahman, a Bangladeshi journalist based in Queens.

Queens, the birthplace of President Donald Trump, is also home to most of the nearly five lakh Bangladeshis living in New York, the most densely populated city in the US with some 8.5 million residents.

Sultana said she could confirm the deaths of at least 20 Bangladeshis there.

There is such a shortage of facilities that the Central Park has been turned into a makeshift hospital.

"Never in the American history, after the civil war some 200 years ago, this park was used for sheltering people the way it is being done now," said Sultana, who works for US-based TBN 24 television.

The hospitals and clinics in New York now have around 53,000 beds. Of them, ICU beds with ventilators are 3,000. However, there are projections that 140,000 patients with Covid-19 would need hospitalisation and some 40,000 ventilators would be needed this week.

"New York is in no way prepared to handle such a staggering number of patients," she told The Daily Star via messenger Tuesday night.

Authorities are trying hard to make sure all infected people get healthcare. Therefore, a military hospital has been open for the civilians and Marriott Hotel was turned into a hospital. Eight makeshift hospitals were built by the authorities. Yet, there are long queues in front of every hospital, she said.

"Emergency number 911 is a very effective service in the United States. If you call this number, ambulance arrives in three to five minutes. But now it is taking longer for the ambulance to arrive."

The New York City mayor is trying to bring in health professionals from other states amid shortage of health professionals in the city. Some retired doctors and nurses are also working. Many of them are working 16 to 18 hours a day, she noted.

Asked why Covid-19 transmission rate is so high there, she said three weeks ago when there were reports of coronavirus infections in New York. But people took it lightly. Many thought the reports were rumours.

"I can tell about my landowner in Queens. He had the virus symptoms and then called the hospital… Meanwhile, he visited different places and after four days he tested positive. By then, he must have transmitted it to many others."

Though generally the elderly and people with underlying conditions are the ones who get critically ill, there are cases where people aged 30-40 died of Covid-19. Even, three nurses who were young and healthy had died, she said.

Referring to American scientists' prediction that between 100,000 to 240,000 Americans may die of coronavirus, she said fear had gripped everyone.

"I went to buy groceries and had to visit four stores. All of them had long queues," she said, adding that many of the community-based grocery stores were closed and the ones open were also in the process of closing.

"If the grocery stores close, there will be food shortage. Even if there is food, and the stores are closed, who's going to supply food to people?"

Trump administration has declared $2 trillion coronavirus recovery plan, which means in the next three weeks, all American taxpayers will get $1200 for a month.

"But what do you do with dollars if you don't have food?"

Meanwhile, people at the home are getting bored and that may lead to a rise in mental health issues, she said.

To people in Bangladesh, she said, "Please don't take coronavirus lightly. Stay home, isolate the patients or anyone with symptoms. To the government, my request is, do as many tests as possible and isolate the patients. Otherwise, we will see a generation die."