Adi Talwar
A scene from 2nd Avenue and 110th Street in East Harlem.
East Harlem zip code 10029 had the most COVID-19 cases in Manhattan, city data shows. ‘When a plague comes to New York, it always hits Harlem hard,’ one resident told El Diario.
“There are no tourists. We are living through a period worse than 9/11. Two or three hours can pass before anyone gets into the cab. People would rather walk because they feel that being locked inside a taxi is a risk,” one driver told El Diario.
Ecuador has emerged as an epicenter for coronavirus, creating ‘double anguish’ for Ecuadorian immigrants in New York as they watch the virus ravage both their homes, El Diario reports.
Some undocumented immigrants are afraid to seek care, either because of fears about their status or medical debt, El Diario reports.
Hispanic Association of Health Professionals is calling for lawmakers to create temporary, flexible licenses so thousands of immigrant health professionals can be included in the COVID-19 emergency effort.
The spread of coronavirus could mean additional agony for hundreds of day laborers, mostly Latin American immigrants, who stand on the corner of 69th Street and Roosevelt Avenue and other locations every morning in the hope of scoring temporary work.
Union members are calling on lawmakers to pass a bill that would provide airport workers with supplemental pay to buy health insurance.
A City Council hearing discussed alleged abuses committed by immigration officers against detained people who are hospitalized in the city.
Local activists started Sunset Park Emergency ICE Watch, a volunteer group that looks to protect the neighborhood’s immigrant communities.
Dominicans in New York are frustrated by the political situation in their native country, where a recent election had to be rescheduled after a technology snafu. “You get disappointed to see that years go by and things stay the same.”