Special to The South Asian Times
New York: City Mayor Bill de Blasio has praised the news media, particularly the ethnic press, for making residents of the city aware of the novel coronavirus so that they could take more useful precautionary measures.
“People all over New York City are depending on all of you. In many cases, yours is the first source of information. I want to thank you for all the work you’re doing for your communities for the last several weeks,” he said on March 11 at City Hall at a roundtable on Covid-19. “I think it’s making a big difference.”
The mayor described the situation as “complex,” as it is being dealt with as “literally brand new.”
According to de Blasio, the city has the best medical system in the US and noted that New Yorkers, who are diverse in many ways, are the “most resilient” people not only in the US, but probably in the entire world.
Calling for adopting measures to maintain personal hygiene such as washing hands more frequently with antibacterial solutions and checking body temperature, Mayor de Blasio said no racial discrimination and the checking of immigration status would be allowed in treating patients of the disease, which is formally known as Covid-19.
“We’ve heard some bias against some Asian communities, particularly the Chinese one, and nontreatment of undocumented workers. Such a situation wouldn’t be tolerated,” he noted. Victims of such cases should call 311 or inform the authorities with details.
De Blasio said flyers and information would also be available in languages including Hindi and Punjabi. Ads will be put out in the news media as well as on subway. In fact, information was available at the City Hall Press Office in various languages.
New York City, which has a population of nearly 9 million, launched a more vigorous campaign about Covid-19 on March 1 and so far 53 cases have been confirmed. The number of South Asians here is estimated at half a million. It was not clear if and how many of them have contracted the virus.
As early as late January, the mayor had warned that Covid-19 would eventually reach the City and since then the authorities have been on guard and begun preparing for the eventuality.
At the media interaction, the mayor – himself of Italian origin – mentioned that “Italy had a crisis almost before they knew it was. I mean the speed with which that happened in such an unexpected manner is very different than what we’ve experienced (here) so far.”
Aside from the mainstream media, ethnic press representing Indian, Chinese, as well as Hispanics attended the meeting with about 50 people in attendance.
De Blasio was assisted by Deputy Mayor Raul Perea-Henze, Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot, Emergency Management Commissioner Deanne Criswell, Community Affairs Commissioner Marco Carrion and Immigrant Affairs Commissioner Bitta Mostofi.
For details about the disease and precautions to take, you can call an expert counselor at 1-888-NYC-WELL.
