Index
Adams, Eric, 252
“age of fracture”, 11
Aigner, Peter, 4
Allen Hospital, NewYork-Presbyterian, 55, 66, 67, 69, 70
anti-Semitism, 251
anti-vaccine demonstrations, 249, 261
Aponte, Minerva, 108
apps, digital: food delivery and, 107, 111–14
ARC (Action for the Retired Community), 255
Asians: bias against, 192; demonstrations against anti-Asian violence, 272; violence against, 168, 251, 283–85
Bedford-Stuyvesant. See Brooklyn
Black Lives Matter demonstrations, 200–201, 204, 205, 206–11, 214–15, 217; in Jackson Heights, Queens, 217; in Staten Island, 214–15
Breen, Lorna, 67
Bronx, 45, 49–54, 101–4, 106–10, 174, 240; East Tremont, 101; Fordham Road, 201; Morrisania, 145–47; Parkchester, 187; Soundview, 174
Bronx COVID-19 Oral History Project at Fordham University, 3
Brooklyn, 261; Bedford-Stuyvesant, 33, 39–40
Brooklyn College, 4, 21, 131–34
Brooklyn College Journal of the Plague Year, 4
Brown, Gracia, 4
Brown, Josh, 3
burial, 163
buses, 39, 169; driving, 18–19; passengers, 88–89
businesses: closing of, 93, 97, 140–41, 146, 148–50; struggling, 106–10, 240–44
Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 87, 195
China, 10
Chinatown. See Manhattan
City Lore, 4
City University of New York, 131–34; deaths at, 134
classes: college and university, 102–3, 129–30; elementary school, 120–23, 127–28; high school, 151–52; virtual, 102–3, 129–30, 152
College of Staten Island, Lockdown Staten Island Collective and, 3
Columbia University. See NYC COVID-19 Oral History, Narrative and Memory Project
confusion, 11–12, 14, 31, 35, 48, 51, 67–68, 92, 121, 135, 145, 166–67, 175, 195, 241–42, 248, 256, 261, 289, 290, 293–94
coping, 5–6, 38, 46–47, 59–60, 64–65, 66–67, 69–70, 74–77, 84, 92–93, 96–97, 167–68
Corona. See Queens
COVID-19 pandemic, significance of: debates over, 71–72, 80–81, 168; historians’ responses to, 3–4; in Italy, 16–17; in New York City, 1–3, 5–8, 10–11, 13–14, 296–301; learning from, 289–95; remembering, 287–88, 301; social conflict and, 7–8; United States response to, 236, 260, 296–99; vocabulary of, 275–81
COVID-19 pandemic statistics, New York City: death rates by racial and ethnic groups, 298; death rates by zip code, 158; deaths per day, 297; pattern of total deaths, cases and hospitalizations, 8; total deaths, 296
COVID-19 virus: characteristics of, 24–25; communicability of, 35, 36–37, 39; symptoms of, 135–37, 154, 161–62; testing for, 135–36, 195–96
Cuomo, Governor Andrew, 10, 13–14, 24, 29, 30, 35, 62, 92, 147, 166–68, 202, 207; fall of, 252
deaths from COVID-19: in New York City, 297; in New York City with total cases and hospitalizations, 8
death rates from COVID-19 in New York City: by zip code, 158; by racial and ethnic group, 298
deaths from COVID-19: dealing with, 27, 140–41, 146–47, 156–58, 162–64, 194, 292; first responders and, 32–36, 38, 44–46, 50–51; front line workers and, 114–15; health care professionals and, 62–6, 65, 68, 70; patients and, 136–38; professors and, 133–34; teachers and, 127–28; witnessing, 158
DeBlasio, Bill, 10, 14, 119, 167–68, 209, 212, 255
delivery services, 95, 107, 111–13, 117
demonstrations. See anti-vaccine; Asians; Black Lives Matter; parks
digital platforms: fundraising and, 108; religious congregations and, 187, 190–91; teaching and, 120–23, 125, 126–28, 129–30, 131, 146, 152, 275. See also Zoom meetings
dining sheds, 243
disinfecting, 18–19, 35, 47, 51, 57, 99, 1012, 195, 230
disinformation, 17; combatting, 191
disparities: between Jackson Heights, Queens and midtown Manhattan, 227–28; ethnic and racial, 229–30, 232–34; in deaths, 234–35
East Elmhurst. See Queens
Elmhurst. See Queens
Elmhurst Hospital, 184, 192–93, 300
EMT (Emergency Medical Technician), 37, 41–48, 229–30
epidemics, contexts and meanings of, 10–11
ER (Emergency Room), 61, 66–67, 70
essential workers, 5–6, 30, 104, 111, 198; restaurant workers as, 92–97; risks to, 86; teachers as, 119–28, 120–30, 131–34
ethnic tensions, 168
FDA (Food and Drug Administration), 61, 237
fear, 22, 26–27, 55, 65, 84, 141, 174–75, 182
federalism, COVID-19 and, 11–12
Fire Department of the City of New York, 32–40
firefighters: COVID-19 and, 32–40; vaccines and, 251
Fletcher, Joseph “Trevor”, 159–65
Floyd, George, death of and protests, 200, 206, 208, 214, 217
flu of 1918, 3
food, 195, 196, 223, 229; hunger, 108; insecurity, 108, 124–25, 218. See also deliveristas; restaurants; supermarkets
food delivery apps. See apps, digital
Fort Washington Armory, 254
frontline workers: first responders as, 20–21, 30–31, 32–40, 41–48, 49–54; health care workers as, 55–60, 61–65, 66–73, 74–81, 82–85; home lives of, 21, 47, 51–53, 68, 71, 90; restaurant workers as, 106, 108, 110; retail workers as, 98–100, 101–2, 104; risks of, 6, 21, 63–64, 68, 86; transit workers as, 18–19, 88–91
Fussell, Paul, 6
future, anticipation of, 27, 65, 72–73, 95–96, 105, 108, 141, 173, 287
Gotham Center for New York City History, 4
government, 22, 104, 296; city, 2–3, 10–12, 14, 167–68, 241–43, 251–52; Federal, 8, 166, 202–4, 252; state, 10–12, 14, 30, 166–68, 202, 252
Harkness Pavilion of NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 56, 82
Harlem. See Manhattan
health care professionals, 30, 41–48, 55–60, 61–65, 66–73, 74–81, 82–85; cheers for, 198–99, 224. See also doctors; nurses; paramedics
health care system, 225
homelessness and COVID-19, 88–89, 151–53
hospitals: conditions in, 5, 20–21, 30–31, 34, 44, 114, 136–38, 141, 162–63, 166, 168; inequalities among, 2–3, 13, 30–31; meals prepared for health care workers in, 108–9. See also individual hospitals by name and doctors; health care professionals; and nurses
ICU (intensive care unit), 61, 64, 74
immigrants, 192–93, 225, 251; African, 189, 191; Bangladeshi, 174; Bengali, 189; French, 41; Grenadan, 159–60; Guatemalan, 111; Haitian, 154; Italian, 178–79; Russian, 20
improvisations, 31, 51, 53, 56, 61, 67, 69–70, 77–79
inequalities, 5–6, 227–28; economic, 103; ethnic and racial, 104, 229; medical, 30–31, 114–15, 233, 237–39, 296–97
Inwood. See Manhattan
LaGuardia Community College, 22
LGBT: activism, 218–21; nightlife, 218
lockdown, 14
loneliness, 1
looting, 206–8, 214; boarded-up windows and, 207–9
Lower East Side. See Manhattan
Luna, Maria, 255
Mailman School of Public Health (Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health), 254–55
Manhattan, 227–28; Chinatown, 272, 283–85; Greenwich Village, 206–10; Hamilton Heights; Harlem, 257; Houston Street in, 282; Inwood, 201–2; Lower East Side, 156; Times Square, 29, 140; Upper East Side, 41, 171; Washington Heights, 26, 41, 148, 194–97, 198
masks, 32, 38, 39, 42, 43, 50, 53, 61, 65, 69, 94–95, 99–100, 135, 168–69, 185, 195, 202–3, 208, 239, 242–43, 299–300; making, 182–83
memory, 179, 287–88, 291, 292, 299–301
Metropolitan Transit Authority, 18, 87, 135
Milstein Hospital of NewYork-Presbyterian Columbia University Irving Medical Center, 56, 82
Morrisania. See Bronx
New York City: COVID-19 pandemic and, 1–3, 10–14, 166–69, 200, 238, 250, 252, 260–61, 295, 296–301; deaths in, 6, 8, 169; death rates by zip code, 158; economy of, 252; inequality in, 6, 13; population drop in, 252; public health in, 250, 296
NYC Covid-19 Oral History, Narrative and Memory Project at Columbia University, 3
NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center, 61, 148–49, 222, 254–55. See also Allen Hospital; Harkness Pavilion; Milstein Hospital
New York University, 4
Noonan, Ellen, 4
pandemic. See COVID-19 pandemic
paramedics, 20–21, 41–48, 229–30
parks: as sites of demonstrations, 206, 208–10; Fort Tryon Park, 59; Travers Park, 218, 220; Washington Square Park, 206, 208, 209, 210
patients, 55, 61, 62–63, 65, 73, 74–77, 136–38, 223, 230, 231, 233–35
playgrounds, 141
police, New York City, 49–54, 200–202, 207–8, 210; attitudes of, 212–13; criticisms of, 168, 202, 214, 227–28; vaccinated, 251
PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), 42–43, 50, 135, 139; shortages of, 61
presidential election of 2020, 203–4, 245–46
professionalism, 31, 49–50, 301
PTSD, 232
public health, 72–73, 225; New York City and, 2, 30, 250, 296–97
public service, 301
quarantine, 104–5, 145–47, 236–37
Queens, 22, 61, 217–18; Corona, 119, 123; Douglaston, 15; East Elmhurst, 15, 119, 123; Elmhurst, 300; Fresh Meadows, 223; Jackson Heights, 22, 184, 192–93, 217–21, 227–28; Woodside, 219
Queens Memory Project, 4
racism, 168, 214, 272–74. See also inequalities
refrigerator trailers, 25, 34, 57, 82–83, 155, 182, 193
regulations: municipal, 119, 206–7, 241–43, 251; state, 14, 30, 39, 167, 168–69
religion, 28–29, 107, 115, 137–38, 141, 163, 167, 174–77, 187, 189, 191
resilience, 39, 50, 59–60, 65, 71, 96, 105, 109–10, 125–26, 139, 168, 183, 186, 221, 225–26, 230, 243–44, 285; sources of, 172–73, 178–79
restaurants, 92–97, 111–13, 203; closings of, 93, 148–50; reopening, 94, 240–44; sanitation at, 93–95; workers at, 96, 106–10
retail work: customers, 98, 101–2; supermarket cashiers, 98–100
Reynolds, Brendan, 4
risks, 42
Rodgers, Daniel T., 11
SARS, 2
schools: elementary, PS 128, 194, 289; PS 148, 15, 119–28; high school, Bard High School Early College Manhattan, 174; Pace High School, 151–53, 275; colleges and universities, Brooklyn College, 4, 16, 20, 131–34; City University of New York, 4, 134; College of Staten Island, 3; Columbia University, 3; Fordham University, 3; John Jay College of Criminal Justice, 101, 145–46; LaGuardia Community College, 22; Mailman School of Public Health, 254–56, 289; New York University, 4; Rutgers University-Newark, 129–30
senior citizens, 195, 254, 257–58
September 11, 2001, compared to the pandemic, 2, 3, 33, 69
shopping, 65, 104, 173, 225; panic shopping, 22, 184–85, 206–7
shortages, 22
sirens, 24, 26–27, 35, 140, 184
social distancing, 57–58, 95, 98, 101–4, 140–41, 154, 169, 172
social media, 47, 80–81, 168, 178, 182, 218, 249
social skills, COVID-19 and, 259, 263, 267
solidarity, 1–2, 6–7, 46, 65, 84, 193, 198–99, 243–44, 247–48, 295, 297–98, 297–301; lack of, 71–72, 242
Solnit, Rebecca, 7
Starr, Paul, 296
Staten Island, 98, 203, 214–15, 260
streets, emptiness of, 1, 29, 36, 140–41, 192
students: college and university, 129–30, 146; elementary school, 15, 119–28; high school, 151–53
subways, 101, 104, 143, 180–81, 283, 285
surges of COVID-19, 33–34, 42, 66, 71, 74–75, 79, 89, 95–96, 202, 229, 247, 262
teaching: college and university, 102–3, 129–30; elementary school, 15, 119–28; high school, 152–3; virtual classes, 120–23, 125, 129–30, 131, 146, 152
testing for COVID-19, 135–36, 195–97; incentives for, 196
time, confusion about, 35
Times Square. See Manhattan
transit workers, 86–87, 135–39, 159–60, 203, 291, 292; bus operators, 18–19, 88–89, 203; death toll among, 87, 138; mechanics, 159; mourning among, 165; recognition of, 89–91, 291, 292; vaccines and, 251
Transport Workers Union, Local 100, 18, 87, 135, 138–39
trauma, 268
Trump, Donald, 26–27, 62, 92, 155, 166, 168, 203, 207, 245, 296
vaccines, 7, 95, 204, 237, 247–53, 259, 260–61, 263–67, 277, 286; anti-vaxxers, 249, 261, 275; anticipation of, 73, 243, 271–72; debates about, 249–50; demonstrations against, 249, 261; doses administered, 253; incentives for, 251, 255; municipal workers and, 250–51; registration for, 7, 248, 254–56; skepticism about, 24, 254–58, 264–66, 281. See also firefighters; police; transit workers
Washington Heights. See Manhattan
Washington Square. See parks
waves of COVID-19. See surges of COVID-19
Woodside. See Queens