Protect NYCHA Residents From Coronavirus, Say Brooklyn Pols

BROOKLYN, NEW YORK —Vulnerable NYCHA residents need comprehensive protection against the new coronavirus, urged Brooklyn elected officials.

Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams and Council Member Alicka Ampry-Samuel on Wednesday passed out personal protective equipment to residents at Brownsville NYCHA complexes.

More than 12 elderly residents have died at NYCHA homes in the area, according to an Adams release.

Adams has personally been distributing masks across the borough for weeks, including before suggestion — now mandatory — that New Yorkers do so. He noted he faced some criticism at first, but argued affluent communities shouldn't be the only ones who survive the coronavirus.

"I knew that that only must we have intervention, we must have prevention," he said.

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Coronavirus has hit poor communities and people of color the hardest across New York City.

Adams and Ampry-Samuel, who represents Brownsville and Bed-Stuy, called on NYCHA and the city's Department for the Aging, to develop a plan to prevent the coronavirus' spread among those in city housing.

The population is four times more likely to be hospitalized for asthma and about one in four NYCHA residents is 62 or older — both of which are risk factors for coronavirus, according to a release.

The Van Dyke II homes sit in the 11212 zip code, where 915 people have tested positive for coronavirus, according to city data.

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