UWS Seniors Evacuated To Hotels To Help Social Distancing: Report

UPPER WEST SIDE, MANHATTAN — Nearly 300 seniors from a housing complex on Broadway moved into Midtown hotels this week so that they can better prevent the spread of the new coronavirus, the West Side Rag reports.

The evacuation at Euclid Hall — a housing complex for low-income seniors run by nonprofit West Side Federation for Senior and Supportive Housing — came Monday after the building had its first coronavirus case and began to worry about it spreading to other staff and residents, the WSFSSH executive director said.

"At Euclid Hall the residents have a private room but share bathrooms, kitchens and have a daily congregate meal," Paul R. Freitag said in a letter to the Rag. "In response to COVID 19, we had healthcare professionals confirm that it would be extremely difficult to isolate cases at Euclid, given the shared living arrangement."

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Euclid Hall began working with the city to figure out where they could send the residents, some of whom are formerly homeless or have underlying conditions, Freitag said.

All but a "very small number" of residents successfully moved to the hotels on Monday.

Moving to the hotels will mean that residents can have private rooms and bathrooms, Freitag said. On-site nurses and three meals a day will also be provided at the hotel.

"I would like to thank the City for their assistance as well as WSFSSH staff who are continuing to provide essential services in our buildings and at the hotels," Freitag wrote.

"I would also like to thank those members of the Upper West Side community who have reached out to support us during this time. It is so helpful to be part of a community working together to respond to this as best we can."

There were 51,809 COVID-19 cases in New York City as of April 2, a little over a month since the first case was reported in the city, according to Gov. Andrew Cuomo.

There were 1,397 COVID-19-related deaths in New York City, with 16,336 cases in Queens, 12,983 cases in Brooklyn, 9,107 in The Bronx, 7,278 in Manhattan and 2,723 on Staten Island, according to the Department of Health.

Read the full West Side Rag story on Euclid Hall here.