Health & Fitness
WaHi Theater, Running Track Could House Coronavirus Patients: Pol
Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez says the city needs temporary housing for those who cannot self-quarantine at home if they get coronavirus.
WASHINGTON HEIGHTS, NY — An Uptown theater and the Washington Heights armory athletic track could be used to house for New Yorkers with the coronavirus if the city takes on a local council member's proposal suggested this week.
Council Member Ydanis Rodriguez is asking Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to consider creating "temporary relocation sites" for those who test positive for COVID-19, but can't safely self-quarantine themselves at home.
The relocation sites, he said, would particularly help New Yorkers from lower-income neighborhoods who live in crowded apartments and therefore cannot stay at home with coronavirus without the risk of infecting their families.
"Right now to do a self quarantine is a privilege and we want to turn it to a right," Rodriguez said in an online video about the proposal Tuesday.
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Rodriguez specifically suggested the Armory Track on Fort Washington Avenue and the United Palace Theater on Broadway, which he said would have the capacity to house hundreds of New Yorkers. He also suggested that dorms at now-closed campuses like Columbia University and City College could be used.
The call comes after coronavirus case data broken down by zip code released by the city last week revealed that the lower-income parts of New York City seemed to be the hardest hit by the virus.
19 of the 20 lowest concentrations of coronavirus cases hail from affluent zip codes, the New York Times reported.
Rodriguez particularly pointed to "underserved and immigrant communities" in Northern Manhattan, the South Bronx and neighborhoods in Western Queens, which have become hotspots for the coronavirus. One Washington Heights zip code with 308 cases had the highest case count of any zip code in Manhattan.
"These are New Yorkers, that even though are among the most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus pandemic due to the disadvantages created by poor and hard living conditions, often times work as essential workers or cannot otherwise afford to work from home," Rodriguez said.
Data released after Rodriguez' call for relocation sites showed that Hispanic residents are also more likely to die from the coronavirus than other New Yorkers.
Hispanic New Yorkers make up 34 percent of the people to lose their lives to COVID-19, despite representing 29 percent of the population, and Black New Yorkers make up 28 percent of the fatalities despite representing 22 percent of the population, data show.
"As an entire nation pays attention to our response to this pandemic and looks for guidance in our actions, we'll be remembered for how fairly we treated our most vulnerable New Yorkers," Rodriguez wrote.
