Queens, New York, acutely affected by virus

The New York City borough of Queens has the highest number of people infected with the coronavirus in the city, because many live in close proximity to each other and cannot practice social distancing while they continue to work despite the outbreak, according to local officials.

The borough where both US President Donald Trump and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo were born now is home to large immigrant communities from Asia, the Caribbean, India and Italy who live in tight-knit extended families in the Jackson Heights, Corona and Elmhurst neighborhoods. Many are low income and work in food service, construction or in janitorial jobs.

Last week, figures from the city's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene showed that Queens residents tested positive for the virus in greater numbers than in other parts of New York City.

"If you look at the living quarters of many immigrant families and other families in Queens, the quarters tend to be much more concentrated, so social distancing becomes very difficult — more so in Queens, although the same applies to many parts of Brooklyn, and Manhattan and other boroughs as well," John Liu, the Democratic state senator for northeast Queens, told China Daily.

"As much as we have stay-at-home recommendations, we have people who have no choice but to continue to work. That's the only way they are going to be able to feed their children and families. Most people take buses or subways, so, again, social distancing becomes nearly impossible," Liu added.

In Queens, some 20,371 — or 820 per 100,000 residents — tested positive for coronavirus, according to city data. The western part of Queens, a waterfront neighborhood that is affluent and predominantly white, had fewer than 100 cases as of last week.

Testing has been evenly spread across New York City's five boroughs. But a disproportionately high number of people had COVID-19 in some Brooklyn neighborhoods that are home to Orthodox Jews who often live together in large families.

Queens is home to 2.3 million of New York's 8.4 million people. The US Census Bureau reported that at least 47 percent of Queens residents were born outside the US. The population is 48 percent white, 28 percent Hispanic, 27 percent Asian and 21 percent black. Around 56 percent of residents speak a language that is not English.

As of Sunday, health officials have confirmed: New York state had 122,031 total cases, up from 102,863 on Friday; 4,159 deaths from the coronavirus in the state, up from 2,935 on Friday; 67,552 cases in New York City, an increase of more than 15,000 since Friday; 2,254 deaths, up from 1,867 on Friday.

The governor has been instrumental in trying to ensure that New York's hospitals have enough coronavirus tests, ventilators and at least 140,000 ICU (intensive care unit) beds to help doctors and nurses battle COVID-19.

"The number of beds doesn't really matter anymore," Cuomo told reporters. "We have the beds. It's the ventilators, and then it's the staff."

Elmhurst Hospital, a public facility with 545 beds in Jackson Heights, Queens, was one of the first in the nation to become overwhelmed with COVID-19 patients.

On March 25, the hospital put out a statement saying 13 people died there in the previous 24 hours.

Large refrigerated truck trailers that double as morgues have been positioned outside the hospital's morgue to handle the overflow of the dead.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) said it would send 85 trailers to New York to serve as temporary morgues. Similar trailers already in use hold 40 bodies each.

FEMA regional director Thomas Von Essen said at a news briefing: "We in New York City have a desperate need for help over in Queens."

Before the outbreak, Elmhurst said it could handle 15 to 20 critically ill patients in intensive care.

However, figures from the state Department of Mental Health and Hygiene obtained by The City, a community newspaper in the borough, showed that it had only 1.68 beds per 1,000 people in Queens.

It has stretched its resources to enable 111 beds for those infected with the virus, according to Dr Mitchell Katz, the CEO of the city's hospital system.

Katz said that the hospital had transferred to other facilities 193 patients that were not in the ICU and 43 that were.

Liu, the state senator, said: "Elmhurst is in the middle of a community that is very dense, which I define by the number of people living per housing unit."

City Harvest, the largest food rescue organization in New York City, has a truck stationed in Queens amid the pandemic. COO Jen McLean told China Daily: "City Harvest's nine mobile markets across the five boroughs, which distribute free, fresh produce directly to residents in low-income communities, will maintain their current schedule and social distancing recommendations."