“We’re going to put out
an executive order today.
New York State on pause —
only essential businesses
will be functioning.
100% of the workforce
must stay home.
This is the most drastic
action we can take.”
“Everything is
uncharted territory.
Nobody knows what’s
going to happen
in the news any minute.”
“I think I’ve been
asking a lot of how we
could have prevented this.”
“Am I going to see
another depression
like my grandfather
saw in the 1920s?”
“Over the past few days,
New York City
has taken a lot of
important measures.
I’m just worried it came
a little bit too late.”
“I think I’m scared of
having to see more death
and from reading stories
from abroad, having to make
decisions about resources.
And I’m worried
people in my life
are going to die from it.
A few days ago, I had to
watch a patient basically
slowly die.
I just felt helpless.
This is the first time I’ve
really seen people that I
truly don’t know how to help.
And they are coming in
so sick that everything
I’m used to doing
to be able to treat them,
I can’t really do.”
“How was your day off, Mich?”
“It was emotional,
to say the least.”
“Why?”
“It’s just, like, the hospital
has been insane.
And every hour, like,
things are changing.
So it’s just, like,
trying to keep up
with that while trying to
read about what I should be
treating these people with,
while people are rolling
in the worst —
I don’t know.
They say in 18 days it’s
supposed to get really bad.
I guarantee you
tomorrow we’re going
to have like 1,000 more.
The numbers are
going to go up.”
“That’s no problem at all.
Thank you very much.
That’s very nice.
Thank you.
Sounds good.
See you then.
Bye.
Well, I have been working.
A lot of people are not,
which is hard.
This place used to
have 30 employees,
and on Sunday we let
go of 90% of the staff.
We want to reopen so we
can rehire people, you know?
It was really hard
to let everyone go.
These are people that
are at the level,
they’re not wealthy,
you know?
This is a very harsh reality.
And actually what the job is,
is smiling through stress.
And this is hard
to smile through.”
[Rain falling]
“It’s go time here at
the community kitchen.
This is the time where
we have to ramp up
our services to be
very sensitive to how
people are feeling.
People are coming to
us feeling vulnerable.
They maybe work in the
restaurant industry.
People who work in Broadway
and in a lot of the
behind-the-scenes,
they’re coming here saying,
well, I don’t have work.
So those industries
are the folks
that are the first ones that
we’re seeing come through.
But we’re preparing to see
more people come through
in need.”
“All programming
at the senior center
is suspended for
the next two weeks.
Stay safe and
have a good day.”
“So this is not
business as usual.
We don’t know what’s
coming up if people
have to stay in their homes
for a longer period of time.
And we want to make sure
people are getting food,
especially since a lot of
industries are out of work.
We are expecting a
lot of new people,
and we are going to be
ready to receive them.
This is all very new for them,
and some of them
are feeling guilt or shame
coming to an emergency
food program.
So we have to remember that
we do this all the time,
but for them, it’s
something new
and something that they feel
anxious about doing.
We’re just getting
them registered.
They’re getting food.
That’s our main priority is
people are getting food.”
[Sighing with exasperation]
“I’m not supposed
to touch my face.
Hold on a second.”
“I have prepared
myself already,
mentally, multiple times,
to go back to Oregon
and leave this entire
beautiful dream behind me.
So many people, including
many of my friends,
are working at bars,
at restaurants,
which are now closed.
And now we’re all
at home, wondering,
Can we make it another month?
Can our families afford to
pay their mortgages at home?
Do we just need to
go back and start
working, just so we can help
our own families, the people
that we love the most, stay in
the homes that we grew up in?
It’s hard to think
that my mom or my dad
are never going
to see retirement.
The best things that we can
do right now as a community
is just to give ourselves
over to something that
brings us true happiness.
Because right now,
it feels like it’s
about to get very desperate.”
“This is only something
that we can get through
if we’re working together.
There will be so
much suffering,
unnecessary suffering,
if we’re not really
looking out for each other
and if we only think about
ourselves and our well-being.
We have to be thinking
about each other.”
[Birds chirping]
