Inside New York’s Coronavirus ‘Containment Zone,’ Some Residents Behave As If Little Is Amiss

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A pedestrian walks in New Rochelle, N.Y., on March 11, 2020. MUST CREDIT: Photo for The Washington Post by John Taggart
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If the pandemic is anywhere, it is here, within a one-mile “containment zone” in a New York City suburb that authorities hope will thwart the coronavirus from spreading any more than it has.

Despite dire warnings and authorities imploring people to stay home and not congregate, at the North End Fitness & Training Company, located in the middle of the zone here, personal trainer Cesar Areldano has been showing up to work every day to train his clients. At a gym. Where people come to sweat together in the same room.

“We want to keep the community comfortable, we don’t want to create a mass panic, and we want to give people the optics that life goes on,” said Areldano, 36. “I don’t have any worries, as long we maintain a clean environment.”

Some residents here in New Rochelle are openly defying government suggestions to limit their socializing, highlighting the challenge communities nationwide could encounter if they ever have to establish similar restrictions. As schools close, sporting events are canceled and the shows in nearby Manhattan will not go on, some people here in the containment zone are still willing to get out and get together, regardless of the risk.

New Rochelle emerged as an epicenter of New York’s coronavirus crisis 10 days ago after a local synagogue was linked to several of the state’s first cases. There are now more than 140 cases in Westchester County.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, D, announced the one-mile containment zone around Young Israel of New Rochelle, located in the affluent north side of town, on Tuesday. He urged residents to consider remaining indoors but did not order businesses to close nor did he restrict traffic in and out.

On Thursday, Cuomo took even more dramatic action, banning gatherings of 500 or more people everywhere in New York state while slashing in half the occupancy limits for smaller gatherings. Business that do not adhere will be shut down.

“This is going to get much worse before it gets better,” Cuomo said, adding that he cannot predict how long the occupancy restrictions will last. Cuomo has warned that people should expect “major shifts” in the way U.S. society functions.

Speaking Thursday from the White House, President Donald Trump also did not rule out the possibility that travel restrictions might need to be issued for additional U.S. communities.

“Yes. If somebody gets a little bit out of control, if an area gets too hot,” Trump told reporters. “You see what they’re doing in New Rochelle, which is – which is good.”

Though shops and restaurants here in New Rochelle have seen a sharp drop in business, happy hours continue at bars inside the containment zone. There is still the morning and midday rush at Starbucks. Neighbors still gather at local dog park and argue about politics.

A few dozen National Guard troops arrived Thursday morning to hand out boxed lunches to seniors and children whose schools have been closed. But much of the city remained open, suggesting that even here many residents were not prepared to spend extended periods of time away from others.

“They closed the schools to clean the schools, but now you have all of these students running around together out here on the streets that could be contaminated,” said Patricia Cherry, 55.

Cherry, who lives on the edge of the containment zone, drove to a local strip mall inside of it because she needed to deliver a package. She brought her 81-year-old father, Walter Hubbard, ignoring advice from health experts that the elderly are especially vulnerable to coronavirus.

Hubbard said he considers the containment zone to be impractical because he views the coronavirus as not that much different than a host of other illnesses.

“I got a better doctor up there anyway,” Hubbard said, pointing his finger toward the sky. “They tell you to stay indoors, but what about the stuff you can catch indoors?”

David Finestein, 76, drives every day from Brooklyn to New Rochelle to pick up kosher meals for homeless children.

“I’m doing a good thing and you got to live a little,” said Finestein, adding that he is dedicated to his work because he was an orphan as a child. “My health has nothing to do with it. . . . If you saw a hungry child in the street, would you let them go by?”

Plenty other New Rochelle residents continue to venture out for far more menial matters.

Chris Paccione, 63, stopped by for a drink at the bar after he took his dog to the dog park. Paccione suffers from a variety of severe illnesses, including battling stage 4 cancer.

“I’m doing all of that common sense stuff they are talking about, like washing your hands, but you got to live,” Paccione said. He noted that he believes he is immune from coronavirus because he’s already on antibiotics – something health experts dispute. “I think that helps me not get it.”

For many people here, however, their faith in hand sanitizer and frequent hand-washing is what is keeping them so confident that they can avoid the virus. Some also question whether the media is hyping the matter.

“I know it’s contagious, but why do we need people to tell you to wash your hands and sanitize – that is just normal,” Victoria Roldan, 62, said after she stopped at Starbucks for her morning coffee. “I think people are losing their faith in God. . . . I am not saying you should not take care of yourself, but I really believe we are making it a bigger deal than it is.”

Residents here note the town has been through other major crises before, including the Sept 11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Sandy.

Despite their attempt to operate with a sense of normalcy this time, some residents admit their biggest worry is not knowing when the danger will end.

“From what we hear, this is just the beginning, and that is what concerns us,” said Areldano, as several school-aged children were taking part in a group fitness class. “Everyday it just seems it’s getting worse and not getting better, and unfortunately we are in the middle of it.”

But Areldano can’t imagine the day will ever come when he won’t show up for work.

“We want to show we are strong and calm,” Areldano said. “And if the community thinks we are not strong, we worry they will panic.”

(c) 2020, The Washington Post · Tim Craig

{Matzav.com}


4 COMMENTS

  1. President Trump promised to drain the swamp. Expect the “coronavirus” to become even stronger, enforced with a military curfew globally, in order to ובערת הרע מקרבך – to eradicate the evil from our midst. If you’re from the criminal elite / Deep State / Cabal anywhere in the world you have what to fear. All others, it’s only the flu / pneumonia – no reason to panic.

  2. “I think people are losing their faith in God. . . . I am not saying you should not take care of yourself, but I really believe we are making it a bigger deal than it is.”

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