Queens BP calls for creation of office of COVID recovery
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Borough President Donovan Richards is calling for the creation of a City agency whose sole purpose is to handle the COVID-19 recovery. Photo via Queens Borough President's Office
By Rachel Vick
With the two year mark of the pandemic fast approaching and with no certain end to its impacts in sight, Queens Borough President Donovan Richards is calling on the city to establish a citywide Office of COVID Recovery.
Richards said the office was necessary, pointing to the difficulties in connecting communities to the resources they need, coordinating with partners to best serve the hardest to reach individuals and testing, which has forced New Yorkers to wait in hours-long lines.
“We were fighting to keep sites; they were going to close Rockaway, they were going to close LaGuardia Airport [as] we anticipated a surge; we need an office that is going to be proactive, not reactive,” Richards said. “We're going to be two years in and we shouldn't be making the same rookie errors.”
“We need to take control of our response to COVID-19, we need to brace ourselves and organize for our new normal going forward,” he added. “We also need a government that is going to absolutely function at its highest levels and that means talking to each other.”
The proposed office, which Richards described as a “one stop shop where government can actually function and government can have proper communication,” would be led by an appointed commissioner with borough liaisons and agency representatives.
Once appointed, they would be responsible for coordinating and improving the city’s testing in terms of access both physical and technical — at home kits do not offer instructions a wide range of languages.
Targeted efforts by a designated agency, he said, could have helped prevent the crush of testing and spike in cases.
Richards also took the opportunity to remind residents to get their shots and that “the facts are the facts,” stressing the importance of continued testing as the holiday push drops off.
“This is a team effort. We get through this by working collectively together by cutting through the nonsense. I don't have to remind you of the loss of life,” Richards said. “Queens has proven time and time again … that nothing will knock us down. “
The borough president noted that community based organizations play a crucial role in recovery and prevention, “especially in the World's Borough where .. language access has to be central and prioritized for residents as we move forward.”
He also suggested transferring the oversight of the Test and Trace Corps from Health and Hospitals to the hypothetical office — which would exist only as needed for the duration of the pandemic and subsequent recovery, “alleviating unnecessary administrative burdens” from both H+H and the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene.
Though there is no word about the timeline, the Adams administration is not inherently opposed to the idea, a spokesperson told the Eagle.
“The administration has received Borough President Richards’ proposal in concept, and we look forward to reviewing it in greater detail,” said Senior Advisor to the mayor Stefan Ringel.
Confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths of COVID-19 are still on the rise, according to city data, but the percentage of positive tests is stable at 30.17 percent.
Queens neighborhoods Richmond Hill and Ozone Park have the highest rates in the city at around 39 percent positive, with Corona, Queens Village coming in at a close second.
Statewide, the seven day average is at 19.42 percent positivity.
Both local and state governments are working to encourage the vaccination of the youngest eligible residents, as 91 percent of 5- to 11-year-olds newly admitted to hospitals are unvaccinated.
“This is the armor we need to wrap our children in as they go off to school and go off to play with their friends and engage in afterschool activities and sports,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said Tuesday. “It's safe, it's free and it protects even the younger siblings who are not eligible. This is important. Get the older siblings vaccinated so the children who are not eligible yet, five and under, are protected as well.”
