Brooklyn, New York – What is normally a hive of life is now nearly dead, save for the sound of police and ambulance sirens. “The streets are just empty,” said Mireille Liong, a kinky-haired activist filming the streets of Brooklyn, New York, on a Saturday night. New York has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the United States so far. Medical experts estimate that the death toll from the coronavirus will reach 134,000, CNN reported, double what White House experts initially estimated.
In an estimate made by the Trump administration, the number of deaths will increase to 3,000 per day. According to data from John Hopkins University, there were already 2,000 deaths per day in the US in recent weeks. The number of deaths in New York is six times higher, reports an article from the New York Times from last week.
In addition to losing loved ones, New Yorkers are also being hit financially. As an entrepreneur, Liong is one of the lucky ones who can work from home and still generate income. “I still have my home office. Internet business is still going strong, although I’ve had terrible delays, but that’s what happens because the city is just completely disrupted,” Liong says in a video report in which she walks through the empty streets of her city.
The realization that times are different comes especially when you hear an ambulance siren blaring in the distance through the silence. “It’s pretty scary,” Liong shares her experience. “Every time you realize that there are hospitals not too far away that are overflowing with patients. They can’t even handle the number of bodies,” Liong says. Referring to last week, when authorities found 40 to 60 bodies in an unrefrigerated moving truck. “The death rate is so high that New York is having trouble processing the bodies.” The truck was parked outside a funeral home in Brooklyn, according to a report by the NYPost .
According to Liong, it shows how disrupted all the infrastructure is in the city. Nevertheless, the afro-haired activist is grateful that she is safe and sound in the center of the pandemic. But it does not take away how serious the matter is. “I know enough friends in New York who tested positive, but who fortunately survived. It is certainly not to be underestimated,” says Liong. She has even taken numerous measures for herself and has an adjusted schedule to be able to do simple things like grocery shopping safely.
“I am actually on my way to the store now and I will not be going shopping until around 10:00, when there are fewer people or almost no people on the street.” She has her mask ready in one of her sleeves to put on when she enters the store. “That is also mandatory. I am not wearing it now because there is almost no one on the street. It is a harsh reality and we do not know how long this will last. But that does not mean that we should not remain positive,” says Liong.