A16 eZ re the washington post.friday, march 13 , 2020
The coronavirus outbreak
BY TIM CRAIGNEW ROCHELLE, N.Y. — If the
pandemic is anywhere, it is here,
within a one-mile “containment
zone” i n a New York City suburb
that authorities hope will thwart
the coronavirus from spreading
any more than it has.
Despite dire warnings and au-
thorities imploring people to stay
home and not congregate, at the
North End Fitness & Training
Company, l ocated in the middle of
the zone here, personal trainer
Cesar Arellano 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 commu-
nity comfortable, we don’t want
to create a mass panic, and we
want to give people the optics that
life goes on,” s aid Arellano, 36. “I
don’t h ave any worries, as long we
maintain a clean environment.”
Some residents here in New
Rochelle are openly defying gov-
ernment suggestions to limit
their socializing, highlighting the
challenge communities nation-
wide could encounter if they ever
have to establish similar restric-
tions. As schools close, sporting
events are canceled and the
shows in nearby Manhattan will
not go o n, some people here in the
containment zone are still willing
to get out and get together, re-
gardless of the risk.
New Rochelle emerged as an
epicenter of New York’s coronavi-
rus 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. A ndrew M. Cuo-
mo (D) announced the one-mile
containment z one around Young
Israel of New Rochelle, on the
affluent north side of town, on
Tuesday. He urged residents to
consider remaining indoors but
did not order businesses to close
or restrict traffic in and out.
On Thursday, C uomo took even
more dramatic action, banning
gatherings of 500 or more people
everywhere in New York state
while slashing in half the occu-
pancy limits for smaller gather-
ings. Business that do not adhere
will be shut down.
“This is going to get much
worse before it gets better,” Cuo-
mo 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 from the White
House on Thursday, President
Trump also did not rule out the
possibility that travel restrictions
might need to be issued for addi-
tional 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 business at shops and
restaurants here in New Rochelle
has dropped sharply, happy hours
continue at bars inside the con-
tainment zone. There is still the
morning and midday rush at S tar-
bucks. Neighbors still gather at a
local dog park and argue about
politics.
A few dozen National Guard
troops arrived in New Rochelle on
Thursday morning to hand out
boxed lunches to seniors and chil-
dren whose schools have been
closed. But much of the city re-
mained open, suggesting that
even here many residents were
not prepared to spend extended
periods of time away from others.
“They closed the schools toclean the schools, but now you
have all of these students running
around together out here on the
streets that could be contaminat-
ed,” s aid Patricia Cherry, 55.
Cherry, w ho lives on the edge of
the containment zone, drove to a
local strip mall inside of it be-
cause she needed to deliver a
package. She brought her 81-year-old father, Walter Hubbard, ig-
noring advice from health experts
that the elderly are especially
vulnerable to coronavirus.
H ubbard said he considers the
containment zone to be impracti-
cal because he views the coronavi-
rus as not that much different
from 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 ev-
eryday from Brooklyn to New
Rochelle so he can pick up kosher
meals for homeless children.
“I’m doing a good thing, and
you got to live a little,” s aid Finest-
ein, adding that he is dedicated to
his work because he was an or-
phan 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?”
But plenty of other New Ro-
chelle residents continue to ven-
ture out for far more menial mat-
ters.
Chris Paccione, 63, stopped by
for a drink at a 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 im-
mune from coronavirus because
he’s already on antibiotics —
something health experts dis-
pute. “I think that helps me not
get it.”
For many people here, howev-
er, their faith in hand sanitizer
and frequent hand-washing is
what is keeping them so confi-
dent 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 cof-
fee. “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, 2001, terrorist attacks and
Hurricane Sandy.
Despite their attempt to oper-
ate 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 Arellano, as
several school-age children were
taking part in a group fitness
class. “Every day it just seems it’s
getting worse and not getting
better, and unfortunately we are
in the middle of it.”
But Arellano 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,” Arellano said.
“A nd if the community thinks we
are not strong, we worry they will
panic.”
[email protected]Business as usual in the ‘containment zone’
Residents of New Rochelle, N.Y., the epicenter of the state’s coronavirus crisis, largely shrug off entreaties to stay indoors
BY KEVIN WILLIAMSCYNTHIANA, KY. — On a typical
weekday, the restaurants that are
just a quick walk from the white-
columned county courthouse at
the center of town would be
serving a lively lunch crowd.
But the booths are empty this
week, the bar stools vacant. The
culprit is the novel coronavirus —
a single case on Friday, followed
quickly by four more. Almost
overnight, they wiped out busi-
ness here and made Harrison
County an unlikely epicenter for
the outbreak in Kentucky.
“This virus came to town and
scared everyone,” l amented Josh
Jenkins, who owns JJ’s on Main
Street. On Sunday, h e told most of
his 20-person staff to stay home
for lack of customers. He has no
idea when he’ll call them back to
work.
Even more than in urban cen-
ters where the outbreak has hit,
there’s an eerie emptiness to Cyn-
thiana, population 6,300. Several
churches have canceled services
for the foreseeable future.
Schools are shuttered.
What has especially put people
on edge is hearing that the first
case was confirmed in a 27-year-
old woman who works as a cake
decorator at the Walmart Super-
center on the edge of town. She
was initially treated at a nearby
hospital but then airlifted be-
cause of her deteriorating condi-
tion to a hospital in Lexington.
Rumors and fears have swirled,
with some people speculating
that she became infected through
baking supplies shipped from
China. Officials keep trying to
end such talk, stressing that there
is no evidence that the virus can
survive on surfaces for such long
travel periods.
The huge store has remained
open, though on Tuesday the cake
counter and deli were dark, and
workers were scrubbing down
surfaces. Display cases were emp-
ty. Elsewhere, it seemed business
as usual. Customers continued to
shop the aisles.
“You can’t let fear keep you
inside,” Teresa Happ said as she
loaded purchases into her car in
the parking lot, though she ac-
knowledged wiping down her
cart before heading into the store.
According to a Walmart
spokesman, closure decisions are
made on an individual basis. “Ev-
erything was cleared with public
health officials and their guid-
ance,” said the spokesman, who
commented on the condition of
anonymity because of the sensi-
tivity of the matter. “We are going
to do what is best for our custom-
ers, associates and the communi-
ties we serve.”
All around Cynthiana, resi-
dents are adapting to their new
normal. The school system is of-
fering lunches for children, to be
picked up by parents or delivered
to homes if needed. A local Italian
restaurant is providing meals to
people who are quarantined.
(Four of the confirmed cases haveties to one another, with at least
two attending church together.)
Jackie Collins, manager of
Hope’s Helping Hands Food
Bank, said it is no longer giving
away donated bakery goods from
Walmart. Prepackaged cookies
from other suppliers are going in
patrons’ boxes instead, and vol-
unteers are handing those out
curbside instead of letting people
come into the organization’s
storefront location to make their
own selections.
Even so, the food bank’s traffic
is down 50 percent, Collins said.
Lisa Abney and her daughter
stopped by Hope’s this week andgot two boxes and one bag of
nonperishable pantry items. Ab-
ney wasn’t overly concerned by
the outbreak, saying, “You still
have to live your life.”
That’s the message Mayor
James Smith is trying to empha-
size. “A small portion of the com-
munity is on the verge of panic,
and there’s a fairly large segment
of the population concerned, but
they are adapting and pulling
together,” he said.
Smith has received praise for
how he has disseminated infor-
mation about the coronavirus
cases via Facebook and local ra-
dio. The Cynthiana Democrat, aweekly newspaper with a circula-
tion of 5,700, published a four-
page extra that was distributed
free throughout the county on
Sunday and Monday.
The mayor took a walk around
downtown Tuesday and greeted
an economic development official
with a brisk elbow bump. At that
point, Smith intended for upcom-
ing events to stay on track, in-
cluding a St. Patrick’s pub crawl.
By Thursday evening, though, it
had been canceled — and another
coronavirus case was confirmed
in town.
“We are the most disinfected
town in Kentucky,” he said with a
laugh. Indeed, the faint bleachy
scent of sanitizer lingers in many
doorways of downtown stores.
Harrison Memorial Hospital is
busy answering calls and screen-
ing residents who are concerned
they might be infected. The facili-
ty is “cleaning on every surface in
both clinic and public spaces each
day... cleaning everything
downwards to the floor,” spokes-
woman Mollie Smith said.
The 61-bed facility had recently
gone through a practice drill for a
coronavirus patient, CEO Sheila
Currans told the local paper. In
the wake of the real deal, several
staff members were told to self-
quarantine. None has yet shown
any symptoms of infection, ac-
cording to the hospital’s website.
“We had to differentiate be-
tween who had close proximity
exposure to the patient and who
had a less close proximity to thepatient,” Currans explained to the
paper. “We had to determine the
hallways the patient was in, the
elevators that the patient used...
every step along the way that the
patient followed.”
Across the state, 11 coronavirus
cases have been confirmed, and
Gov. Andy Beshear (D) has urged
residents to avoid large-group
settings. He specifically recom-
mended that churches suspend
their services.
“I don’t believe whether you go
to church during this period of
time is a test of faith,” Beshear
said Wednesday. “I believe God
gives us wisdom to protect each
other, and we should do that.”
Harrison County officials are
bracing for the outbreak to wid-
en. “I am concerned we will have
more cases,” said Alex Barnett,
Harrison County judge-executive.
Barnett took his family out to
lunch after church on Sunday, b ut
they found themselves the only
customers in JJ’s.
Ye t the coronavirus outbreak
hasn’t hurt everyone’s business.
Te n miles outside Cynthiana,
among the rolling hills of central
Kentucky, a Mennonite-owned
market h as been doing brisk busi-
ness in recent days. Allen Yoder
said most of his customers were
talking about the coronavirus
and speculated that the closure of
Walmart’s deli was helping his.
“Our businesses has been
booming,” he said. “Especially at
the deli counter.”
[email protected]A small town in Kentucky shudders after a local case is confirmed
Christian hauser/WKrC
Meal receipts are down by two-thirds at Biancke’s, a mainstay in
Cynthiana, Ky. A handful of coronavirus cases have been confirmed
in Harrison County, where there’s an eerie emptiness in town.John taggart/for the Washington Post
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced drastic measures to contain the virus’s spread, including essentially walling off an area around a synagogue l inked to several cases.Schools are closed in New Rochelle, but much of the city remains open — including g yms. “I don’t have
any worries,” said personal trainer C esar Arellano, “as long we maintain a clean environment.”UPLOADED BY "What's News" vk.com/wsnws TELEGRAM: t.me/whatsnws