Wall Street Journal 08_04_2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Wednesday, April 8, 2020 |A12A

FROM TOP: KENA BETANCUR/GETTY IMAGES; EDUARDO MUNOZ/REUTERS

chicken with potatoes and car-

rots, but they come with all

the items needed for the tra-

ditional centerpiece known as

the Seder plate, including a

shank bone.

Citymeals on Wheels, the

nonprofit organization that

has been delivering free food

to homebound senior citizens

in the metropolitan region for

nearly 40 years, also is help-

gins Wednesday night.

Most notably, the nonprofit

UJA-Federation of New York is

providing holiday packages to

more than 4,000 needy Jewish

households, working with a

network of 75 other nonprofit

organizations.

“For people who are iso-

lated, these meals are to say,

‘You are not alone,’ ” said Eric

Goldstein, chief executive of

the UJA-Federation of New

York.

Mr. Goldstein noted that in

the past the UJA typically has

provided Passover food to

pantries for distribution, but

the pandemic prompted it to

think in bigger terms and to

deliver the provisions directly

to people’s homes.

He said the holiday pack-

ages not only include a full

feast, replete with matzo-ball

soup, stuffed cabbage and

ing during the holiday.

In addition to its regular

daily service, Citymeals has

long offered Passover provi-

sions to Jewish seniors. This

year, however, it has upped its

efforts considerably because

of the pandemic, adding 6,

individuals to its holiday list

for a total of 10,000.

The Citymeals Passover

package includes food for all

eight days of the holiday.

“It’s a challenge from be-

ginning to end,” said Cit-

ymeals Executive Director

Beth Shapiro of the logistics

of procuring and packaging

the additional food and mak-

ing deliveries.

It also is a financial chal-

lenge.

The additional Passover

packages considerably in-

creased the organization’s

costs, bringing the holiday to-

tal to more than $500,000.

Mr. Goldstein of the UJA

said his organization’s Pass-

over meal-delivery efforts to-

taled $250,000.

The organizations said they

have funds they can tap for

such situations, but it would

nevertheless make their future

fundraising all the more criti-

cal.

Meanwhile, recipients are

grateful for the food and the

message of support it sends.

Jay Rosenfeld, a resident of

Lawrence, N.Y., in Long Island,

was among those to receive a

package through the UJA.

Mr. Rosenfeld, a carpet

cleaner, said the pandemic

forced the shutdown of his

business, so paying for holi-

day food was a concern for

him and his wife, Ditza.

Now, he said, “I have every-

thing I need.”

By its very nature, the Jew-
ish holiday of Passover is a
communal occasion, one cen-
tered around a ceremony and
meal known as the Seder.
But for many Jews in the
New York City metropolitan
area, the novel coronavirus
pandemic hasn’t only deprived
them of the ability to cele-
brate in person with others, it
also has made it challenging
to prepare a proper holiday
spread.
Some are hesitant to go
outside and shop. Some are
also facing financial pressures.
A number of charitable
Jewish institutions have
stepped in to help, providing
deliveries of free kosher-for-
Passover food to thousands of
Jews in the region before the
eight-day holiday, which be-

BYCHARLESPASSY

Groups Bolster Passover-Meal Deliveries Amid Pandemic

also recorded the highest sin-

gle-day increase since the cri-

sis began, after 232 people

died on Monday.

A total of 1,232 people have

died from the disease in New

Jersey.

While the overall case

count is still rising, the daily

growth rate has been slowing

in recent days, said New Jer-

sey Gov. Phil Murphy. That

means infections in the state

may be leveling off.

“We cannot be happy with

only reaching a plateau. We

need to keep strong, and keep

determined to see that curve

beginning to fall and ulti-

mately get to zero,” Mr. Mur-

phy said. “That’s going to re-

quire many more weeks, at the

least, of us being smart and

staying away at least at all

times 6 feet apart.”

Mr. Cuomo said that a

shortage of ventilators and

hospital beds isn’t a major

fear at this time, but he is

concerned about a shortage of

medical staff, as doctors and

nurses fall ill or burn out. New

York’s hospitals have hired

about 7,000 new staff, bring-

ing people out of retirement

or in from other states.

Both Messrs. Cuomo and de

Blasio appeared ready to start

turning their attention from the

acute health-care crisis to the

more long-term challenge of re-

starting New York’s economy.

Mr. de Blasio said he fears

the next crisis will be New

York City residents who are

out of work and are running

out of money for food, medi-

cine and housing.

“Even though there is fed-

eral help coming, it’s not that

much and it’s going to take too

long for many people,” the

Democratic mayor said.

Mr. Cuomo began to sketch

the process by which New

Yorkers may begin to return to

work, saying it would depend

first on a massive ramp-up in

testing capacity to see who al-

ready has had the virus and

developed immunity.

Mr. Murphy said he has

been in initial talks with the

governors of New York, Con-

necticut and Pennsylvania to

map out a regional approach

to reopening schools and busi-

nesses, as they coordinate re-

sources in case the coronavi-

rus bounces back.

Still, both leaders cautioned

that for now any progress in

containing the virus is fragile

and depends on residents re-

maining indoors and isolated

from others.

In New Jersey, Mr. Murphy

ordered the closure of all state

and county parks on Tuesday.

“To the extent that we see a

flattening or a possible pla-

teau, that’s because of what

we’re doing and we have to

keep doing it,” Mr. Cuomo

said.

—Joseph De Avila

contributed to this article.

N.Y. Has Largest Single-Day Death Toll

GREATER NEW YORK

A record number of people
in New York died of Covid-
on Monday, but officials said
they are cautiously optimistic
that the number of new cases
in the nation’s hardest-hit
state is plateauing.
The state recorded 731
deaths related to the novel
coronavirus, the most in a sin-
gle day since the outbreak be-
gan last month, Gov. Andrew
Cuomo said at a news confer-
ence on Tuesday morning.
That brings the state’s
death total to nearly 5,500,
roughly five times the next
most-affected state, New Jer-
sey.
“The pain is increasing. The
grief is increasing,” Mr. Cuomo
said.
Still, the governor said the
death count is a lagging indi-
cator that reflects people who
were hospitalized at the
height of the virus’s spread in
New York.
He pointed to some signs
that the situation is stabilizing
at a level that won’t com-
pletely overwhelm hospital or
ventilator capacity, as many
had feared.
The number of new hospi-
talizations in the state nearly
doubled to more than 650 on
Monday from a day earlier.
But the three-day hospitaliza-
tion rate—a less volatile num-
ber—fell more than 20%.
Daily intensive-care admis-
sions also dropped by about
30%, to 89 on Monday.
The total number of con-
firmed cases in New York is
close to 140,000. The state ac-
counts for more than a third
of all cases in the U.S.
New York City Mayor Bill
de Blasio said that for the first
time in two weeks, on Monday,
New York City’s public hospi-
tals, which have been over-
whelmed with cases for days,
didn’t see an increase in the
number of patients on ventila-
tors.
“I can say in the last couple
of days something is starting
to change. It is meaningful
now,” the mayor said at a
news conference Tuesday.
The number of Covid-19-
linked deaths in New Jersey

BYLAURAKUSISTO

The number of new

cases in the state,

however, is leveling

off, officials say

A patient in Queens was prepped for transport to a hospital on Tuesday. Below, military personnel arrived at Manhattan’s Jacob K. Javits Convention Center to help with the crisis.

tation undertaken by state and

municipal agencies, school dis-

tricts and public authorities.

The new statute broadens

the definition of a public proj-

ect to include private develop-

ments for which tax credits or

grants account for more than

30% of the cost of construc-

tion. Any development with

construction costs of less than

$5 million is exempt.

The law also carves out

many renewable-energy and af-

fordable-housing projects, as

well as projects that receive his-

toric-preservation tax credits.

A spokesman for Gov. An-

drew Cuomo’s budget division

didn’t have an estimate on

how many additional projects

would be covered by the new

definition.

The requirements don’t

take effect until Jan. 1, 2022,

and a new public-subsidy

board can tweak what will be

covered and the schedule on

which the law would move

forward.

Michael Kracker, executive

director of Unshackle Upstate,

a coalition of business groups,

said he believed the effects

would be felt immediately be-

cause projects take several

years to move forward.

“We’re going to need an un-

precedented level of economic

activity to dig out from the

coronavirus, and what we’ve

done is put a wet blanket on

it,” Mr. Kracker said.

The Real Estate Board of

New York, which represents

major developers in New York

City, said the new law is “a

mistake” that could double the

cost of a plumber and would

lead to less construction work.

Associated General Con-

tractors of New York State

President Michael Elmendorf

said the provision was “an un-

conscionable policy when the

economy is taking like an

hourly gut punch.”

Michael Cinquanti, director

of policy and planning for the

North Atlantic States Regional

Council of Carpenters, which

covers New York workers, said

the policy only would result in

marginally higher costs, add-

ing that increased worker

wages would be spread

throughout the community.

“Now more than ever, we

need to ensure that busi-

nesses receiving significant

public assistance are creating

good-paying jobs. Far too of-

ten the construction industry

gets ignored in that,” he said.

Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, in-

cluded the expanded-wage re-

quirements when he proposed

his budget legislation in Janu-

ary. A bill to address the issue

failed in the final days of the

2019 legislative session, after

its scope was narrowed.

Freeman Klopott, a spokes-

man for Mr. Cuomo’s budget

division, noted the new law

could be delayed if the public-

subsidy board determined it

would hurt the economy.

He said the law “will pro-

vide our tradespeople and

construction workers with

higher wages on these proj-

ects when the time is right.”

Republican legislators

voted against the budget bill

that included the wage expan-

sion. They said the budget,

adopted as the coronavirus

spread around the state,

should have focused only on

fiscal matters.

State Sen. George Borrello,

a Republican from upstate

Chautauqua County, said

small-business owners would

“find higher costs and more

regulations to support a polit-

ically driven agenda” as a re-

sult of the budget.

State Sen. Jessica Ramos, a

Democrat from Queens, last

year sponsored legislation

that would have required a

prevailing wage for projects

receiving any amount of pub-

lic subsidy. She said in an in-

terview she would have liked

to see the law go further.

“Though not ideal, it defi-

nitely is a step in the right di-

rection, and I believe the door

remains open to expanding

prevailing wage as we’re

readier,” Ms. Ramos said.

A newly approved New York
mandate to pay higher wages
on a broader range of govern-
ment-backed construction
projects will hurt companies
as they attempt to recover
from the novel coronavirus,
business groups said.
The requirement was in-
cluded in the more than $
billion budget enacted last
week by state lawmakers. It
caps a yearslong effort by
building trade unions to ex-
pand the definition of public
projects that require a higher
prevailing-wage rate, which the
state calculates based on col-
lective-bargaining agreements.
The New York state consti-
tution requires a prevailing
wage for public works but
doesn’t define either term.
Generally, public works in-
clude construction or rehabili-

BYJIMMYVIELKIND

Wage Law Will Hinder Construction, Developers Say

The new law would

‘put a wet blanket’

on efforts to recover

from the shutdown.

The UJA-Federation of New York is among the groups offering free

Passover meals to the homebound. A shipment is loaded on a truck.

UJA/FOREMOST CATERERS

NY