On Day 100, Mayor Adams Has Covid-19

Good morning. It’s Monday. Right now we’ll have a look at Mayor Eric Adams’s case of Covid-19. He examined constructive for the coronavirus simply after assembly New Yorkers at a number of occasions marking 100 days in workplace, and is being handled with antiviral drugs. And we’ll clarify who’s eligible for the medication and how one can get it. It’s simpler than you suppose — we tried it.

“New York is again, child.” So’s Covid.

Adams has been centered on reopening the town after the Omicron surge over the winter — so centered, he defined to my colleague Emma G. Fitzsimmons, that he couldn’t obsess concerning the optics of going to gala occasions as metropolis employees dismantle the encampments of homeless individuals, or fret about his personal publicity to the virus.

“I received to feed my nightlife to get vacationers again right here — a multibillion-dollar business,” he stated.

As for the virus, he stated on Wednesday, he had managed to keep away from coming down with it even whereas being “round individuals on a regular basis — even within the coronary heart of Covid,” he stated, including, “I feel it’s a mixture of my consuming life-style, and a few luck possibly concerned however no, I by no means had it.”

That luck, although, ran out over the weekend, when a raspy throat prompted a take a look at that turned up constructive. It’s onerous to pinpoint how anybody will get contaminated; Adams attended the Gridiron Membership dinner in Washington final weekend, after which dozens of attendees examined constructive.

Adams, although, rapidly took the chance to unfold the phrase concerning the antiviral drugs. They’re now obtainable for gratis to New Yorkers who qualify by being older than 65 or by having one in all a protracted listing of eligible threat elements.

The mayor qualifies for antiviral medicines, and it’s possible you’ll too

Metropolis Corridor instantly introduced that the mayor is taking an antiviral medicine; his docs deemed him eligible and really helpful the remedy, which reduces the probabilities of hospitalization. A number of drugs have been accredited and located to cut back the probabilities of a light to average an infection progressing to a critical one.

(Metropolis Corridor didn’t instantly present particulars on which medicine Adams was taking or what made him eligible. The mayor has a historical past of diabetes, one of many qualifying circumstances. )

The way it’s going in any other case

The jury is out on the mayor’s dealing with of the virus. Each the town and state have rolled again some virus and masks mandates, although Adams postponed the lifting of a preschool masks mandate due to the current rise in coronavirus circumstances.

However as Fitzsimmons and our colleagues Jeffrey C. Mays and Dana Rubinstein report, on the political scorecard he’s most definitely to be judged on the difficulty he ran on: public security and legal justice. Will increase in some forms of crime through the pandemic are a nationwide phenomenon that he could not have the ability to management.

On Wednesday, the town’s police commissioner introduced new crime figures that confirmed a 36 p.c improve in main crimes and a 16 p.c rise in shootings over the previous yr, at the same time as homicides fell.

“I don’t get the grade that I deserve till we begin seeing crime transfer in the fitting course,” Mr. Adams instructed Fitzsimmons within the interview at Metropolis Corridor.

Climate

Take pleasure in a largely sunny day, New York, with temps within the 50s and an opportunity of showers late at evening when temps drop to round 50.

alternate-side parking

In impact till Thursday (Holy Thursday).

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There’s now a approach to deal with Covid-19 with antiviral drugs that some New Yorkers can get without spending a dime. They received’t treatment you, but when taken through the first 4 to 5 days of signs, they’ll improve your probabilities of staying out of the hospital.

In my expertise, neither my pals and neighbors nor our personal docs are totally knowledgeable. When the mayor talked about taking antivirals, I questioned why I hadn’t considered this final week.

That’s when, as you could have learn on this area, the virus began spreading by means of my family. A receptionist at our physician’s workplace supplied little recommendation and didn’t point out the potential for medicine, saying solely to comply with isolation instructions on the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention web site.

Nicely, prompted by the mayor, I checked it out. It seems that many individuals are eligible for remedy, together with me. It took simply 20 minutes on a smartphone (on Sunday afternoon) to get a prescription, scheduled for supply immediately.

The town well being division’s web site reveals that the 2 antiviral medicine accredited in December, Paxlovid and molnupiravir, can be found to New Yorkers over 65, and to others 12 and older deemed high-risk based on this listing.

The drugs, it says, are free from Alto Pharmacy — and so they ship.

Too good to be true? I requested my colleagues Sharon Otterman and Joseph Goldstein, who cowl Covid. They stated it IS true, however there’s numerous confusion — as Catherine Rampell, a Washington Submit columnist, found out. After her physician incorrectly instructed her she wasn’t eligible, she received the drugs by means of the town’s hotline.

She helpfully posted the quantity: 212-COVID19.

So I known as it. I pressed 9 for remedy. Twenty minutes of could-be-worse maintain music later, a pleasant girl answered. She regarded me up — I’m within the metropolis system already, since I exploit it without spending a dime assessments — and texted me a hyperlink. After I clicked, it linked us by video name. She smiled and waved.

Then she linked me by video with a physician, who went over my eligibility, in addition to negative effects and drug interactions. She additionally managed my expectations: The drugs aren’t confirmed to stave off “lengthy Covid.” Qualifying was by honor system: I listed eligible circumstances however didn’t have to offer proof. She despatched the prescription, and a textual content popped up from Alto confirming it.

A pair hours later, Alto texted once more to schedule supply. Right here’s the one caveat: As with different supply apps, take “same-day” with a grain of salt. They’ll be right here Monday afternoon.

What we’re studying

Pricey Diary:

My husband and I received married on the Metropolis Clerk’s workplace in February. Our appointment was at 9:15 a.m. on a Friday. We have been solely allowed to have one witness on the ceremony, so my sister-in-law joined us whereas different members of the family waited outdoors within the automotive.

Afterward, we walked to Jack’s Spouse Freda for a celebratory brunch. As we sat down and waited to order, “Chapel of Love” by the Dixie Cups started to play loudly over the restaurant’s sound system.

Our waiter got here out with cava for the desk, with different members of the employees following behind, clapping to the beat and smiling.

The remainder of the patrons joined within the merriment. Nobody complained that their quiet weekday breakfast was being interrupted by the celebration.

My eyes full of tears.

— Sarah Henry

Illustrated by Agnes Lee. Ship submissions right here and learn extra Metropolitan Diary right here.

Glad we might get collectively right here. James Barron might be again tomorrow. — A.B.

P.S. Right here’s immediately’s Mini Crossword and Spelling Bee. You could find all our puzzles right here.