December 22, 2020
They say it’s 2020 but we can think of a lot of other things to call this year. Here at the Gazette it began with a shooting under the el, an impeachment, and a machete attack slash hate crime, but before the month of January was out the story that would dominate the rest of the year had appeared: a novel coronavirus outbreak. Little did we know then that what was to follow would be unlike anything we’d ever seen before.
According to NYC Department of Health on January 26:
“Recently, a novel (new) coronavirus was detected in hundreds of people worldwide. A “novel coronavirus” is a strain that has not been previously found in humans. This novel coronavirus can lead to fever, cough and shortness of breath.
“Most people who were first diagnosed with this infection reported exposure to a large seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, China. Recently, people with this infection did not report contact with this market. This means that person-to-person spread is occurring. No people have been diagnosed with this novel coronavirus in New York State…“
By February, Trump was playing down the pandemic even as he told Woodward it was very deadly.
On March 11 Trump addressed the nation to announce that WHO had declared a global pandemic and that everything was under control. Two days later he declared a National Emergency. By mid-March the City was shutting down and by the last week everything was going to hell.
By April things were really bad here but New Yorkers stepped up to meet the challenge. From Cuomo on down to the corner fruit guy, Najibullah, all were our Heroes of the Pandemic. The nightly window clang to honor our brave medical personnel became a welcome bit of positivity amid all of the death and sorrow. Our friend David died. Mass graves were dug on Hart Island. Delivery people, Letter Carriers, and retail cashiers were also recognized for their hard work.
After that brutal month, May brought us a little bit of relief. Cuomo declared that the beast was on the run but not yet killed. Declining stats here coincided with rising ones elsewhere, a pattern that would continue all year long as the wave of rising cases, hospitalization, and deaths shook America one region after another. The murder of George Floyd on the 25th set off a Summer of protests, calls to defund the police, and a long overdue reckoning regarding systemic racism and White privilege.
In June we saw the City slowly coming out of hibernation. Outdoor dining and continuing BLM mobilizations brought New Yorkers out in numbers like we hadn’t seen for months. There was a curfew following some violent incidents downtown. People were still on edge but the worst of COVID-19 seemed to have passed.
July 12: For the first day since March 11 NYC recorded 0 COVID-19 deaths.
By August pandemic unemployment fleft many tenants months behind on rent and clamoring for relief. Mobilizations to cancel rent took place throughout the City, in midtown and up here too.
September‘s grim milestones included 200,000 COVID-19 deaths in the United States and a million worldwide. The first hundred thousand American deaths were crossed back in May. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away.
In October the Denier In Chief announced he’d contracted COVID-19 and gave the media a couple of hours to assemble at the White House to witness him being medevac’d to Walter Reed. This was in contrast to a previously unannounced trip there last year, reportedly to conduct part of his annual physical. This time however, Trump dropped a couple of videos purportedly showing him hard at work while hospitalized, took a spin around the block to wave to supporters, and following his nearly miraculous recovery, arose on the third day and ascended a White House staircase where he triumphantly whipped off the surgical mask he’d briefly donned. Message: It’s no big deal. Just like he’d always told us. Remarkable.
By November the sheer horror of the first wave of the virus had begun to dissipate ever so slightly here – people were rolling with the new normal: frequent hand washing/social distancing/face coverings were unremarkable although everything from shops to work to doctor appointments had been transformed by the pandemic. Many months after Trump told the nation that anybody who needs a test can get a test, the wait for one could still be hours long. Despite dire warnings from the CDC not to travel for Thanksgiving, millions did just that. Some waited for a test that might or might not confirm their COVID-19 status before heading off to join family.
In the other big story of 2020, Biden beat Trump making him a one term, impeached loser.
December: Vaccines! Appropriately, given Trump’s background as a TV performer, the season finale just had to be a COVID-19 surprise. Although it was expected that progress would be made on this front, predictions had been modest and the consensus was that something somewhat effective might come along by mid 2021 or so. Expectations were so well managed that when Pfizer announced that theirs was red to go and 90 something percent effective, it was astonishing news. Others soon followed and as we write, inoculations are rolling out worldwide. Biden got one today, in fact.
Trump continues to contest the election’s final score, but for the most part, the fans have left the arena and the parking lot is empty. His Attorney General shot down one of his main objections, a big shot Evangelical preacher basically called him crazy, and the Supreme Court told him to talk to the hand. To hear his Cult tell it, there’s still hope of overturning the Will of the People, declaring martial law, and installing him for another term (or longer!) but even McConnell has indicated that enough is enough.
There’s still a few weeks left for some shit to really hit the fan, and with the latest Russian hack of our government agencies it’s certainly possible, but we’re kind of looking forward to 2021 and Sleepy Joe‘s dull and boring presidency because we’re exhausted. So on behalf of the Gazette we wish all of you Happy Holidays and hope you’ll stick around next year because we’ve got a feeling 21 is gonna be a good year…especially if we see it in together.