Brooklyn Coronavirus Update and Open Thread: Rent, Unemployment, Dead Bodies (4/30/20)

We’re in the seventh week of sheltering in place and the 28th day of home schooling for New York City schools.

About 30 million people so far have filed for unemployment, about 10 percent of the total U.S. population, or about 20 percent of the U.S. labor force. Despite the staggering numbers, the reality is likely even worse, with a total of about 60 million out of work, or double the official numbers, according to an Economic Policy Institute study quoted in The New York Times. The percentage of unemployed may be even higher in Brooklyn, where a significant portion of the local economy consists of businesses among the hardest hit, including restaurants and local stores.

When rents were due April 1, about one-third of renters didn’t pay. Two large NYC commercial landlords said they collected about 73 percent of office rents and 46 percent of store rents this month, The Wall Street Journal reported. U.S. Congress members have introduced a bill to cancel rents and mortgages as long as the crisis lasts. Missed payments are expected to increase May 1, despite attempts at relief, and experts speculate that, longterm, rents could fall along with earnings and homelessness could increase.

By now, you’re probably seen the reports that a malfunctioning freezer caused a pileup of bodies in unrefrigerated U-Haul trucks at a Flatlands funeral home, causing horror and anguish among neighbors and families of the deceased.

What are your thoughts, and how are you weathering the shutdown? What do you think should be done in Brooklyn to combat the spread of the virus and blunt the damage to local businesses and jobs? Please feel free to comment in a respectful manner (please, no personal attacks, nothing libelous). If you are not already logged in, go up to the top right hand side of the page and log in to be able to comment.