I feel the need to explain why NYC residents didn’t stand a chance against #COVID2019 without proper warning. building I grew up (thread)

Remember these are old buildings. That no one cares about. Except us. The landlord may or may not clean or disinfect common areas. You may never even know what your landlord looks like. They don’t live in the building like you do.

When you live in a building, you share an entrance - the same entrance- with hundreds of other people. You all touch the same doors. Some neighbors you know, some you don’t, some you just hear arguing...

You all share the same elevator. This isn’t a movie about NYC where there are multiple elevators w/ nice doormen. There is ONE, it’s SMALL. If it’s broken- you are walking up flights of stairs w groceries. There is NO ventilation in the elevator OR stairwells. Yep.

So unless you are doing this —you are all also touching the same buttons on the elevator with zero protection if you can’t find gloves.

You all share the same place to pick up your mail..on the first floor. Where hundreds of people have walked in/out. When a postal worker comes, they use a key to open the mailboxes at the same time to do his/her job. Even if you wanted to avoid people..you couldn’t. Impossible.

Each floor has ONE garbage chute that you all must share to discard trash. Sometimes it’s in a little room on the floor. You are touching the same chute dozens of others have. And you are breathing in that stale air just to get rid of your garbage.

You share the same air with your neighbors. It’s impossible not to. You smell everything: what they are cooking, if they have 16 cats (Yep). If they have roaches- so do you. Pay an exterminator? Sure. A month later the roaches return bc your neighbors still had them.

Laundry? In the basement. And it’s not the nice basement they had in the Big Bang Theory where Penny & Sheldon traded insults. It’s dark. There’s only two washers & dryers...For hundreds of people. Otherwise you are walking to the laundromat- if they are open. And that costs $

This is a way of life for a lot of people. We aren’t bad people. We aren’t dirty. Once you grow up here, it is hard as hell to afford to get out. So to those that say “just move” ...understand that we literally can’t. Understand that this might look cheap- but it’s not cheap.

And that we HAVE to work in order to eat and, yes, live where we live. We don’t have the luxury of working from home like you. We don’t have multiple computers at home to work from. We can’t afford childcare. We have to walk or take the subway. We don’t have cars.

If you get sick...going to the doctor is hell. You are waiting HOURS to see your doctor. And it’s worse going to a pediatrician. It’ll be even longer. In a small cramped space. With children.

This isn’t a sob story, just understand why it’s harder to protect ourselves not only from each other but from a silent, invisible enemy making us sick and killing us.

Do not underestimate this virus. And don’t think for a second it’s not coming your way. It’s already there.

Stay safe and remember NY will have your back when and if you ever need us.

Until then, see you on the other side.