COVID-19 cases continue to rise in parts of Brooklyn.
According to PIX 11, the infection rate in Gravesend/Homecrest is 9.92 percent.
Councilmember Mark Treyger, who represents Gravesend, said on Facebook that additional testing sites are necessary.
“We had set up a mobile site near McDonald Playground on Avenue S and McDonald Avenue, and city administration informed me that when the temperature drops below 50 degrees it is unsafe for them to conduct outdoor testing,” Treyger said. “While I understand, what I said to them is we need to expand our test capacity immediately. We gave them additional locations in the Gravesend community nearby.”
NYC Health + Hospitals/Gotham Health, Ida G Israel offers a free testing site, which has short wait times, according to Treyger, who said local residents should continue to follow basic safety rules.
“As I walk around the district I still notice some folks not always wearing their masks or adhering to social distancing rules,” he said. “It’s important that we take this seriously.”
Treyger also disagreed with Mayor Bill de Blasio, who recently said that the situation regarding hospital capacity isn’t as dire as it was in the spring.
“We still have folks suffering from heart attacks, strokes, people who fall in their homes,” said Treyger. “If hospitals have an increased intake in cases of COVID-19, it becomes an issue of both staff and space. You have to separate out COVID-19 patients from non-COVID patients. You can’t have the virus spreading through the hospital.”
Hospital staffing is also an issue, according to Treyger, who said staff members who contract the virus must stay out of work for a minimum of 14 days.
“We need to be mindful that hospitals and first responders are at the front line,” he said. “It is not enough to encourage New Yorkers to clap for them. If we respect our emergency first responders, then we need to follow basic rules.”
Treyger also requested that outreach information be provided in multiple languages.
“Not everyone follows the mayor’s press conferences and not everyone follows Facebook or Twitter,” he said. “We need to make sure we are communicating with all our news outlets.”