I don’t know exactly which day should count as the starting line for Covid in New York. The first case was reported on March 1. The final shutdown was signed on March 20 and took effect March 22. The gravity of the pandemic hit me on the evening of Wednesday, March 11: President Trump declared a travel ban, Tom Hanks tested positive for the virus and the NBA canceled its season.
“They’re going to shut down everything,” I said to myself. “It’s just a question of when.”
So, I went to the grocery store and bought about two-weeks worth of food. I remember there were about four other middle-aged guys in the aisles doing exactly the same thing, communicating through glances that all of our “oh shit” meters had been triggered.
Both of my daughters started remote learning, but my work as a journalist got much busier. New York was one of the first epicenters of the pandemic, and then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo centralized the response efforts out of the state Capitol.
That meant successfully pushing for a bill which granted the governor unprecedented power, then overriding local officials – including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio when he hoped to shut down the five boroughs. I spent most of the summer of 2020 working with a team of reporters on an exhaustive article about Cuomo’s pandemic management and its effects. (Here’s a free link; it’s worth a read as the former governor seeks a political comeback.)
I also was a some-time attendee at his daily briefings, which won him a national audience, an Emmy, and pushed his poll standing into the stratosphere. “This is the high form of competence for an administration,” he told me one day during an interview in his office. “This is the epitome of government leadership—the right tone, the right mobilization, the right experience.”
After a long day at work I would go home, which my spouse and children rarely left. The pandemic impacted all of us in ways I still don’t fully understand. We lost people we loved and suffered countless sleepless nights.
One thing that brought me solace was this video by cellist Yo-Yo Ma of “Going Home,” which is adapted from Dvořák’s New World Symphony. Ma plays alone, simultaneously striking the melody on one string and a harmonizing base note on another. The effect is elegant in its simplicity and rich in its timbre.
I’m always moved by this piece, which is often used in funeral processions. I would close my eyes and listen for a few minutes to clear my head before starting to write, or when I just needed a break.
Beyond the music, I was struck by the way that one of the world’s greatest musicians was sharing his talent and his art with the world for free. (This is a pattern for Ma.) In a trying time, his instinct wasn’t for self-preservation or personal advancement – it was to give.
“In these days of anxiety, I wanted to find a way to continue to share some of the music that gives me comfort,” Ma wrote as an inscription to the piece.
These early weeks of March, I’m tuning in again.
LAST WEEK AT THE CAPITOL: The three-week prison strike was declared over late Monday after more than 10,000 corrections officers – or about 75% of the normal workforce – returned to their posts. Hochul fired 2,000 officers who refused the state’s entreaties to go back.
“It is time to turn the page,” Dan Martuscello, the state’s top prison official, said Monday evening. “We'll start with a high-energy recruitment campaign moving forward with a clear focus on stabilizing and resuming operations while ensuring safety and security in our facilities.”
The state is still relying on National Guard personnel to make the prisons function. And we’ll see how successful they are at recruiting more officers given the complaints of current employees and the political climate at the Capitol – where more prisons are being proposed for closure.
We’re also about two weeks from the state budget deadline, and negotiations between Gov. Kathy Hochul and legislative leaders in the state Senate and Assembly are starting in earnest. Each legislative house passed its formal budget resolution, a statement of priorities that then get hashed out (mostly in private) with the governor
Some of Hochul’s marquee proposals are in trouble, including a $3 billion plan to send voters rebate checks and a “bell to bell” ban on students using cell phones in school.
Members of the state Senate say the checks should only go to senior citizens, and they put forward other ideas for spending that money. They also think school districts should be able to craft their own cell phone policies for non-instruction time, including lunch and recess.
LISTEN: I joined Mary Harris on Slate’s “What Next” podcast to talk about Cuomo’s run for mayor. Listen below.
THE QUESTION: What’s one thing that you think has changed for the better in the wake of the pandemic? And what’s one thing which went away that you wish was still here?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THE LAST ANSWER: George Washington was the first U.S. president to impose tariffs.