City College Dorms Should House Coronavirus Patients: Lawmaker

HARLEM, NY — Vacant dorms at the City College of New York's Harlem campus should be repurposed to house New Yorkers stricken by coronavirus who are unable to socially isolate at home, a local Upper Manhattan lawmaker said.

City Councilmember Ydanis Rodriguez specifically named City College — which happens to be the lawmaker's alma mater — in a list of "temporary relocation sites" that he asked Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo to consider this week.

The relocation sites, he said, would particularly help New Yorkers from lower-income neighborhoods who live in crowded apartments and therefore cannot stay at home with coronavirus without the risk of infecting their families. Rodriguez's district in the City Council includes the neighborhoods of Inwood, Marble Hill and Washington heights.

In addition to suggesting City College, Rodriguez also suggested sites within his district such Washington Heights' Armory Track and United Palace Theater. Rodriguez also suggested other dorms at schools such as Columbia University in Morningside Heights.

"Right now to do a self quarantine is a privilege and we want to turn it to a right," Rodriguez said in an online video about the proposal Tuesday.

The call comes after coronavirus case data broken down by zip code released by the city last week revealed that the lower-income parts of New York City seemed to be the hardest hit by the virus.
19 of the 20 lowest concentrations of coronavirus cases hail from affluent zip codes, the New York Times reported.

Rodriguez particularly pointed to "underserved and immigrant communities" in Northern Manhattan, the South Bronx and neighborhoods in Western Queens, which have become hotspots for the coronavirus. One Washington Heights zip code with 308 cases had the highest case count of any zip code in Manhattan.

"These are New Yorkers, that even though are among the most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus pandemic due to the disadvantages created by poor and hard living conditions, often times work as essential workers or cannot otherwise afford to work from home," Rodriguez said.

Patch editor Anna Quinn contributed to this report.