Elevator Complaints and Holiday Viruses

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Janae Pierre: "Going up." Elevator complaints are on the rise, especially in the Bronx. Plus, gifts aren't the only things exchanged at family gatherings this time of year. It's also respiratory virus season. From WNYC, this is NYC Now. I'm Janae Pierre.

Mayor Eric Adams and Governor Kathy Hochul are breaking ground on a new Health Sciences campus in Manhattan. The Science Park and Research Campus in Kips Bay will cover an entire city block. It includes classrooms, lab space, and a new high school. The $1.6-billion project is being funded by the city and the state. It will eventually house the Hunter College School of Nursing and CUNY's Graduate School of Health and Health Policy. Adams says the idea is to pair students and researchers in one setting.

Mayor Eric Adams: Once complete, this is where we will invent new vaccines, cure chronic diseases, and unlock the knowledge that will help millions of people live longer and healthier lives.

Janae: Governor Hochul praised Adams' tenure as he enters his final week in office. She says the project, known as "SPARC," is one example of their work together.

Now, a real-world Home Alone story. Authorities say a 12-year-old on Long Island outsmarted a suspected burglar just days before Christmas. Police say the child heard glass breaking inside his family's home, Tuesday afternoon on Eagle Avenue in Medford. They say he jumped out of a bedroom window, hid in the backyard, and called 911. Officers arrived within minutes and arrested a 53-year-old man, they say broke a kitchen window and was inside the house. The child was not hurt. The suspect is being charged with burglary and possession of burglar's tools.

It's Christmas Eve, and last-minute shoppers are fanning out across the city for gifts. WNYC's Ryan Kailath reports, one stalwart shopping neighborhood has a little extra attention this year.

Ryan Kailath: Ty Lujan's in town from Boston. Worcester, actually, and she wants to get her dad a Rolex, so, naturally-

Ty Lujan: Oh, that's cool.

Watch Seller: You got the best, highest quality over here. Check them out.

Ryan: -she went to Canal Street. This is your first shopping experience here?

TY: Yes, because I saw it on TikTok, and I just happened to be on the train. One of the stops was Canal, and I was like, Oh, Canal? The Canal?" So I came up and literally, as soon as you come up the subway, purses, watches, everything.

Ryan: Multiple shoppers described learning about Canal Street on TikTok, where people post "how-tos" and haul videos showing off everything they got and for how much. Lujan couldn't settle on a watch her dad would like, but she did find a cute, blue women's Rolex for herself at 70 bucks.

[Spanish language]

Ryan: Vendors were reluctant to give their names, but the five I spoke to all describe business as worse this season than in previous years. Recent immigration crackdowns, they said, have made everyone jumpier than usual.

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Janae: Elevator complaints have steadily increased since 2021, especially in the Bronx. More on that after the break.

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Janae: For many people, a busted elevator can be an annoyance, but for New Yorkers with disabilities, it can be more like a sentence to house arrest. A WNYC analysis finds complaints to 311 about broken or malfunctioning elevators keep going up. WNYC's David Brand has more.

David Brand: Curtis Cost is proudly showing off the Christmas decorations he's hanging up around his one-bedroom apartment in the Bronx's Norwood neighborhood.

Curtis Cost: I have a Santa Claus here, and I have some lights in my other room, Christmas lights.

David: He says they give him a little taste of holiday cheer while he's confined to the fourth floor. His building elevator has been out for about a month.

Curtis: I'm going to be stuck here for Christmas. I can't even do any family gatherings, nothing, because we don't know when the elevator might be working.

David: Cost is 67, and, recently, he had heart surgery. He uses a motorized wheelchair to get around and can't go down the stairs. He says the broken elevator is a chronic problem in his seven-story building. The city has penalized the landlord for outages five times this year. At one point, it was down for almost two months.

Curtis: It's been like this. It's like it's a nightmare.

David: In vertical New York City, elevators are essential, especially for New Yorkers with mobility issues. A WNYC review of 311 data finds the number of elevator complaints have steadily risen since 2021. New Yorkers have made nearly 22,000 complaints this year, up from 17,000 4 years ago, and the Bronx, where Cost lives, has by far the highest number of reported outages. Over 40% came from that one borough.

Sharon McLennon-Wier: It's a huge problem.

David: Sharon McLennon-Wier runs the Center for Independence of the Disabled New York, also known as "CIDNY."

Sharon: I mean, I wish I could say I have an easy fix or a quick remedy. There isn't a quick remedy, but we've gotten calls here at CIDNY, where an elevator is out for a year.

David: She says it's the property owner's job to fix the problem.

Sharon: Essentially, if you are paying rent in any property, you are paying for maintenance.

David: A spokesperson for Curtis Cost's landlord, Ved Parkash, says the repair is taking longer than expected. Parkash topped the Public Advocates list of Worst Landlords a decade ago, and his aging buildings continue to rack up violations. A spokesperson for the city's housing agency says the elevator at the building Cost lives in needs a new part for a critical safety system. Cost says he's bracing for an even longer wait inside his apartment.

Curtis: Just using my imagination to keep my sanity.

David: He says his daughter plans to stop by on Christmas Day. He hopes to visit the rest of his family in the new year.

Janae: That's WNYC's David Brand.

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Janae: We're at the peak of the holiday season, and presents aren't the only things exchanged at family gatherings this time of year. It's also the busiest season to contract a respiratory virus. In the New York region, health professionals say they're seeing flu cases explode.

Dr. Bruce Hirsch: There are marked increases in flu A, and flu A is just taking off all around us.

Janae: That's Dr. Bruce Hirsch, an Infectious Disease Specialist at Northwell Health. He says this variant is a little bit different from flu viruses in previous years.

Dr Hirsch: This variant is subclade K, and subclade K is a drift on the previous flu isolate. It has about 10 mutations, an important molecule, and what that means is that previous immunity might not be quite as good.

Janae: Dr. Hirsch recommends getting the flu vaccine, though they're not as effective these days. However, he says the vaccine helps reduce bad complications and could prevent someone from hospitalization. He says that applies to the COVID vaccine, too.

Dr Hirsch: That also applies to RSV, which are the two other major respiratory viruses that are circulating in our area.

Janae: Dr. Hirsch says there are symptoms to look out for to differentiate between the flu, COVID, or RSV. He says, of the three, the flu is the worst sickness this season. He says it hits abruptly.

Dr Hirsch: It's very, very obvious. With the flu, so frequently, there's a lot of muscle pain, muscle aches. With the other viruses, it tends to be more subtle. COVID, thank goodness, has been mild, and most individuals get mild respiratory complaints. RSV depends on the underlying person and how bad their lung disease is. Sometimes it could just feel like a subtle worsening of ongoing chronic symptoms.

Janae: Dr. Hirsch says those vulnerable to infections are the very young, the very old, and people who have other health conditions that make their immune system weak. He shared some precautions, though, like avoiding crowds if possible, and maintaining a distance of at least 6 feet from people around us. Dr. Hirsch says it's also important to wash your hands frequently-

Dr Hirsch: -because we pick up viruses, not only from the air, but from touching people and touching things around us, and then putting that virus on our eyes, nose, and mouth, into our airway, and getting infected, and in very crowded places, wearing at least a surgical mask to avoid exposure to the flu virus.

Janae: That's Dr. Bruce Hirsch, an Infectious Disease Specialist at Northwell Health. Take those precautions seriously. No one wants to be sick for the holidays. Thanks for listening to NYC Now from WNYC. Merry Christmas and happy holidays to those who celebrate, and if you don't, do your thing and enjoy the day. I'm Janae Pierre. We'll be back tomorrow.

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