ILLUMINATING THE RICH AND VARIED LIFE OF NEW YORK CITY

News
Life in a Pandemic
NY City Scene
The Global City
Politics & Policy
Cops & Courts
Video
The Feed

News
Life in a Pandemic
NY City Scene
The Global City
Politics & Policy
Cops & Courts
Video
The Feed

News
Life in a Pandemic
NY City Scene
The Global City
Politics & Policy
Cops & Courts
Video
The Feed

HomeAerial View Jackson_Heights_LGA_Shea_Stadium

Aerial View Jackson_Heights_LGA_Shea_Stadium

Aerial view of Jackson Heights, Queens (Stolen)

Instagram

nycitylens

The Rainbow • As the city continued to weather t

The Rainbow • As the city continued to weather the pandemic storm, people found ways to continue connecting with their communities and to celebrate—even from six feet, or thousands of miles—apart. It’s a reminder that there’s always a silver lining, so long as you know where to look. “The Rainbow” in our special project “Things Fall Apart” brings you stories about the silver lining in this pandemic. Link in bio. •
•
•
📷: 1⃣️ Photo collected by Anna Grotzky
2⃣️ Photo collected by Anna Grotzky
3⃣️ Photo Courtesy of Stuart Fleicshmann
4⃣️ Photo by @currie_inahurry •
•
•
#coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #silverlining #positivity #optimism #nyc #newyorkcity #newyork #newyorker #socialdistancing

The Plateau • Masks and Lysol wipes became a par

The Plateau • Masks and Lysol wipes became a part of our daily routine, and New Yorkers adjusted to life under lockdown. Zoom became a new household word. From food and healthcare to education and work, people turned to creative solutions to make the best of what they had. For more on our special project Things Fall Apart, check out the link in bio. #coronavirus #covid19 #covid_19 #covid #nyc #newyorkcity #newyork #newyorker #newnormal #newnorm #socialdistancing #remotelearning #remotework #remoteteaching #wfh #workfromhome #frontlineworkers #frontline

An unprecedented number of Americans are out of a

An unprecedented number of Americans are out of a job and relying on unemployment checks and government payouts to put food on the table. But what happens when those benefits simply aren’t available? This is the challenge faced by undocumented workers across the country. Many live paycheck to paycheck, and without the protection of labor laws or government benefits, there is no safety net to catch them during this pandemic. NYCityLens spoke to two undocumented workers in New York and New Jersey to understand how COVID-19 is impacting immigrant communities. The names of the two undocumented workers in this video were changed to protect their identity. @joaquimmsalles has the story. #coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #unemployment #benefits #immigrants #undocumented

The Storm • By early April, New York City has qu

The Storm • By early April, New York City has quickly become the nation’s epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic, as doctors and nurses were called to the frontlines to battle the alarming spike in cases. And while healthcare workers scrambled to keep up in the city’s hospitals, food delivery, grocery store, and MTA workers continued to also risk their own health to keep the city running. “I don’t think we return to normal. I don’t think we return to yesterday. I think If we are smart, we achieve a new normal,” said Gov. Cuomo in April 8. New York in storm- link in bio. •
•
•
#coronavirus #covid19 #covid_19 #covid #pandemic #newyork #newyorkcity #nyc #newyorkstrong #frontlineworkers #frontline #essentialworkers

Shutdown • As the number of cases in New York es

Shutdown • As the number of cases in New York escalated and the gravity of the situation struck the city, schools and non-essential businesses were forced to shutter: restaurants and bars, public schools, Broadway, independent theaters... Social distancing, local officials said, would be the key to flattening the curve. ““This virus does not discriminate. It attacks everyone. And it attacks everywhere,” said Gov. Cuomo. For more on NYC’s shutdown, click the link in bio. •
• 📷: 1⃣️ Photo by @jw_cachen
2⃣️ Photo Courtesy of Pixabay from Pexels
3⃣️ Photo Courtesy of Sudan Ouyang from Unsplash
4⃣️ Photo Courtesy of The Secret Theatre •
•
#coronavirus #covid19 #covid_19 #covid #pandemic #nyc #newyorkcity #newyork #newyorker #shutdown #socialdistancing #smallbusiness

Build Up • Before the coronavirus emerged as an

Build Up • Before the coronavirus emerged as an eminent threat in the U.S., New Yorkers reacted in different ways. While travel to China was still a go for many, others started to hoard medical masks and groceries. The Asian community began to experience virus-related racism, and Chinatown businesses were affected... For more, please click the link in bio to read our special report- Things Fall Apart. •••
1⃣️ 2⃣️ Photo by @jw_cachen
3⃣️ Photo by @yuntong_man
4⃣️ Photo extracted from story by @currie_inahurry
5⃣️ Photo by @tueydam
6⃣️ Photo by @yoongeh •••
#coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #nyc #newyorkcity #newyork #newyorker

For the first few months of 2020, New York City lo

For the first few months of 2020, New York City looked and felt as it always had —vibrant, bustling, invincible. But in February, whispers of a deadly virus began to intensify. By March, the whispers had become a crescendo, the only thing anyone could hear. Coronavirus infiltrated the city and suddenly, within days, New York became the nation’s epicenter of the viral pandemic. NY City Lens began covering the city in January, and it turned out there would be just one story—the coronavirus pandemic. Today, we officially launched our special project to look back on how things fell apart when COVID-19 came calling. 🔗http://covid19.nycitylens.com/ Produced by City Newsroom’s #Classof2020 @columbiajournalism #coronavirus #covid19 #covid_19 #covid #pandemic #newyork #newyorkcity #nyc

The pandemic has put enormous strain on the city’s food pantries and many of them have
shuttered, just as the number of New Yorkers requiring food assistance is surging. Resources
are shrinking. According to the Food Bank for New York City, nearly a third of all food assistance
services have halted operations. St. John’s Bread and Life is just one of the few food pantries
and soup kitchens still open, and the Brooklyn-based charity is determined to keep feeding as
many New Yorkers as they for as long as they can. @yoongeh and @paddymugs have the story. #coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #foodbank #foodpantry #foodinsecurity #newyorkcity #nyc #newyork #charity #newyorker

New Yorkers Remembered • When you walked through

New Yorkers Remembered • When you walked through the glass doors of the Bel Canto Condominium on the Upper West Side before the pandemic struck, you would’ve been met with the bright smile and baritone greeting of Tony Torres. Dressed in his uniform of grey tie, white shirt and black suit, Torres was a doorman at the apartment building for 27 years. On April 14, 2020, he died due to complications of COVID-19, leaving the gleaming lobby of the Bel Canto a little emptier, duller. He was 74 years old. @yoongeh has the story. 📷: Photo Courtesy of Barbara Torres Squires #newyorkcity #newyork #newyorker #upperwestside #uws #manhattan #doorman #community #communitylove #remember #coronavirus #covid19 #rip

Rosas “Miguel” Grande, 51, was the “Pasta Ki

Rosas “Miguel” Grande, 51, was the “Pasta King” at Supper, a restaurant in the East Village. He was known for an uncanny ability to make the most decadent pasta, which he would sometimes bring home to his family. If you had pasta made by Grande, “you had a dish made with love and honesty,” as the GoFundMe page set up by his employer explains. He died on April 24 of COVID-19 complications at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens. @currie_inahurry has the story. Link in bio. 📷: Photo Courtesy of David Garcia #coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #newyork #newyorkcity #newyorker #remember #pasta #pastamaker #rip

As colleges and universities in New York City weig

As colleges and universities in New York City weigh whether to hold classes in person or online this fall, their prospective students weigh the next chapter of their lives. @arynanaa has the story. *
*
📷: 1️⃣ Brooke Linlahn Nguyen, 18, from Irvine, California. Admitted to New York University.
2️⃣ Anjali Golechha, 18, from Carmel, California. Planning to pursue a chemical engineering program at NYU.
3️⃣ Anjali Golechha
4️⃣ Ryan Sun, 20, an electronic music producer from Singapore. Accepted to NYU’s music business program.
5️⃣ Ryan Sun
*
*
#coronavirus #covid19 #highereducation #college #university #pandemic #remotelearning #student #newyorkcity #newyork #nyc

New Yorkers Remembered • If you worked or lived

New Yorkers Remembered • If you worked or lived near Columbia University, you probably knew Steven J. Hann. For more than 20 years, Hann sold second-hand books in front of Milano market near the school. Hann, died on April 4th from an unknown heart complication. @angiehernandeztvr has the story. 📷: Photo Courtesy of Jonathan Diaz #coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #nyc #newyork #newyorkcity #newyorker #booklover #booknerd #upperwestside #columbiauniversity #remember #rip

David Abad is a 30-year-old barber, who has been o

David Abad is a 30-year-old barber, who has been out of his barbershop in Hells Kitchen Manhattan, for the last two months because of the coronavirus. He hasn’t let that stop him, though. “As a barber, if you don’t work you don’t make money,” said Abad, who is the only one working at his household. With a one-year-old daughter at home and despite all risks, David decided to start giving haircuts in some of his clients’ homes. @angiehernandeztvr has the story. #Coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #socialdistancing #stayhome #barber #barberlife #risk #family #livelihood

New Yorkers Remembered • Even though she left Pu

New Yorkers Remembered • Even though she left Puerto Rico to come to New York City when she was 15 years old, Ana Santana lived a life steeped in the vibrancy of her home country. Her effusive warmth, love of beaches, and penchant for singing salsa songs by Héctor Lavoe and El Gran Combo had been engrained in her and remained so until she died on April 10, 2020, after contracting COVID-19. She was 70 years old. @yoongeh has the story. Link in bio. #coronavirus #covid19 #covid_19 #pandemic #newyork #newyorkcity #newyorker #nyc #lovedones #immigrants #remember #rip #puertorico #tribute

Lovers, some displaced across the five boroughs wh

Lovers, some displaced across the five boroughs while others across continents, share the difficulties that come with romantic isolation—and offer up the creative approaches partners use, from the Netflix party application to dog TikToks, to stay connected and keep love alive amid the pandemic. NYCity Lens explores what it feels like to social distance separately from your partner. @arynanaa has the story. #coronavirus #socialdistancing #covid19 #pandemic #relationship #romance #couple #seperation

New Yorkers Remembered • For those who worked wi

New Yorkers Remembered • For those who worked with Fatima Schmidt for the past 15 years, walking by her fourth-grade classroom of Public School 333 in the Hunt’s Point section of the Bronx, will never be the same. She died on April 13th from COVID-19. She was 57. @angiehernandeztvr has the story. Link in bio. 📷: Photo Courtesy of John Schmidt #coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #newyork #newyorkcity #newyorker #nyc #teacher #publicschool #doe #ps333 #bronx #huntspoint #teaching #rip #remember

New Yorkers Remembered • Albert Rahey’s family

New Yorkers Remembered • Albert Rahey’s family remembers him as a man with a big heart, a big personality, and a big mouth. Al died of coronavirus on April 3, just as he was preparing to go home after surgery on his leg, at age 68. @the_jenna.rator has the story. Link in bio. #coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #newyork #newyorkcity #brooklyn #newyorker #courtstreet #rip #remember #community

New Yorkers Remembered • Maria Guia Cabillon, he

New Yorkers Remembered • Maria Guia Cabillon, head nurse of the emergency room at Kings County Hospital, died on April 26 because of COVID-19. But she will forever be remembered as the matriarch of the ER. @jw_cachen has the story. Link in bio. 📷: Photo courtesy of Fatima Eve Cabillon #coronavirus #covid19 #pandemic #nurse #nurselife #headnurse #emergencyroom #er #ernurse #sacrifice #newyork #newyorkcity #nyc #kingscounty #kingscountyhospital #brooklyn #sacrifice #healthcareworkers #thankyou #thankyouhealthcareworkers #nursing #filipino #rip

“New York is not numb. We know this is not just

“New York is not numb. We know this is not just a number—it is real lives lost forever,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo tweeted on April 12. Close to 20,000 New Yorkers have died of COVID-19 since the first reported death on March 14. Although our small newsroom cannot honor all of those who have died, but NYCity Lens does want to share the stories of some of them, a handful of New Yorkers who loved, lived, and breathed in this city. We’re launching a special obituary project, “New Yorkers Remembered,” to remember these people for what they gave us, how they touched others, and the memories they leave behind. Stay tuned. #newyorker #newyork #nyc #coronavirus #covid19 #obituary #remember #tribute #honor

Before New York can safely reopen, Governor Cuomo

Before New York can safely reopen, Governor Cuomo said the state will need almost 6,000 contact tracers to monitor the spread of coronavirus. New York City alone will require 2,500 tracers. Although necessary, some worry about the unintended invasion of privacy that comes with tracing. NYCityLens talked to an epidemiologist and a lawyer about the two sides of contact tracing. @tueydam has the story. #coronavirus #covid19 #covid_19 #covid #pandemic #contacttracing #contacttracer #tracer #tracing #newyork #newyorkcity #nyc #privacy #publichealth

Load More... Follow on Instagram

About Us

NY City Lens illuminates the rich and varied life of New York City—borough by borough, neighborhood by neighborhood, one good story at a time. It is produced by students at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. The site is staffed by students in the City Newsroom

NY City Lens Newsletter

Email

Meet Our Staff

Newsroom 2021
Newsroom 2020
Newsroom 2019
Newsroom 2018
Newsroom 2017
Newsroom 2015

News
NY City Scene
Coronavirus
The Global City