As New York City braces for the peak of the pandemic within the next week or so, the virus already is very real to people in the southern Willamette Valley who have family and friends there.
Small-business owner Shachar Efrati, who recently opened Dawn Window Cleaning based in Springfield, has been in touch with friends in New York.
“To give you a picture of what’s going on with my people in NYC, one friend has died,” Efrati said. “He was a father of three, in so-so health. But imagine, he went into the hospital last week, no family could visit him. Then the family got a call from a nurse and was told their loved one is dead. No further details.
“No chance to say goodbye, have a funeral, get together as a family. It’s kinda crazy.”
He said two other friends are struggling with the virus and they’re trying to make it by isolating at home, too scared to go to a hospital.
Images of refrigerated morgues in NYC are devastating.
“This thing really hits home for me, in lots of ways,” he said.
And through the crisis, Efrati said, he’s seeing people in our area communities supporting one another.
“I cleaned windows yesterday in a house where the client was sewing face masks for nurses. In the midst of tragedy, many unsung heroes emerge.”
