Mount Pleasant Magazine Documenting Covid-19

116 www.CoronavirusMag.com | www.ReadMPM.com | www.ILoveMountPleasant.com feature “I wouldn’t leave them behind, and they weren’t letting anyone go back into what was now known as Ground Zero,” he said. Once it was possible to move about the city, Bimonte immediately noticed a big change. “Life was compartmentalized,” he said. “The National Guard was camped out in front of my building. You needed ID to go south of Canal Street, even if you lived there. That was the clear line—below Canal and above Canal. Below was chaos. Above, the city was functioning normally. People were going about their business as usual.” When he finally received clearance to return to his apartment, he said, “The taxi that took me there couldn’t go below Fulton Street on the FDR. I had to load my belongings on a hand truck and drag them about a mile to my home. Along the way, the only vehicles on the streets were military Jeeps and dump trucks filled with debris from the Twin Towers.” Bimonte recalled registering with Safe Horizon and the American Red Cross, agencies dedicated to helping people after a disaster, and “they were on top of things immediately.” Even FEMA, sometimes criticized for its post-disaster work, was “unbelievable.” He even received help with his moving expenses. Fast forward to 2020. Now living in Gramercy Park on 19th Street between 1st and 2nd Avenues, Bimonte finds himself in the midst of a hospital district (his “neighbors” include Bellevue, Beth Israel, Hospital for Joint Diseases and NYU Hospital) in the epicenter “hot spot” for the deadly COVID-19 virus that has brought life throughout America to a standstill. “Life in the city is different today,” Bimonte said. “For one thing, this time the entire city, and the world, Photo by Ed Bimonte.