Coronavirus News: Stay at home order packs NYCHA families into tiny NYC apartments
LONG ISLAND CITY, Queens (WABC) -- New York's stay at home order has forced many families among the hundreds of thousands of people who live in New York City public housing buildings into tight quarters in tiny apartments.
At Queensbridge Houses in Long Island City, the nation's most crowded and bustling housing development, park benches sit empty, no children play on the slides or chase each other through the playground, and most of the time, these days, the birds make the loudest sound in the courtyard.
The sidewalks that are usually packed with residents coming and going are deserted, aside from a few residents who step outside for a cigarette or to walk the dog.
For most of the day, virtually all day, coronavirus has trapped them inside -- many families in overcrowded apartments.
Aviama, a home healthcare worker, lives with her three children and her mother in a one-bedroom apartment.
"I's crazy, it's packed, because we don't live in a big apartment," she said. "The kids want to be outside, they're ready for school, they're like 'why can't we go outside? I want to go see grandma.'"
The apple blossoms are out in the Queensbridge courtyard and rainbows decorate the windows, but the freedom of springtime will have to wait a bit longer.
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