New York City has grown to be the epicenter of the epidemic. Its a global hub of business, food, and culture. Governor Cuomo, announced Thursday that all essential businesses are ordered to be closed. Before this announcement, our business declined dramatically and we weighed out the health risks of staying open and decided to close up the shop. It was for the best of the health and wellness of us all.
This gave us more time to focus on the other things we are good at. As a paramedic, I've been summoned to the front lines of this pandemic as EMS mostly dues doing many pandemics. I was there responding during SARS hit New York. My partner and responding call after call with people complaining of fever and cough. EMS was there when were gowning up for suspected Ebola patients. With the protective equipment issued to us, we assumed we would still be infected. But, we still went on calls knowing death could be the result. A familiar run to the gunfire motivation I had as a Marine.
How is this different? This is different because we underestimated it. When I say "we", I include myself. Like many, I identify myself as a healthy and vibrant (though my white hair, knee pain, and back pain say otherwise). The truth is that our body was never ready for this virus. We've never faced it before, so it hasn't prepped against the virus's ability to overwhelm the body. No biology lesson here. You're going to get sick or you're going to get somebody else sick. It doesn't discriminate.
If there's one thing I don't do well, it is sitting still. Not before we closed we've been asked by New York University to help with the PPE (Personal Protective Virus) shortage. So even though we're not serving you a cup of coffee, we're serving society on another front. You can find more about what we're doing here "Helping with Supply Shortages During the COVID-19"
What we ask is you help support us by sharing our mission at Black 6. If you can help with PPE assembly or production, email us at info@black6project.org. Also, our bags of coffee and merchandise is still available for purchase on our site. Proceeds still help fund our mission; home and abroad.
Thank you Coffee Lovers for your support and we hope to be back at the cafe chatting about this experience that we hope is "once in a lifetime".
Joseph Zoleta
CEO/Owner
Black 6 Coffee Trading Co.