World Trade Center first responders and their advocates on Thursday cheered a new directive that allows for the families of people who have 9/11-related illnesses — but die of COVID-19 — to still reap the benefits of the federal Sept. 11 victim compensation fund.
“This is something that is particularly of concern to our 9/11 first responders and survivors,” lawyer Nick Papain, whose firm represents more than 3,000 New Yorkers with 9/11-related illnesses, said at a press conference just a day before the 19th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks.
“Not only are they suffering from an illness — cancer, a digestive illness, a respiratory illness — that makes them more susceptible to these deadly symptoms of the COVID-19 virus,” said Papain. “But more than half of these 100,000-plus survivors are over the age of 55, which as we all know, is another factor that makes one more susceptible to the deadly consequences of the coronavirus.”