When Mathilde Krim said she could provide such a document, the mayor seemed to soften. “Okay, Mathilde, I’ll make you the head of my task force on AIDS,” he said. Krim left the office feeling she had accomplished something, at last. She never heard from Mayor Koch again. Later compilation of AIDS diagnoses showed that during the month of July 1983, the city’s AIDS caseload topped 1,000 patients. By July 30, 1,003 New Yorkers were stricken with the deadly ailment, more than had existed in the entire nation just a few months before.
