Trump’s warning of pain to come

EMERGENCY field hospitals were readied in New York’s Central Park and at the home of the US Open tennis tournament yesterday, as the US death toll from the coronavirus surpassed numbers in China and other worst-hit countries.

The pandemic has killed 1000 New Yorkers and President Donald Trump warned in Washington of “a very, very painful two weeks” to come for the country.

Already the hardest-hit area, America’s financial capital is in a race to ramp up hospital capacity before cases peak. About a dozen tents, equipped with 68 beds and 10 ventilators, have been put up in Manhattan’s famous park for COVID-19 patients.

“You see movies like Contagion and you think it’s so far from the truth, it will never happen. So to see it actually happening here is very surreal,” 57-year-old passer-by Joanne Dunbar told AFP.

Declared coronavirus cases across the US surged to 188,172 on Tuesday, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University, with 3873 deaths. That is more than the fatalities reported by either Italy, Spain or China.

New York State has seen far more cases – 75,000 – and deaths than any other since announcing its first infection on March 1.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city was tripling hospital capacity in a bid to get ready for the peak of the pandemic expected in two to three weeks.

“(We) will require a level of hospital capacity we’ve never seen … never even conceived of,” he told NBC.

South of Central Park, the Javits Convention Center is operational with nearly 3000 beds after it was adapted by the Army Corps of Engineers.

It will take non-COVID-19 patients to ease the burden on

(WE) WILL REQUIRE A LEVEL OF HOSPITAL CAPACITY WE’VE NEVER SEEN … NEVER EVEN CONCEIVED OF NEW YORK MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO

hospitals focusing on the virus.

A few blocks away sits the US navy hospital ship Comfort, with 1000 beds and 12 operating rooms – also for noncoronavirus patients.

A 350-bed facility at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing MeadowsCorona Park, where the US Open tennis is held each year, is due to start receiving coronavirus patients next week.

Governor Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers that the fight to defeat COVID-19 was going to be a long one.

“Calibrate yourself and your expectations so you’re not disappointed every day you get up,” he said.