Italy coexists well with COVID-19
NY widens testing eligibility
ROME, May 18, (Agencies): Italy, one of the European nations hardest hit by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), remained upbeat on Sunday due to downward tilting of the curve signaling infections rates with the germ.
The Civil Protection Department said in its daily report that overall infection cases dropped by 1,836 cases to reach 6,851 in past 24 hours. Number of patients at intensive care wards dropped by 13 to 762. Likewide, clinical cases by 89 to 10,311.
The number of cases at house quarantine declined by by 1,734 to 57,278, against increase among recovery cases, rising by 2,366 to total 125,176.
The department recorded 145 deaths in past 24 hours -- lowest since eve of enforcing containment measures on March 9 -- raising the whole figure of the recuperated to 31,908.
Italy’s tally of infections now stands at 225,435.
Italian authorities, after imposing a two month stringent lockdown, launched a gradual phase for easing the constraints, themed “coexisting with the virus,” effective May 4.
Meanwhile New York City residents who flouted social distancing restrictions for a night on the town got the mayor’s wrath Sunday. The city’s embattled health commissioner is staying on the job. Gov. Andrew Cuomo played the part of a model patient, getting swabbed for coronavirus on live TV as he announced all people experiencing flu-like symptoms are now eligible for testing.
Now, two more state regions - Western New York and the Capital District - have met criteria to move into the first phase of reopening but still need to hire several hundred more people for contact tracing programs.
In the first phase, construction, agriculture, forestry, fishing, hunting, manufacturing and wholesale trade businesses are allowed to reopen and retail stores can provide curbside or in-store pickup or drop-off.
Here are the latest coronavirus-related developments in New York:
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio admonished people seen crowding outside bars Saturday night - many with drinks in hand but no masks on their faces - for putting lives in danger. Officials may shut down establishments that break distancing rules, de Blasio said.
City bars and restaurants have been restricted to takeout and delivery since mid-March, when coronavirus cases started to soar, but some in Manhattan were allowing people to dine and drink inside on Saturday.
“We’re not going to tolerate people starting to congregate. It’s as simple as that,” de Blasio
said. “If we have to shut places down, we will.”
After a rash of violent social distancing arrests involving people of color, the city this week eased distancing enforcement by no longer having police break up small groups of people or confront citizens failing to wear a mask.
As the weather heats up, though, more and more New Yorkers are flocking to public spaces and familiar haunts for a sense of normalcy after spending most of the last two months cooped up inside - and not always policing themselves.
Parks, boardwalks and beaches attracted big crowds on Saturday, though city beaches aren’t officially open and won’t be for Memorial Day weekend.
Other beaches in the region will be open for the holiday, but de Blasio said opening the city’s strands “is not the right thing to do in the epicenter of this crisis.”