New York’s ‘staggering’ death toll tops 1,200
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday issued an urgent appeal for medical volunteers amid a “staggering” number of deaths from the coronavirus.
He and health officials warned the crisis unfolding in New York City could be a preview of what other communities across the U.S. will face.
“Please come help us in New York now,” Cuomo said as the state’s death toll climbed by more than 250 in a single day, to a total of more than 1,200, most of them in the city. He said an additional 1 million health care workers are needed to tackle the crisis.
“We’ve lost over 1,000 New Yorkers,” Cuomo said. “To me, we’re beyond staggering already. We’ve reached staggering.”
Even before the governor’s appeal went out, close to 80,000 former nurses, doctors and other
professionals in New York were stepping up to volunteer, and a Navy hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, also sent to the city after 9/11, had arrived with 1,000 beds to relieve pressure on the city’s overwhelmed hospitals.
With cases growing nationwide, President Donald Trump said the U.S. government is sending an additional 1,000 ventilators over the next two days to Michigan, New Jersey, Illinois, Louisiana and Connecticut.
“Challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days, and this is a very vital 30 days,” Trump told reporters. “The more we dedicate ourselves today, the more quickly we will emerge on the other side of the crisis.”
In Europe, meanwhile, hard-hit Italy and Spain saw their death tolls climb by more than 800 each, but the World Health Organization’s emergency chief said cases there were “potentially stabilizing.” At the same time, he warned against letting up on tough containment measures.
“We have to now push the virus down, and that will not happen by itself,” Dr. Michael Ryan said.
Three-quarters of a million people around the world have become infected and more than 37,000 have died, according to a count by Johns Hopkins University.
The U.S. reported nearly 160,000 infections and over 2,900 deaths. New York City was the nation’s worst hot spot, but New Orleans, Detroit and other cities were seeing alarming clusters.
“Anyone who says this situation is a New York City-only situation is in a state of denial,” Cuomo said. “You see this virus move across the state. You see this virus move across the nation. There is no American who is immune to this virus.”
Dr. Anthony Fauci, the U.S. government’s top infectious-disease expert, similarly warned that smaller cities are likely about to see cases “take off” the way they have in New York City.
“What we’ve learned from painful experience with this outbreak is that it goes along almost on a straight line, then a little acceleration, acceleration, then it goes way up,” he said on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
For most people, the coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough. But for others, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, the virus can cause severe symptoms like pneumonia. More than 160,000 people have recovered, according to Johns Hopkins.
In other developments around the world Monday:
• Officials in Japan announced a new date for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics — the summer of 2021 — as a spike in reported infections fueled suspicions that the government had been understating the extent of the country’s outbreak in recent weeks while it was still hoping to salvage the Summer Games.
• Moscow locked down its 12 million people as Russia braced for sweeping nationwide restrictions.
• Israel said 70-year-old Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is quarantining himself after an aide tested positive for the virus.
• Britain’s Prince Charles, the heir to the throne who tested positive for the virus, ended his period of isolation and is in good health, his office said.
• Italy’s death toll climbed to nearly 11,600. But in a bit of positive news, newly released numbers showed a continued slowdown in the rate of new confirmed cases and a record number of people recovered.
• Macy’s said it would stop paying tens of thousands of employees thrown out of work when the chain closed its more than 500 department stores earlier this month. The majority of its 130,000 workers will still collect health benefits, but the company said it is switching to the “absolute minimum workforce” needed to maintain basic operations. Also, Kohl’s said it was furloughing 85,000 of the 120,000 employees at stores and distribution centers, and Gap was laying off 80,000 of its 129,000 employees.