N.Y. delays its primary till June

Joins over a dozen states that made similar postponements

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday postponed New York’s presidential primary from April to June to keep people from gathering — even to vote — amid the state’s coronavirus outbreak.

Cuomo said he was delaying the state’s presidential primary from April 28 to June 23, when the state plans to hold legislative congressional and local party primaries.

“I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing people to one location to vote” on the April date, he said.

New York joins over a dozen states that have delayed some elections. A smaller group including Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, Indiana and Kentucky have also postponed their presidential primaries.

The governor’s decision came as election commissioners across New York warned they were “risking” their health and safety to meet impending deadlines for testing machines and preparing ballots ahead of the April 28 date.

Local election boards have said they were facing shortages of polling places and inspectors and had called on legislative leaders and Cuomo to allow for increased use of absentee balloting for quarantined individuals and greater flexibility for elections officials to run June elections.

Meanwhile, with cases expected to mushroom toward a mid-to-late-April peak, nurses made anguished pleas Saturday for more protective equipment and rebuffed officials’ claims that supplies are adequate.

At a news conference outside cityrun Jacobi Hospital, nurses called for more masks and other gear to safeguard themselves against the virus that has so far sickened more than 29,000 people and killed over 500 in the city.

At least one health care worker, Mount Sinai West assistant nursing

Andrew Cuomo manager Kious Kelly, 36, has died of the virus. Others also have fallen ill around the region.

Jacobi nurses said managers at the Bronx hospital have been rationing protective equipment, making them unable to change out the high-end particle-filtering masks known as N95s as often as they should. Two Jacobi nurses are “fighting for their lives in the ICUs right now,” pediatric nurse Sean Petty said, blaming a scarcity of equipment.

City officials have insisted there’s enough protective equipment for roughly the next week, though they’re worried for the weeks after.

Also Saturday, the nation’s largest transit system said its chairman and chief executive officer has tested positive for the coronavirus.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority said in a release that Chairman Pat Foye was isolating at home, feeling good and maintaining his full schedule.