City could lose if bug order lapses: Chuck

Crucial coronavirus funding for New York City could dry up next month if the Trump administration does not extend a public health emergency declaration, Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) warned Sunday.

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar issued an emergency declaration Jan. 31 as the number of coronavirus cases began to rapidly increase. The order is set to expire on July 25.

The national emergency status allows New York to receive funds from a $2.5 billion pot of money allocated for the state through the Families First Coronavirus Response Act passed by Congress in March. It’s also allowed New York to receive $1.1 billion from the Federal Emergency Management Agency for coronavirus relief through June 1.

But if the declaration is allowed to expire, Schumer warned that some New Yorkers could lose food stamps and unemployment insurance. It could also cause the city’s massive coronavirus contact tracing program to lose funding.

“New York is by no means out of the woods with the coronavirus, especially given the upticks we are seeing in other states and the risk those upticks pose here when you take travel into account,” Schumer said at a news conference Sunday.

“Extending this declaration will keep New York positioned to both respond and to keep fighting.”

Schumer was one of the first leaders in Congress to express the need for a state of emergency for coronavirus. He called for the declaration on Jan. 26, five days before Azar’s order.

While New York City has over the last month reduced the number of new coronavirus infections to fewer than 200 per day, infections are spiking across the country so quickly that the European Commission on Monday is expected to extend a ban on Americans from traveling to its member states while opening up residents from dozens of other countries.