With over 500 fatalities in a day, US nears China’s toll
MERCILESS MARCH NY governor Andrew Cuomo says 1 million more health care workers are urgently needed as Covid-19 continues to claim lives
NEW YORK CITY: The mounting death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in the US is poised to overtake China’s grim toll of 3,300 deaths, with New York governor Andrew Cuomo saying up to 1 million more health care workers were needed.
Hard-hit Italy and Spain have already overtaken China and now account for more than half of the nearly 40,000 Covid-19 deaths worldwide.
“We’ve lost over one thousand New Yorkers,” Cuomo said. “To me, we’re beyond staggering already.” Even before the governor’s appeal, close to 80,000 former nurses, doctors and other professionals were stepping up to volunteer, and a US Navy hospital ship, USNS Comfort, had arrived with 1,000 beds to relieve pressure on overwhelmed hospitals.
News also came of the first US service member to die from the disease. Defence secretary Mark Esper said the death of the New Jersey Army National Guardsman strengthened their resolve to work more closely with partners to stop the spread of the virus. “This is a stinging loss for our military community,” Esper said in a release.
More than 235 million people - about two of every three Americans - live in the 33 states where governors have declared statewide orders or recommendations to stay home.
In California, officials put out a similar call for medical volunteers as coronavirus hospitalizations doubled over the last four days and the number of patients in intensive care tripled.
“Challenging times are ahead for the next 30 days, and this is a very vital 30 days,” US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday. “The more we dedicate ourselves t oday, the more quickly we will emerge on the other side of the crisis.” In contrast, the crisis is continuing to ease in China. On Tuesday, officials in the world’s most populous nation reported just 48 new Covid-19 cases, all of them brought from overseas.
US President Donald Trump said Monday that the US will send medical equipment for combating the coronavirus pandemic to Italy and later France and Spain.
Trump, speaking at his daily briefing, went into few specifics about the type of aid or the timing, but said a large quantity was destined for Italy, which has the world’s highest pandemic death toll.
“We’re going to be sending approximately $100 million worth of, of things, of surgical and medical and hospital things to Italy,” he said, adding that Italy’s prime minister, Giuseppe Conte, was “very, very happy I will tell you that.”
The White House said Trump and Conte had spoken by phone on Monday. Trump “reiterated the commitment of the US to working with Italy and all of our European allies and partners to stop the spread of the virus and get medical care to all of those in need,” it said.