Trump backtracks in NY curfew plan
DONALD Trump completed a spectacular U-turn in the fight against coronavirus by withdrawing a threat that he was “considering quarantine on New York”.
But 8.6 million people in that city have been “strongly advised” to stay at home and avoid all nonessential travel for 14 days.
The US President had come under fire from New York’s governor Andrew Cuomo over the initial quarantine proposal, with questions asked if such a move was legal or even possible.
Mr Cuomo escalated the feud by describing Mr Trump’s announcement as “preposterous” and “a declaration of war on states”.
But just hours after making the suggestion, the President backed down, claiming quarantining New York “will not be necessary”.
He had said his sanctions could also include New Jersey and Connecticut, due to “extensive community transmission”. There are now more than 52,000 sufferers in New York, with the state having about half of all confirmed cases in the States.
New York City has been recording a death every nine and a half minutes with fears that the numbers could rise further.
The row began when Mr Trump, talking about NYC, said: “We would like to see [it] quarantined because it’s a hotspot. I’m thinking about that.
“They’re having problems down in Florida. A lot of New Yorkers are going down.We don’t want that.”
Mr Cuomo claimed the move would be “anti-American” and added: “If you said we were geographically restricted from leaving, that would be a lockdown.”
He insisted New York had already implemented “quarantine” measures, such as banning major gatherings and ordering people to remain at home, but that he would oppose any complete shut-down.
Mr Cuomo explained: “Then we would be Wuhan, China, and that wouldn’t make any sense.” He said such a move would “paralyse” the financial sector, causing a stock market crash in a way that would make it impossible for the
US economy to “recover for months if not years”.
He added: “I don’t know how that can be legally enforceable. And from a medical point of view, I don’t know what you would be accomplishing. I don’t even like the sound of it.” But after the change of tact, Mr Trump tweeted that, instead of quarantine, a “strong travel advisory” would be issued to New York, New Jersey and Connecticut by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Mr Cuomo also said he would sue nearby Rhode Island if authorities there still targeted New Yorkers.
Its governor Gina Raimondo had deployed National Guard troops to stop cars with a New York licence plate to remind drivers of advice on movement.
Soldiers were also seen going door to door in coastal vacation communities to ask if any residents have recently visited NYC.
Mr Trump’s climbdown came at a bad time as figures showed the number of US deaths doubled in two days to more than 2,000, America’s death toll remains lower than those in Italy, Spain, and China but there are virus hotspots in New York, New Orleans, Detroit and Seattle.
The weekend saw the first death in the US of an infant who tested positive for coronavirus in Chicago.
The rate of infections has been surging in New York, but there are now cases spreading in every state.
Hospitals in NYC are rapidly running out of medical equipment and personal protective gear.
More widely, the mayors of most US cities have said they expect massive shortages of vital personal safety equipment.
Demand for ventilators has also doubled in the southern state of Louisiana. Governor John Bel Edwards said New Orleans would run out of ventilators by Thursday and possibly run out of hospital beds by a week tomorrow if new infections did not subside.
Mr Trump has ordered a car manufacturer in Detroit to produce more ventilators.
Last week, the President signed a £1.6trillion bailout bill passed by Congress, the largest fiscal stimulus in US history, in the fight against the pandemic.
In Mexico, health authorities have asked all citizens to stay at home until April 19.