4th death hits tragic N.J. fam
cilities — “all available beds, all available personnel” — to the city’s coronavirus response.
He also touted a long list of items he said the city needs in a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar. The haul includes 15,000 ventilators, 3 million special N95 masks, 50 million surgical masks and 25 million each of surgical gowns, coveralls, gloves and face masks — all of which the city requires within the next two to three weeks, Hizzoner said.
Trump on Wednesday signed an order asserting power to compel the country’s “industrial base” to provide medical and other supplies. The mayor called on Trump to flex his muscle and order “every factory in America” to do so.
The left-leaning mayor also took some digs at the Republican president, faulting him for being slow to acknowledge the crisis and calling him the “Herbert Hoover” of his generation.
Asked whether he’s been in contact with the Trump administration, the mayor said he spoke with Azar earlier this week and will do so again.
Officials ordered a 1,000bed Navy hospital ship to New York on Wednesday. The Comfort helped the city after 9/11 and is intended to relieve the burden on city hospitals as the toll from coronavirus continues to climb.
De Blasio’s latest update wasn’t all doom and gloom.
He said 1,746 healthcare professionals who hadn’t been working have volunteered to augment the ranks of the city’s besieged healthcare system.
“That’s something all New Yorkers should be very, very proud of. Those numbers will grow,” the mayor said.
Hizzoner remains in a standoff with Gov. Cuomo over whether to order New Yorkers to shelter at home, a move the governor derided Thursday.
“Shelter in place is a scary term for people, especially when you’re not doing what it means,” Cuomo scoffed. “Are people going to be imprisoned in their homes? No.”
But the mayor tried to take the snub in stride, indicating he still wants the city to follow in the footsteps of San Francisco and order people to stay home unless they’re getting food or there’s an emergency.
“I think the definition really matters,” he said. “I thought it was understood and clearly it wasn’t. That’s on me.”
Hizzoner said he would speak with Cuomo again on Friday.
Coronavirus has claimed the life of the matriarch of a New Jersey family that already lost three siblings to the illness.
Grace Fusco, 73, died Wednesday night at a hospital in Freehold, the family said. She is the mother of Carmine Fusco, who died early that same day at a hospital in Pennsylvania, and Rita FuscoJackson, 55, who succumbed to the disease Friday. Another brother, Vincent Fusco, died last week, according to the family.
At least three other family members have also contracted COVID-19. Many other relatives are now selfquarantined and awaiting test results.
“It’s completely devastating,” Paradiso Fodera, a cousin to the Fusco family, told NJ.com, which initially reported the deaths.
Grace Fusco was hospitalized at CentraState Medical Center in Freehold.