GROUND ZERO
City is epicenter of pandemic with over 8,100 cases Gov rips sunbathing millennials
Sixty people have died from coronavirus in New York City, as statewide cases jumped to over 10,000 on Saturday, officials said.
Some 8,115 people had tested positive for the virus in the city as of 6 p.m., helping make New York the global epicenter of the pandemic.
“New York City is the most dense environment,” Gov. Cuomo said Saturday. “This virus spreads in dense environments.”
New York’s deaths are a significant portion of all the deaths in the U.S. As of Saturday morning, 266 Americans were reported to have died of the disease.
The governor criticized young people for not heeding the warning to avoid unnecessary contact with others. City parks were crowded Friday as unseasonably warm temperatures sent New Yorkers out to jog, ride bikes and play with their children.
Fewer people were out on Saturday as chilly weather returned, but Cuomo warned that sunbathing is not an essential activity.
“You’re not superman and you’re not superwoman,” Cuomo said. “You can get this virus. And you can transfer the virus. And you can wind up hurting someone who you love or hurting someone wholly inadvertently.
“You need social distancing everywhere. There’s a significant amount of noncompliance, especially in New York City, especially in the parks,” he said. “It has to be stopped.”
The governor still urged New Yorkers to not panic about the growing numbers.
“This is not a science fiction movie,” Cuomo said. “You get sick, you get symptoms, you recover. … Keep it in perspective.”
Cuomo said he has not been tested for coronavirus because he believes he hasn’t been exposed and feels no symptoms.
A member of his press team tested positive for the virus Friday morning and everyone who worked near the person was put under precautionary quarantine, secretary to the governor Melissa DeRosa said.
Cuomo confirmed that New York grocery and drug stores would stay
open, and vowed to not lock down transportation by instituting roadblocks or airport shutdowns.
All nonessential businesses have been ordered to close by Sunday evening.
As of 6 p.m. Saturday, coronavirus sickened 2,484 people in Brooklyn, 2,254 people in Queens, 1,868 in Manhattan, 1,071 in the Bronx and 437 on Staten Island, the mayor’s office said.
At least 1,450 people were hospitalized, including 370 people in intensive care units.
Cuomo defended the state’s handling of the crisis including rampedup testing and treatment. State officials plan to send 1 million N95 masks to New York City and 500,000 to Long Island, and buy 6,000 ventilators that will be in place in coming weeks.
The governor said the virus was slowing down in some hotspots, like Westchester County. The state imposed a containment area in the city of New Rochelle, and the decline in Westchester “suggest that that has been helpful,” Cuomo said.
“Everything that can be done is being done,” the governor said.
He attributed the fast-growing number of positive coronavirus tests to a vast expansion of testing. New York has tested more than 40,000 people — about twice as many as California and Washington State, which are the second and third-highest states.
“We’re doing more tests than any other state,” Cuomo said. “This is exactly what the mandate was.”
Cuomo requested four field hospitals and temporary hospitals from the Army Corps of Engineers. Several sites would be set up at the cavernous Javits Convention Center in Manhattan, he said.
The governor said he wanted to prioritize the use of drug therapies that might be useful for critically ill New Yorkers, including a version of the anti-malaria drug chloroquine that Trump has touted. Cuomo said pharmaceutical and medical companies in New York were also working on other potentially useful therapies.
Cuomo hailed the resiliency and humanity of ordinary New Yorkers like health care and grocery workers in the face of the crisis. “Yeah, we can be tough,” he said. “It can also be the most supportive, courageous community that you have ever seen.”