US: It's an emergency!
More NYers ‘masking’ their fears
Coronavirus was declared a US public health emergency Friday — and New Yorkers are responding with face masks, gobs of hand sanitizer and no shortage of worry.
“We wash our hands more, [use] alcohol [to] wipe the tables, and sanitize before eating,” said Liz Chin, 52, who works at a test-prep center in Sunset Park, Brooklyn’s Chinatown. “Hopefully, of course, it won’t hit New York!”
The Trump administration on Friday declared the coronavirus a public health emergency and ordered all US citizens returning from the center of the outbreak in China to be quarantined for two weeks.
There are seven cases of the virus in the US — the most recent being logged in California on Friday.
No cases had been confirmed in New York state.
Nationwide, 191 people in the US are being monitored; at least three were being monitored in New York state, though none in the Big Apple.
Still, straphangers in the five boroughs were edgy. Some avoided pole-touching, squeezed out hand sanitizer and side-eyed anyone who dared to cough, riders in Brooklyn and Queens told The Post.
“I don’t touch the poles in the train with my hands. I put on my gloves,” said Reina Hikota, a 33-year-old student riding the 7 train. “I don’t want to get it. I am really scared. If someone sneezes, I turn away. When I get home, I wash my hands and my face.”
Some wore makeshift fullface masks — made by pairing surgical gear with pulleddown winter caps — while others sported latex gloves.
Nick Ye, a 34-year-old software engineer who was riding the 7 train to work in Flushing, said he’s careful not to bring germs into his house.
“When I go home, I wash my hands and take off my [outer] clothes before I go inside,” he said. “I have two young kids at home and my mother-in-law, so I don’t want to carry anything home.”
Globally, almost 10,000 have been infected in the past two months. The death toll stood at 213 on Friday night, all occurring in China.
“We still have a low risk to the American public, but we want to keep it at a low risk,” Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said of the new federal rules, which take effect Sunday.
US citizens returning from the outbreak epicenter of Hubei province in China will be forced into 14 days of mandatory quarantine, officials at the White House said.
Americans returning from the rest of mainland China will undergo additional screening at airports and potential selfadministered quarantine.