March 20, 2020
New York City Coronavirus Cases More Than Double
City jails to let out some prisoners with health conditions or held on minor charges
by Katie Honan and Joseph De Avila
wsj.com
A woman entered a subway station in New York on Thursday.
The number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in New York City more than doubled to 3,954 on Thursday, as a blitz of testing began to reveal the true spread of the disease around the state, city officials said.
The number of virus-related deaths in the city rose by 15 to 26, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office.
The entire state had at least 4,152 coronavirus cases as of Thursday morning, state health data showed, but the numbers are changing rapidly.
The increase in cases came as the state tested more than 8,000 people overnight and tightened restrictions to reduce density throughout New York.
The state is currently up to 7,500 tests a day, with more than 22,000 people tested, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in media briefings Thursday.
To help slow the spread of the outbreak, Mr. Cuomo ordered 75% of employees at most companies to work remotely, a more severe step from his mandate on Wednesday for businesses to keep half their workforces at home.
“We have been taking increasing steps on density reduction because the numbers have been increasing” he said in his morning briefing.
Mr. Cuomo urged the federal government to step in to help build more ventilators and other medical equipment.
“We have a real equipment problem,” he said in a television interview. “The way we needed missiles in world wars, we need ventilators.” The state has about 5,000 ventilators but needs 30,000, Mr. Cuomo said later.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus in jails.
Mr. de Blasio said at a press briefing Thursday that the city’s hospitals had enough supplies to last through the end of March. However, he called on the federal government to provide 3 million N95 masks, 50 million surgical masks, 15,000 ventilators and 25 million each of surgical gowns, gloves and other hospital supplies.
“We are seeing an explosion in the number of cases here in New York City,” he said. Without needed supplies at hospitals, the city is “going to have an extraordinary problem first half of April.”
The governor also introduced efforts to ease the financial burden on residents as the virus cripples New York’s economy.
He asked banks to waive mortgage payments for 90 days, without a negative effect on credit scores, and he has ended late fees and waived overdraft fees at banks.
“This is a real life benefit. People are under tremendous economic pressure,” Mr. Cuomo said.
Meanwhile, Mr. de Blasio said Thursday that New York City plans to release 40 inmates to avoid the spread of coronavirus in city jails. The inmates were either facing minor charges or had health conditions.
The mayor had previously said the city was trying to balance public safety with health concerns. City officials said Wednesday that an inmate and two staffers at the Rikers Island jail complex had tested positive for the virus.
In New Jersey, Gov. Phil Murphy added further restrictions in the state as coronavirus cases continue to grow, ordering barbershops, hair and nail salons and tattoo parlors to shut down starting at 8 p.m. Thursday.
Mr. Murphy also signed an executive order postponing some local special elections and school board elections to May 12, to be held on the same day as statewide municipal elections. And all of those elections will be conducted solely by vote-by-mail ballots. The governor said there will be no changes to the statewide primary scheduled for June 2 but that he might revisit that.
The number of coronavirus cases in the state rose by 318 on Thursday for a total of 742.
Mr. Murphy said at a press conference that he expected the numbers to rise through community spread and an aggressive expansion of testing.
“These numbers, I am certain, sooner than later, are going to go into the many thousands,” he said.
Robert Garrett, chief executive of Hackensack Meridian Health, which operates 17 hospitals in New Jersey, said it currently has 500 patients awaiting test results and has identified 121 positive cases.
“This will tax our clinical and human resources like we’ve never seen before,” Mr. Garrett said at the New Jersey press conference.
The Jackson Laboratory for Genomic Medicine, a Connecticut nonprofit biomedical research institute, said Thursday it would begin processing coronavirus tests for the state and expects to be able to handle 150 tests a day. The lab plans to add more equipment and staff to ramp up its daily testing capacity, said Charles Lee, director of the facility, at a press conference Thursday.
“This will increase the testing capability available here and is vitally important to diagnose affected patients as quickly as possible, which is essential in controlling the pandemic in our communities,” Mr. Lee said.
http://www.wsj.com/articles/new-york-city-to-release-some-inmates-to-stop-coronavirus-spread-11584626666
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