New York City mayor Bill de Blasio spoke today on his concern about an uptick in coronavirus cases in parts of the Big Apple.
“For the first time in months, you’re going to see a daily number over 3%,” he said. “Obviously, everyone is concerned about that. That is something we all have to work on together to address and something that says to us we have to be on high alert to make sure we fight back this challenge.”
There are rising numbers of cases in parts of Brooklyn and Queens that have reached a positivity rate, amid testing, of an alarming 17% in certain hotspots.
New York state governor Andrew Cuomo gave an overview in a briefing, where he said that statewide the rate of positive cases was 1.1%. Over 20 hotspot zipcodes the average rate has risen to 5%.
There were 571 hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, and two deaths.
Jimmy Vielkind
(@JimmyVielkind)New York’s statewide coronavirus infection rate is still around 1%. But in the clusters, the average is 5%, @NYGovCuomo says.
Some more figures, and Cuomo doing his stern-face: pic.twitter.com/WmsHVKPDRi
There were times in the spring when New York was experiencing the nightmare scenario of more regularly recording more than 800 deaths from coronavirus a day. Many hospitals were overwhelmed, health care workers were massively overworked and traumatized, acutely short of personal protective equipment and with staff also catching coronavirus in high numbers and often dying themselves.
So many people died in a short space of time in New York in April that refrigerated mobile morgue trucks were parked outside some hospitals and even funeral homes, presenting haunting sights and some grisly incidents, as well as the need for some mass graves.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo had to battle with the federal government and an argumentative Donald Trump for help with extra ventilators for hospitals and simple mask supplies.
On Tuesday Cuomo said New York would rely on facts, logic and action to go forward into the rest of the fall and winter, when experts fear a double-whammy of a coronavirus surge and influenza.
Jack Sterne
(@JRSterne).@NYGovCuomo on the anxiety of #COVID19: “That’s all across the state, all across the nation, all across the globe…acknowledge that.”
“Have we gone through tough times? Sure. And we come back better again & again & again, and we will again.”
Gov’s Rx?
Facts.
Logic.
Action. pic.twitter.com/zTrUewAafx
Meanwhile, NYC health commissioner Dave Chokshi said private schools and day cares in city hotspots will have to follow health department protocols of maintaining at least six feet of distance, wearing face coverings in school buildings at all times and coordination with health department on investigations.
“Any school found to be out of compliance will be issued a violation,” he said.
De Blasio said health officials are reaching out to the communities, which have large Orthodox Jewish populations. He said the city will amp up testing and other outreach.
“It is a situation at this point that is very serious and all options are on the table,” he said, Patch.com reported.
