New Yorkers should expect a decision on whether the city will implement a shelter-in-place order to further mitigate the spread of the novel coronavirus within the next 48 hours, Mayor Bill de Blasio said on Tuesday.
“It has not happened yet but it is definitely a possibility,” said de Blasio. “But I do think that the point has come where that decision has to be made.”
According to the mayor, there are now 814 positive novel coronavirus cases in New York City, a number which he said was more accurate than the data given by the Governor during his daily coronavirus update early Tuesday. Of those cases 248 are in Queens, 277 in Manhattan, 157 in Brooklyn, 96 in the Bronx and 36 on Staten Island. The New York City coronavirus death count remains at seven the mayor said.
“The emergency policies that have been issued are of statewide impact, and the Governor is making every effort to coordinate these policies with our surrounding states. Any blanket quarantine or shelter in place policy would require State action and as the Governor has said, there is no consideration of that for any locality at this time,” said Melissa DeRosa, a top Cuomo aide, in a statement.
The decision would be an unprecedented one in New York City de Blasio added. “We have never been here before…we are going to have to create it from scratch if we do it.”
During his daily coronavirus update at City Hall, which today was held in the City Council chambers to allow for better social distancing, the mayor spoke frankly about a lack of contingency plan if the order were made. Questions concerning access to food and pharmacies still need to be addressed, the mayor said.
He also was unclear as to how the shelter-in-place order would look like but referenced the recently placed order in California’s Bay area which requires that residents stay home unless they are essential personnel.
The order could mean that the only people allowed to travel in the city are essential workers like healthcare workers, police and firefighters and would still allow for New Yorkers to leave their homes for exercise.
In addition, the mayor said that the city’s public hospital system reached an agreement with bio references libraries last night that would allow for up to 5,000 novel coronavirus tests to be done. The mayor said that the public hospitals would begin to have the capacity to perform more tests on Thursday.
