In the fight against the corona pandemic, US President Donald Trump refrains from completely quarantining the metropolis of New York. He’s opting for a different solution, at least for now.
The US government is initially refraining from completely isolating New York. Instead, the health authorities should issue “travel advice” for the metropolis on the east coast, US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter on Saturday. These recommendations should be prepared by the governors of New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut in collaboration with their governments.
Previously, the president himself had brought it into play to seal off New York and other parts of the country particularly affected by the pandemic. “Some people would like to see New York quarantined because it’s a hotspot,” Trump told reporters outside the White House on Saturday. He specified that the considerations were about travel restrictions for residents of regions in which a particularly large number of people have been infected with the corona virus.
The east coast state of New York has become the center of the pandemic in the country. According to local media, the clinics could selectively reach their capacity limits for the first time in the coming days. With a population of over eight million, New York City is the largest US city and one of the world’s cultural and economic centers. Restaurants, bars, schools, museums, and Broadway shows are closed. All citizens are called upon to stay at home, “non-vital” institutions and companies are closed.
Trump: “I wouldn’t do it, but maybe we need it”
In addition to New York, New Jersey and certain parts of Connecticut are also being considered, Trump said. Many New Yorkers would be traveling to Florida right now. “We don’t want that,” said Trump. Regarding possible restrictions on freedom of movement, Trump said, “I would rather not do it, but maybe we need it.” In the event that such measures had to be taken, they would apply for a short time. Trump spoke of two weeks and promised that a decision could be made on Saturday.
New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo was reluctant to respond to Trump’s statements. “I haven’t talked to him about any quarantine,” Cuomo said at his daily press conference. “I don’t even know what that means.” He also does not know how such a regulation should be legally enforced.
Tens of thousands of infections in New York
Meanwhile, the metropolis is planning four more provisional emergency clinics. In addition to the hospitals that have already been built and a hospital ship of the US Army expected on Monday, buildings in the districts of Brooklyn, Queens, Staten Island and the Bronx are to be repurposed, said Cuomo.
According to the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, more than 136,000 infections with the Sars-CoV-2 pathogen have now been detected in the USA. 56 percent of all new infections would be found in New York, the director of the National Institute for Infectious Diseases, Anthony Fauci, told CNN on Sunday. Fauci thinks it is possible that between 100,000 and 200,000 people could die and expects millions of corona cases in the United States. More than 2,400 people have already died with or from Covid-19. In the state of New York alone, 237 new fatalities were added compared to the previous day, Cuomo said on Sunday afternoon (local time).
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