The State of New York will have 378,000 liters of hydroalcoholic gel manufactured by prisoners to meet the shortage.
Faced with the shortages of hydroalcoholic gel generated by the coronavirus, New York State took the unprecedented measure on Monday to have it manufactured in state workshops using prison labor.
Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, who declared a state of health emergency in the face of the epidemic on Saturday, unveiled with great fanfare a bottle of this new product “Made in the state of New York” at a press conference Monday, boasting of its floral scent.
“We have the capacity to produce 100,000 gallons (378,000 liters) per week,” he said. “We’re going to provide it to (New York) state agencies, schools, the MTA (New York City transit authority), prisons, etc.,” he said. he adds.
Distributors sanctioned in the event of abusive prices
Bottles of gel will in particular be delivered to New Rochelle, in Westchester County, north of New York, which concentrates most of the cases identified in this state of nearly 20 million inhabitants – 98 out of 142. This alcoholic gel 75% is made by Corcraft, he said. Corcraft is the trade name for products made by inmates in New York State, who already made laundry and cleaning products.
However, the prison administration is not allowed to distribute these products in traditional shops, according to its website. Andrew Cuomo, who has already announced penalties for manufacturers and distributors who charge abusive prices for these products, explained that he had started the production of gel because “it is not found on the market, and when it is found it is very, very expensive “.
No death from the coronavirus has been reported so far in New York State, but eight people have been hospitalized. No general measures to close schools have been announced, but several establishments have announced occasional closures, in the name of the precautionary principle.
The prestigious Columbia University in Manhattan has announced that it has suspended all of its classes Monday and Tuesday, pending the results of a test on a person who has been placed in quarantine. The Scarsdale School District in Westchester County told him it was closing all of its schools from Monday until March 18, after one of its teachers tested positive for the virus. In total, according to the latest figures from Johns Hopkins University, the United States now has 565 confirmed cases of coronavirus, and 22 people have died.
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