New York City region is the new ‘epicenter’ with more than 5% of worldwide cases
Adding to the urgency of the crisis facing many American businesses large and small and individuals and families, US Senate failed to agree on a massive $1.8 trillion federal relief and stimulus package Sunday.
The New York City region has emerged as the new “epicenter” of the outbreak accounting for nearly 5% of cases worldwide and the toll of US fatalities crossed 400 as President Donald Trump has sought to ramp up assistance to the three states hit the hardest, New York, California and Washington with medical supplies such as masks and respirators and mobile hospitals.
Adding to the urgency of the crisis facing many American businesses large and small and individuals and families, US Senate failed to agree on a massive $1.8 trillion federal relief and stimulus package Sunday. Negotiations continue however as both sides are keen to find common ground.
At least 414 people have died of the coronavirus so far and more than 34,000 people have tested positive including Rand Paul, a Republican senator and a close ally of President Trump, who is now the third American lawmaker infected. Four of his colleagues self-quarantined shortly after.
Calling Paul a “great friend”, President Trump said at the daily White House briefing the virus is “getting quite close to home, and it’s a terrible thing that’s going on”.
The New York City region, which had been the president’s home for many decades until recently and continues to host the headquarters of his business operations, now accounts for roughly 5% of the cases around 340,000 cases worldwide, with more than half the 20,000 cases reported in New York state. The increase in numbers is reflection of the increase in the number of tests being conducted, state officials have said and not necessarily of the spread of the virus.
“I need every New Yorker to understand how serious the situation is right now,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday evening, “We have to change the way we live if we’re going to bend the curve of this epidemic. Do your part: stay home. That is the single most important thing someone can do right now.” He said there have been 9,654 positive cases of COVID-19 and 63 fatalities so far (99, according to some reports Monday morning) in New York City.
The mayor has been calling his city the “epicenter” of the global outbreak, in effort to highlight the gravity of the situation. It is “ now clearly the epicenter of this American crisis – literally, one-third of all the cases in this nation right here in my city, sad to say, and two-thirds of the cases in New York State, and climbing,” he said on CNN Sunday.
New York has turned into a virtual ghost town compared to the bustling city most residents and visitors have known it for long. All non-essential workers are staying home on orders of the local authorities, shutting down nearly every part and aspect of the city, stores, restaurants bars.
Ravi Batra, a leading Indian American lawyer, is among the city’s growing number of people to have tested positive, along with two members of his family. Since Friday, he has been on anti-malarial drug treatment, which is scheduled to be rolled out on an expanded trial basis in New York Tuesday, in a move strongly backed by the president.
“My fevers (come and go) with a rollercoaster vengeance, going from low to 104.3,” he wrote in a text message, adding, “I expect my fever fight to continue till COVID-19 (illness caused by the coronavirus) is beaten.”
Millions of Americans — nearly one in five — are staying home as an increasing number of states are issued “stay-at-home” orders or version of restricting outdoor activities to prevent the spread of the virus. States of Ohio, Delaware, and Louisiana and Philadelphia city in Pennsylvania states went under state-at-home restrictions on Sunday, joining New York, California, Washington and Illinois. Several cities have resorted to nighttime curfews, such as Hoboken in New Jersey, just across a river from New York City.
The Trump administration has declared New York and Washington state as disaster-hit areas for the purposes of speedy deployment of federal assistance and the same as being processed for California as well, the president said Sunday evening.
He added that large volumes of supplies such as surgical masks, respirators, gowns and overalls have been send to New York and Washington already, and large medical stations with thousands of beds are being despatched to those states as well, also to California. Two US navy hospital ships are also on their way.
“We’re at war,” Trump said. “In a true sense, we’re at war. And we’re fighting an invisible enemy.” The president then went on to detail his administration’s response in a continued bid to address earlier criticism for being inadequate and sluggish, stemming largely from his own reluctance, reportedly, to acknowledge the gravity of the crisis.
