NY Daily News
Mayor
de Blasio declared a state of emergency, and Gov. Cuomo banned public
events of more than 500 people Thursday as the dogged and
potentially-deadly coronavirus picked up steam, nearly doubling the
number of infected New Yorkers in just a single day.
No
bright lights. No Bible studies. No big or jam-packed crowds. That was
the effect of the governor’s gathering ban, which goes into effect 5
p.m. Friday, and applies to large houses of worship, arenas and concert
halls including Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center and the Apollo
Theater in Harlem.
All Broadway theaters went dark Thursday evening.
Venues
that draw crowds of less than 500 people — including bars and
restaurants — can only be filled to 50% capacity under the ban, Cuomo
said.
"We’re going to take very dramatic actions,” Cuomo said.
Exempted are hospitals, schools nursing homes and mass transit, he said.
The
new restrictions and the state of emergency were put in place amid a
rapid rise in confirmed COVID-19 cases in the city. De Blasio said there
were 95 confirmed cases across the five boroughs including an alarming
42 cases in just one day. Of the sobering total, 29 people were in
mandatory quarantine, de Blasio said. The mayor predicted the city could
have 1,000 cases by next week and said the crisis could last six months
or longer.
Under a state of
emergency, the mayor can order public spaces to be closed and cleared,
restrict vehicle access, initiate curfews and modify labor contracts.
De Blasio said the restrictions will be hard on city businesses.
“We
don’t do any of this lightly. This is difficult stuff," de Blasio said.
“It’s really going to be kind of a hole in our lives. It’s painful.
It’s not something we would ever want to do, but we have to do.”
“There’s
one small piece of good news,” the mayor said. “We had the first case
of somebody coming out of mandatory quarantine and able to go back to
their lives.”
De Blasio said he wants to keep the schools open.
“We
are going to fight tooth and nail to protect our school system for
many, many reasons,” de Blasio said. “It where our children are very
safe, and our parents have no alternatives. We’re going to do our
damndest to keep the schools open.”
The city has also suspended evictions anywhere in city housing unless criminal activity is involved.
The
state, meanwhile, will impose restrictions on nursing homes across the
state, including banning all visitors, and will mandate that all staff
wear masks and be monitored for symptoms.
The elderly are particularly susceptible to the coronavirus.
Cuomo
said nursing home facilities can make exceptions for those visiting a
family member who is critically ill or facing death, though they, too,
must wear protective gear.
I might sound persnickety but when Cuomo declared a state of emergency for New York State, isn't de Blasio's announcement redundant?
