Mayor Bill de Blasio announced today that there are two new confirmed cases of coronavirus in the city and one of the cases is an 80-year-old woman in Brooklyn.
“City disease detectives are tracing close contacts of both individuals and will ensure they are appropriately isolated and tested immediately,” said de Blasio.
The other patient is a Manhattan resident in his 40’s and neither patient has had connection to travel nor any of the other local individuals diagnosed with coronavirus. Both are currently hospitalized and in the intensive care unit, de Blasio said.
This comes on the back of Governor Andrew Cuomo confirming 11 additional cases of the novel coronavirus, bringing the total to 22 confirmed cases in New York State.
Of the 22 individuals who tested positive for the virus, one resides in Nassau County, three reside in New York City and 18 reside in Westchester County.
In response to the growing number of cases, the governor activated the statewide Emergency Operation Center (EOC) in Albany, as well as two Emergency Operations Center outposts in Westchester County: one in Hawthorne and one in New Rochelle.
“New Yorkers should focus on facts not fear as we confront this evolving situation, and the facts do not merit the level of anxiety we are seeing,” Cuomo said. “The number of cases will increase because it’s math – the more you test, the more cases you find. We are testing more people, we are isolating anyone who may have come into contact with the virus, and we are getting people care if they need it.”
The EOC and EOC outposts serve as a central command center, where Office of Emergency Management and Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Services personnel can coordinate with Department of Health experts to more closely monitor and respond to the outbreak, provide real-time communications updates and coordinate response efforts with other agencies.
Additionally, the State is continuing to monitor the situation in Nassau County and elsewhere and will bring an EOC operation outpost anywhere it’s needed when the situation calls for it.
Meanwhile, de Blasio called on the federal government to provide more test kits and called on the Federal Drug Administration (FDA) to expedite the approval of all appropriate testing approaches developed by private institutions.
“Quick detection is vital to stopping the spread of the virus,” said de Blasio. “We need the CDC to step up so our experts can do their job and protect New Yorkers. Our single greatest challenge is the lack of fast federal action to increase testing capacity, and without that, we cannot beat this epidemic back.”
The city is also increasing its role to help fight the spread of the virus with assisting New York City Emergency Management with their creation of an Incident Action Plan that will address all phases of the novel coronavirus and its reach.
Additionally, an Incident Management Team team, which consists of federally trained first responders, will assist in the planning and development of a strategy associated with coronavirus for the NY Fire Department.
