Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York: “More than half of the inhabitants of the city will be infected with coronavirus”

Bill de Blasio, Mayor of New York, made an alarming forecast this morning about the advance of the coronavirus in the Big Apple. “More than half of the city’s inhabitants will ultimately be infected with coronavirus”He said in an interview with the program “Good Morning America”, which is emitted by the chain ABC News.

With 23,112 confirmed cases and 365 deaths, New York is the city most affected by the pandemic in the United States. The situation is dramatic throughout the state, which accumulates 39,140 infected, of which 461 died. They are almost half of all those in the country, which surpassed China in the number of affected with 85,996 cases and 1,301 deaths.

“For more than 80% of those infected it will have very little impact, but for 20% it will be hard, and for some of them it will be fatal”said the mayor.

De Blasio had used his Twitter account on Thursday to express his concern about the spread of the virus in his city. “The next few months are going to be painful and stressful for our healthcare system like never before”, wrote.

New York hospitals are desperately struggling to increase the number of beds and redouble attention in its fight against the coronavirus in this northeastern state of the United States, which has become the epicenter of the pandemic in the country.

At the beginning of the crisis, the patients were mostly elderly or already suffering from ailments, according to a respiratory therapist who works at a large hospital in Queens, in New York City. “Now they are 50, 40, 30 years old,” added this Jewish Medical Center employee who declined to identify himself.. “They did not listen to the slogans not to go out, or to protect themselves and wash their hands.”

“It’s hard to see someone in their 30s die. They cannot have visitors and are alone in the room with a respirator. It’s very depressing, ”he added.

Faced with the advance of the coronavirus in New York State, Governor Andrew Cuomo directed hospitals to increase their capacity by 50%, or double it if possible. “There are certain floors that in the course of the night will be dedicated to the coronavirus,” said an administrative worker from the same hospital. “They are dedicating that entire floor to Covid-19 patients.”

Equipment needed by medical staff to fight the virus (chinstraps, gloves, disinfectant) is still available, despite occasional shortages, officials say. There is also no shortage of artificial respirators and doctors have not been forced – as in other parts of the world – to decide which patient to save.

This has not prevented the inexorable increase in deaths. “We have a number of deceased patients”said a nurse at Mount Sinai Morningside Hospital in Manhattan, who declined to identify herself. “Most of it is cardiac arrest. It’s getting difficult “.

Overtime is taking its toll on staff, too. A Jewish Medical Center respiratory therapist typically works three 12-hour shifts per week. “But now I’ve been doing five, six days … 60 hours the last couple of weeks,” he noted.

With information from AFP

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