New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo on Saturday declared a state of emergency to fight the new coronavirus, which continues to spread there, with some 20 new cases.
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“We have 21 new cases, with a total of 76 for the state,” the governor announced at a press conference in Albany, specifying that 10 people were hospitalized.
The state of emergency “makes it possible to speed up the procedures for purchasing (equipment) and hiring (personnel), which is what we currently need”, he explained, stressing that the cost of the fight against Covid-19 “probably” reached 30 million dollars per week for the state.
“We now do 24 hour testing,” Cuomo said. “We want to find as many positive cases as possible in order to put them out of circulation.”
“That’s the whole reason for this exercise. We isolate people and slow down the spread, ”he added.
The majority of those infected (57) are linked to an Orthodox Jewish community in New Rochelle, source of the infection in Westchester County.
“Westchester is an obvious problem, there is talk of contagion within groups, and these groups tend to infect more and more people”, insisted the governor.
Faced with the spread of the virus, outside visitors are now prohibited in centers for the elderly around New Rochelle.
“We’re super cautious” about these retirement homes, Cuomo said.
He also said the 14-day quarantine period for those infected could be extended.
The governor warned businesses against attempting to inflate their prices, saying taking advantage of the shortage during a state of emergency was illegal.
“I was a state prosecutor, I have already instituted proceedings” in similar cases, he warned, referring to consumer information on “a bottle of disinfectant gel sold for 80 dollars”.
The United States has recorded more than 200 confirmed cases of coronavirus, including at least 19 fatalities, according to official reports compiled by AFP. Of the people who died, 16 are linked to a retirement home in Washington State (northwest).
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