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Coronavirus Updates: As Confirmed Cases Grows To Nearly 18,000, De Blasio Says Hospitals Are Seeing "Intense Stress" On Capacity
By
Elizabeth Kim
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Jake Offenhartz
Published Mar 25, 2020
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Mayor Bill de Blasio / Flickr
By
Elizabeth Kim
and
Jake Offenhartz
Published Mar 25, 2020
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This is our daily update of breaking COVID-19 news for Wednesday, March 25, 2020. Previous daily updates can be found here. Our guide to understanding New York on PAUSE, NY's stay-at-home order; is here; preparing for the spread of coronavirus is here, and if you have lingering questions about the virus, here is our regularly updated coronavirus FAQ. Here are some local and state hotlines for more information: NYC: 311; NY State Hotline: 888-364-3065; NJ State Hotline: 800-222-1222.
6:45 p.m. Mayor de Blasio on Wednesday indicated that rise in coronavirus cases was bringing the city's hospital system to the brink.
"We’re seeing huge challenges and intense stress on hospital capacity," he said during a press conference.
As of Wednesday afternoon, there were 17,856 confirmed cases of coronavirus. Nearly 200 people have died.
The New York Times on Wednesday reported that all of the more than 1,800 intensive care units in New York City are expected to be full by Friday, according to a Federal Emergency Management Agency leadership briefing the paper obtained. In Queens, Elmhurst hospital, which has 545-beds, has seen a dramatic surge in patients. According to the Times, 13 people have died in a 24-hour period.
Asked about the report, de Blasio said he would not provide any numbers on ICU units because they were changing so quickly. He added that ICU units, which are hospital beds that have a ventilator, were not a "fixed asset."
"If we got the equipment, staff, supplies, we can create an ICU bed in any facility," he said.
On Tuesday, the city received 400 ventilators from the federal government. Of those, 100 have been sent to public hospitals, and the remainder distributed to other hospitals with the greatest need
All told, the city has said it needs 15,000 ventilators in the coming months.
Mayor de Blasio with ventilators on Tuesday March 24th
Scott Lynch / Gothamist
Basketball Hoops At 80 Playgrounds Will Be Removed
Citing a lack of compliance with social distancing rules, the city will remove basketball hoops at 80 playgrounds across the city.
Mayor de Blasio said that by in large, New Yorkers were abiding by the new rules, which prohibits team sports and close contact between people who do not live in the same household. Out of the city's 1,700 playground, the city has identified 80 problematic locations.
The mayor has adopted a wait-and-see approach with playgrounds, saying he would allow playgrounds to remain open until at least Saturday evening in hopes that New Yorkers would get the message.
City Adds To List Of Essential Employees Eligible For Childcare
Beginning on Friday, the city will make more essential workers eligible for daycare at regional enrichment centers, which opened on Monday with light attendance. The centers were originally designated for children of healthcare workers, first responders and transit workers.
To date, 8,000 children have enrolled.
On Wednesday, Mayor de Blasio announced that grocery and pharmacy employees, ferry workers, and essential staff members of the Department of Health, Department of Environmental Protection and the Department of Probation would also be able to use the service.
Public Advocate Says NYC Needs To Go On Lockdown
5:35 p.m. Jumaane Williams, New York City's Public Advocate, is calling for a lockdown of the city, in which all residents except for essential workers are mandated to stay at or close to home for at least one to two weeks.
"I think it's time to move further than where we have moved," Williams said, during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. "We can’t make up time but we can do better than we have.”
While he praised the governor and mayor for their leadership during the crisis, he said too much time was wasted in closing schools, shutting non-essential businesses and even arguing over terminology of a shutdown. Cuomo originally opposed the San Francisco Bay area "shelter-in-place" order because he said the term evoked visions of nuclear bomb shelters and active shooter incidents. Instead, on Sunday evening, the state rolled out a policy called PAUSE, "Policies Assure Uniform Safety for Everyone."
Williams said the delays and softer naming have resulted in mixed messages.
"There's a difference between a PAUSE and a lockdown," he said.
His call for stricter measures comes as projections show that the virus is spreading at a faster rate than originally anticipated. Cuomo has said coronavirus cases are expected to peak in 21 days, which would overwhelm the current capacity of the New York hospital system. Many health experts have said that China's success in slowing the virus was due to its decision to lock down the city of Wuhan, where the outbreaks first began. In Wuhan, people were not even allowed to leave their homes unless they could show special permits.
Williams was joined at the press conference by Dr. Celine Gounder, an epidemiologist who noted that deaths from COVID-19 in New York City had been doubling in recent days, an alarming statistic.
"We need to be that much more aggressive because we waited," she said.
With more 17,000 confirmed cases, New York City is now the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis in the United States. The spread is so severe that on Tuesday, the White House said people who have recently left the metropolitan area should quarantine themselves for 14 days. Yet New Yorkers are still playing basketball and congregating closely in city parks.
The public advocate did not explain how exactly a lockdown 8.6 million New Yorkers would be enforced. (In China, the police and blockades were used.)
But he said that parks and playgrounds should be closed as well as construction sites.
Williams suggested assigning people specific times in which they could go buy food or groceries as a way of further limiting contact. And he argued that the city also needed to come up with a better plan for taking care of the homeless, the elderly, and inmates on Rikers Island.
"We really have to make tough choices and have the courage of those convictions," he said. "We simply have to stay where we are."
City Reports First COVID-19 Death Of Homeless New Yorker As Shelter Cases Rise
2 p.m. New York City has reported its first death of a person living in a homeless shelter as a result of COVID-19. The Department of Homeless Services confirmed the unnamed individual passed away on Tuesday after being transferred to a local hospital.
The number of confirmed cases in the shelter system has surged to 39 people across 27 shelters, from just one confirmed case last week. Eleven homeless New Yorkers are currently hospitalized, while nine others are quarantined in isolated beds set up by DHS, the agency said.
Several advocates and elected officials have repeatedly voiced concerns that the virus could spread rapidly among both the city's street homeless population and within its cramped sheltered system, which is responsible for nearly 70,000 New Yorkers, the majority of them families. A plan from Homeless Services United calls on the city to redirect some homeless individuals to empty hotels to reduce the strain on existing services.
"NYC has an expansive hotel industry that has come to a grinding halt," said Peter, a person living on the street, in a statement provided by Homeless Services United. "That means there are spaces to be utilized where people vulnerable can be placed while the crisis goes on to reduce deaths and rate of infection."
Inquiries to the Mayor's Office and the DHS about the proposal were not immediately returned.
(Additional reporting by Mirela Iverac)
Cuomo Calls Stimulus Bill 'Terrible' For New York
1:45 p.m. During his press conference, Governor Cuomo said that the $2 trillion Senate bill would severely shortchange the state in coronavirus response funding.
“It would really be terrible for the state of New York,” he said, adding, “That is a drop in the bucket as to need.”
New York has more than 30,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus, the most of any state in the country. California, which has the second most known cases, has more than 2,600.
Cuomo said the bill, which is set to be voted on by the Senate this afternoon, would provide $3.8 billion in assistance to New York. Of that sum, $1.3 billion would go to New York City.
The state, he said, had already spent $1 billion on combatting the spread of coronavirus. He estimated the shortfall to be between $9 billion to $15 billion.
The House earlier this week unveiled its own legislation, which earmarks $17 billion in funding for New York. Cuomo said he had spoken to the state's congressional delegation and asked them to support the House bill.
'Almost Too Good To Be True'
12:45 p.m. The rate of hospitalization for patients in New York state with COVID-19 has slowed in the past three days, a promising sign as the hospitals race against time to double their capacity to meet an anticipated surge of critically ill people.
As of Sunday, the number of people hospitalized had been doubling every two days. But by Tuesday, it was doubling nearly every five days.
"That is almost too good to be true," said Governor Cuomo, who presented the data during a press conference on Wednesday.
He took the numbers as an indication that the shutdowns and other density control measures were working. On Sunday night, the state officially ordered all New Yorkers to cease non-essential work and activities. In New York City, a pilot program to open up streets to pedestrians in an effort to provide more open space is set to begin next week.
"It's not 100 percent it holds," Cuomo said of the hospitalization trend. "But the arrows are headed in the right direction."
New York state now has 30,811 known cases of coronavirus, an increase of more than 5,000 overnight.
Of the confirmed cases, 17,856 are in New York City.
Among those known to be infected, 3,805, or 12 percent, are currently hospitalized. State officials have been closely monitoring the the hospitalization rate, which has fluctuated to as high as over 15 percent at times.
Within the state, the rate of confirmed cases has most dramatically slowed in Westchester, which now has 4,691 cases.
"That was the hottest cluster in the United States of America," Cuomo said.
Two weeks ago, the state established a containment zone in New Rochelle, which shut down places with large gatherings, and ramped up testing.
Regardless of the inroads, New York is still in dire shape. According to the state's latest projection, the crisis is expected to peak in 21 days, with 140,000 cases pouring into hospitals.
The governor has implemented a plan to increase the healthcare system's capacity by issuing a directive to hospitals as well as retrofitting existing facilities such as SUNY dormitories and the Javits Center, which is set to have 1,000 beds as early as next week.
Under the best case scenario, the state will be able to carve out 119,000 additional beds. Cuomo said he intended to make up the shortfall by utilizing hotels and former nursing homes.
Clarisa Diaz / Gothamist & WNYC
NYU Allows Med Students To Graduate Early To Help Virus Response
New York University has announced that it will allow medical school students to graduate early if they agree to help hospitals respond to the climbing number of coronavirus patients.
“We ask for your help,” the school said in an email to students this week. "This is consistent with a national discussion regarding the early graduation of eligible medical students so they can join the healthcare workforce prior to the typical July 1 starting day."
The students would have to voluntarily agree to work as an MD in university’s internal and emergency medicine departments in April. Only those who have met graduation requirements would be eligible.
On Wednesday, Governor Cuomo thanked NYU for the plan, tweeting, "It's all hands on deck." The state is trying to assemble a surge healthcare workforce of retired doctors, nurses as well as medical students. To date, 40,000 people have responded.
Lawmakers And White House Agree On $2 Trillion Stimulus Plan
The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on Wednesday to approve a historic $2 trillion stimulus package intended to rescue American individuals and small businesses decimated by the shutdowns resulting from the coronavirus crisis.
It is the largest financial rescue plan in American history.
Announced at around 1:30 a.m after five days of intense negotiations, the plan would create a $500 billion lending fund for impacted businesses and provide direct payments to low and middle-income families. It also includes $130 billion for hospitals.
“This is not a moment of celebration, but one of necessity,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, the Democratic minority leader from New York. “To all Americans I say, ‘Help is on the way.’”
Schumer said the plan included a provision that compensates the full salaries of workers who lost their jobs because of the pandemic. He called the measure, "unemployment compensation on steroids."
The bill also will send $1,200 in direct payments for all those with incomes up to $75,000 per year. Those who earn between $75,000 and $99,000 would receive adjusted amounts according to income. Families would be entitled to an additional $500 per child.
In addition, legislators agreed on a $350 billion forgivable lending program for small businesses who continue to pay employees through the crisis.
Unemployment insurance benefits would also be greatly expanded, in both eligibility and amounts. Workers would receive an additional $600 a week for four months, on top of what state unemployment programs pay. In New York, the Department of Labor has seen a 1,000 percent surge in unemployment claims in parts of the state.
While there is enormous pressure for lawmakers to come to the aid of small businesses and workers, liberal and conservative lawmakers have expressed reservations about the unprecedented financial package. The House is currently out of session, although legislators can agree to pass the bill by “unanimous consent,” which would require agreement from all members of the chamber. Many of them have not even seen the bill.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who represents the progressive wing of the Democratic party, has said she is worried that the rescue plan gives too much to big corporations and too little for small businesses. In doing so, she argued the bailout could have lasting repercussions on the nation's economy.
Speaking on MSNBC on Tuesday night, she said, "If we do not get this right, we risk small businesses across the country shutting down, and big businesses experiencing a total pay day with lack of accountability, further consolidating our economy. And that will create a generational issue."
She added: "If we think income inequality is bad now, we really need to get this right to prevent the worst possible outcome."
Appearing on CNN, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California said, “What I’m saying is we want to do it as soon as possible. The best way to do that as soon as possible is to have agreement on the legislation. We’re doing [Unanimous Consent] to make the biggest possible difference in the shortest period of time.”
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covid-19 updates
coronavirus
Elizabeth Kim
Elizabeth Kim is a reporter on the People and Power desk who covers mayoral power. She previously covered the pandemic, housing, redevelopment and public spaces. A native of Queens, she speaks fluent Mandarin. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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Jake Offenhartz
Jake Offenhartz is a former Gothamist reporter.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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