yeshivaworldnews.com and Anash.org staff
Governor Andrew Cuomo is now reporting there are 89 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York State. The governor declared a state of emergency in New York because of the increasingly rapid spread of COVID-19.
The declaration will assist the state in hiring and purchasing during the crisis. “This is labor-intensive. We need the staffing, we need the purchasing,” Cuomo said.
Speaking at a Saturday afternoon news conference in Albany, Cuomo gave the following updated breakdown of the total number of cases: 11 in New York City; 70 in Westchester County; 2 in Rockland County; 4 in Nassau County; and 2 in Saratoga County.
Of the total 89 cases, ten of those patients are currently hospitalized, Cuomo said.
Regarding the seven new cases reported in New York City, two recently arrived on a cruise ship. The other five are believed to have contracted the virus through community spread.
A male Uber driver in his 30s is currently hospitalized in Queens, He is not a TLC-licensed driver, and drives on Long Island, according to Mayor de Blasio.
Westchester County, which has the most cases in the state, poses the biggest challenge right now.
23 cases of the newer cases are “all related to the New Rochelle situation,” Cuomo said, referring to the first case reported in New York, a 50-year-old lawyer from New Rochelle who remains hospitalized.
Senior citizen homes in New Rochelle may be forced to suspend outside visitors.
“The nursing homes are the most problematic settings for us with this disease,” Cuomo said. “If you are a senior citizen or immune-compromised, I would think seriously about attending a large gathering now…. I’ve said that to my mother.”
No large gatherings are “imminent” in New Rochelle, the governor said. “If there were, we’d have to take a hard look at cancelling,” he added.
Saturday’s update came after word on Friday that a Connecticut hospital employee who is a New York State resident has tested positive for Coronavirus.
4,000 people across the New York are now in quarantine as a precaution — that includes 2,700 in NYC, 1,000 in Westchester and 70 in Nassau County.
There are 44 people in mandatory quarantine across the state, including 33 in Westchester, nine in NYC and one in Nassau County.
Officials announced on Friday that Gap closed its corporate offices in Tribeca on Thursday after a worker tested positive for COVID-19.
This Shabbos, two more people succumbed to the virus in Washington state, bringing the nationwide death toll to 19. A cruise ship with at least 21 infected among its 2,400 passengers remains stranded outside San Francisco.
One of the new confirmed cases is a member of Chabad of the West Side in Manhattan.
“At this point in time,” Rabbi Shlomo Kugel announced in a message to the community, “it is undetermined whether he contracted prior to or subsequent to the last time he was in shul… We are in contact with the NYC department of health… For now, Shabbos services will proceed as scheduled.”