By Christine Persichette
As coronavirus cases surge, many New Yorkers are getting out of town, searching for a safe haven.
That’s causing a lot of concern at The White House over fears these people are disease carriers.
At City Hall, the mayor says time is running short to get desperately needed help to our hospitals.
“Right now, I am satisfied we can get through this week in NYC, in terms of our healthcare system, and even with that, I think some of our hospitals are going to be very stressed,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio.
The White House Coronavirus Task Force’s coordinator is asking anyone who’s visited New York State recently to act now.
“Everybody who was in New York should be self-quarantining for the next fourteen days to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread to others no matter where they’ve gone,” said Dr. Deborah Birx, the White House Coronavirus Response Coordinator.
Governor Andrew Cuomo is blasting the federal government, saying it needs to provide more medical equipment like ventilators.
“How can we be in a situation where you can have New Yorkers possibly dying because they can’t get a ventilator, but a federal agency saying, ‘I’m going to leave the ventilators in the stockpile?,’” said Cuomo.
The President fired back, saying it’s Cuomo’s problem, not his.
“He’s supposed to be buying his own ventilators. We are going to help,” Trump said on Fox News.
About half the United States has been ordered to stay at home, with more coming by week’s end. But President Trump is still optimistic the country will be back to normal in less than three weeks.
“I would love to aim it right at Easter Sunday so we are open for church service and services. That would be a beautiful thing. We can socially distance ourselves and go to work,” said Trump.
Meanwhile, the nation’s top infectious disease doctor says it’s impossible to set a deadline.
“You can look at a date, but you have to be very flexible and on a literally day by day, week by week basis. Obviously no one is going to want to tone down things when you see what is going on in places like New York City,” said Dr. Anthony Fauci.