Coronavirus Update: White House Urges Anyone Leaving NYC To Self-Quarantine For 14 Days
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – Federal officials are urging anyone who travels from New York City to self-quarantine for 14 days.
The city's rapidly spreading coronavirus outbreak seems to be the most concentrated in the entire country.
"We remain deeply concerned about New York City and the New York-Metro Area," said Dr. Deborah Brix, of the White House coronavirus task force. "We are starting to see new cases across Long Island that suggest people have left the city."
President Donald Trump is aiming to reopen the economy by April 12 – in about 18 days.
"Easter is our timeline," he said Tuesday. "What a great timeline that would be."
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Health experts caution the data isn't there yet.
"I think it's too soon to say where we'll be by Easter, but I think it's going to take at least until Easter to even begin to see the impact of the social distancing measures that have been put into place in the last week," said Dr. Tom Inglesby, director of Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security.
The president and his top infectious disease experts said the timeline is flexible and may not apply to the whole country.
"There are areas that are very different from other areas of the country. You may not want to essentially treat it as just one force for the entire country but look at flexibility in different areas," Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, said.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio believe the worst is yet to come. Yesterday, the governor said the state's rate of infection has been doubling every three days.
"We haven't flattened the curve, and the curve is actually increasing," said Cuomo.
"I think the notion that we could be 'back to normal' in the month of April is absolutely inconceivable at this point," de Blasio added.
With nearly one in four of New York's coronavirus patients in intensive care, the governor outlined a desperate need for 40,000 more ICU beds and 30,000 ventilators.
"FEMA, from the national stockpile, shipped 2,000 ventilators to the state of New York, and tomorrow there will be another 2,000," said Vice President Mike Pence.
Cuomo said that's still not enough.
"You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die," he said.
Officials warn the crisis will likely have a grip on the city for months, with April and May expected to be even tougher.