A CBS News producer died from COVID-19 on Sunday as New York City’s death toll climbed to 678.
CBS announced the loss of their ‘beloved’ CBS News colleague Maria Mercader, in a statement shared on Twitter.
The 54-year-old Emmy winner died from COVID-19 while being treated at a New York hospital. Mercader, who worked for CBS for nearly three decades, had been on medical leave for an unrelated matter since the last week in February.
There are more than 123,000 confirmed coronavirus cases in the United States with more than 2,100 deaths. In New York City, where one New Yorker dies nearly every nine minutes, there are more than 33,000 confirmed coronavirus cases with 678 deaths.
On Sunday, Gov Andrew Cuomo ordered New York’s non-essential workers to stay in place for another two weeks as cases climbed by more than 7,000 overnight and the death toll hit 965.
CBS announced the loss of their ‘beloved’ CBS News colleague Maria Mercader (pictured), in a statement. According to the network, Mercader, 54, died from COVID-19 on Sunday in a New York hospital
Mercader, who worked for CBS for nearly three decades, had been on medical leave for an unrelated matter since February. Mercader (second from left) with Gertie Quitangon (left), Judith Benitez (second from right) and Sergey Gordeev (right) in New York City in 2018
The governor said the state now has more than 59,000 confirmed coronavirus cases with 8,000 hospitalized and 2,000 people in ICUs.
‘I don’t think you look at those numbers and conclude that nothing less than thousands of people will pass away,’ Cuomo said.
Cuomo said the US Navy hospital ship, the Comfort, will be in New York on Monday. The ship will provide an additional 1,000 hospital beds as hospitals are expected to become overwhelmed within the next week.
As the city awaits the ship, New Yorkers also were mourning the loss of the first Catholic priest in the US to succumb to the virus.
COVID-19 claimed the Rev. Jorge Ortiz-Garay, 49, who served as a pastor of St. Brigid’s Church in Brooklyn.
COVID-19 also claimed the Rev. Jorge Ortiz-Garay, 49, who served as a pastor of St. Brigid’s Church in Brooklyn
Bishop Nicholas DiMarzio, the head of the diocese in Brooklyn, called the passing of Ortiz-Garay ‘a tremendous loss for the Diocese of Brooklyn,’ reports Fox News.
‘Father Jorge was a great priest, beloved by the Mexican people and a tireless worker for all of the faithful in Brooklyn and Queens,’ DiMarzio said.
‘It is unfortunate that he was overcome by the coronavirus because of underlying health issues.’
Ortiz-Garay was born in Mexico City and became a priest in the U.S. after working as a lawyer.
The US leads the world in reported cases with more than 125,000. There were more than 2,100 deaths recorded by Sunday afternoon.
All 50 states have reported some cases of the virus but New York has the most, with more than 59,000 positive tests for the illness.
The governor also said that he supports the president’s decision to issue a travel advisory for New York but assured New Yorkers that: ‘This is not a lockdown.’
On Sunday, Gov Andrew Cuomo ordered New York’s non-essential workers to stay in place for another two weeks as cases climbed by more than 7,000 overnight and the death toll hit 965
The governor then gave a run-down of the state’s number of confirmed cases. Cuomo said the state now has more than 59,000 confirmed coronavirus cases with 8,000 hospitalized and 2,000 people in ICUs
This graphic shows the deaths per day in New York state, which saw 308 deaths on Saturday
New York’s coronavirus cases have increased significantly in the last 11 days. There are now more than 33,000 cases in New York City
Trump had initially considered ordering a quarantine for the coronavirus hotspots of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, but abandoned that idea Saturday night.
The president announced in a tweet that the quarantine would not go ahead and a travel advisory would be issued instead. The travel advisory urges residents of the tri-state area to immediately avoid any nonessential travel for two weeks.
‘I know we feel under attack. Yes, New York is the epicenter and these are different times and many people are frightened,’ Cuomo said, referring to the travel advisory and Rhode Island’s dramatic tactics of pulling over drivers with New York plates.
‘But look this is New York, we have made it through far greater things. We are going to be okay. We specialize in stamina in strength and instability. We are strong, we have endurance and we have stability,’ Cuomo said.
‘We know what we’re doing. We have a plan and any obstacle that we come across we will handle it,’ Cuomo said, adding that ‘there is no state in the nation that is better prepared’ than New York.
‘New York is going to have what it needs and no one is going to attack New York unfairly and no one is going to deprive New York of what it needs.’
Crews started assembling triage tents outside New York City hospitals that are already overwhelmed by coronavirus victims on Sunday.
The Mount Sinai system is setting up the temporary treatment facilities outside six of its hospitals – five in New York City and one in Long Island – as it prepares for a projected influx of COVID-19 patients.
‘The tents will be critical in helping us limit the spread of the disease between patients and staff,’ hospital officials said in a statement last week, adding that they will expand the emergency room ‘footprint’.
On Sunday workers began erecting tents in Central Park that will service overflow patients at Mount Sinai West Hospital.
Crews are seen assembling a triage site for coronavirus patients from Mount Sinai West Hospital in Central Park on Sunday
The temporary triage site is one of six being set up outside Mount Sinai hospitals in New York City and Long Island
The Central Park site is located near Columbus Circle, a few hundred yards from the Mount Sinai West emergency room on W 59th Street.
Workers were seen unfolding massive tents and spacing them out on a grassy field where dozens of boxes of supplies waited to be unpacked.
Experts have warned that New York is not the only metro area that could see such high cases of the coronavirus.
‘Every metro area should assume that they will have an outbreak equivalent to New York,’ Dr Deborah Birx, the White House’s coronavirus response coordinator, told NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday morning.
While the Big Apple leads the nation in cases by a significant margin – several other cities including Detroit, Chicago, Los Angeles, New Orleans and Boston are now being monitored as potential hotspots.
Dr Fauci predicts America’s coronavirus death toll will reach 100,000 to 200,000 and millions will be infected
Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s foremost infection disease expert, says the United States could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections from the coronavirus pandemic.
Fauci offered his prognosis in an interview with CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning, as the federal government weighs rolling back guidelines on social distancing.
‘I would say between 100,000 and 200,000 cases,’ he said, correcting himself to say he meant deaths. ‘We’re going to have millions of cases.’ But he added ‘I don’t want to be held to that’ because the pandemic is ‘such a moving target’.
The government is particularly looking at easing restrictions in areas that have not been hard-hit by the outbreak at the conclusion of the nationwide 15-day effort to slow the spread of the virus.
Dr Anthony Fauci, the government’s foremost infection disease expert, says the United States could experience more than 100,000 deaths and millions of infections from the coronavirus pandemic
The US currently leads the world in coronavirus infections with 132,647 reported as of Sunday afternoon
When asked about whether supported the move, Fauci said he would only support the rollback of social distancing guidelines in lesser impacted areas if there is enhanced testing in place.
Fauci also addressed President Donald Trump’s decision not to impose a strict quarantine on parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut after saying he was considering such restrictions on Saturday.
Fauci said it was important not to enforce something that would create ‘a bigger difficulty’, and instead issue a travel advisory for the New York metro area.
‘After discussions with the President we made it clear and he agreed, it would be much better to do what’s called a strong advisory,’ he said.
‘The reason for that is you don’t want to get to the point that you’re enforcing things that would create a bigger difficulty, morale and otherwise, when you could probably accomplish the same goal.’
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued its travel advisory late Saturday, urging residents of the three states to ‘refrain from nonessential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately’.
‘What you don’t want is people traveling from that area to other areas of the country and inadvertently and innocently infecting other individuals,’ Fauci said.
‘We felt the better way to do this would be an advisory as opposed to a very strict quarantine. And the President agreed, and that’s why he made that determination last night.’
Fauci noted that about 56 per cent of the country’s new infections are coming from the New York City area, where 33,786 cases and 678 deaths have been reported.
Tributes pour in for CBS News producer Maria Mercader, 54, who died from COVID-19 on Sunday
In a statement, CBS said Mercader had fought cancer and other related illnesses for more than 20 years. Mercader covered foreign and domestic breaking news and most recently began helping CBS shape its strategy for the network’s correspondents and reporters.
‘Even more than her talents as a journalist, we will miss her indomitable spirit,’ CBS president, Susan Zirinsky, said in the statement.
‘Maria was part of all of our lives. Even when she was hospitalized — and she knew something was going on at CBS, she would call with counsel, encouragement, and would say ‘you can do this.’ I called Maria a ‘warrior,’ she was. Maria was a gift we cherished.’
Her colleagues soon followed Zirinsky by sharing heartfelt tributes and memories of her on social media.
‘We would joke that I’d survived one type of cancer and she’d survived all the others. And now we’ve lost her to this hideous virus. Maria Mercader, CBS News Talent Executive and Producer, was as inspiring and lovely as any human being could be. Deepest condolences to her family,’ Miami-based correspondent, Manuel Bojorquez, tweeted.
Dan Rather wrote: ‘A hard hit to the heart, news longtime colleague and friend Maria Mercader died from coronavirus. A paragon of grit and grace, she embodied the best of the @CBSNews mission. Millions of Americans learned of the world through her efforts. Now our world is less with her loss. RIP.’
Her colleagues shared heartfelt tributes and memories on social media
Politics correspondent, DJ Judd, shared: ‘Sending love to my CBS family today. Maria Mercader was one of the first people I met there, and when my mother was fighting cancer she was one of our fiercest friends. She was a tenacious journalist who never stopped mentoring young journos, and her loss is a loss for all of us.’
CBS This Morning correspondent, Vladimir Duthiers wrote: ‘The sound you hear is that of my heart breaking into tiny pieces over the loss of our dear colleague Maria Mercader who died today from the Covid-19 coronavirus. She was a phenomenal journalist & across the news division we were blessed to be in the presence of her light.’
Aside from her work at CBS, Mercader helped coordinate CBS News’ participation in the Asian American Journalists Association, the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association and the National Association of Black Journalists.
Mercader is survived by her father, Manuel and brother, Manuel.
A total of six CBS News employees tested positive for the coronavirus, including a correspondent stationed in Italy.
Five employees with the virus work in CBS’ New York offices, where most of its journalists were ordered to stay away as a result two weeks ago.
‘Everyone works remotely unless specifically requested to come in,’ Zirinsky said in a memo to her staff at the time.
The cases in CBS’ New York studios has had cascading impacts.
New York’s WCBS-TV broadcasts from there, so New York’s local news was delivered by anchors in a Los Angeles studio.
The syndicated ‘Inside Edition’ also airs from there, and at one point Deborah Norville did the show from her kitchen at home.