New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has announced that he was starting trials for the anti-malaria drug touted as a potential ‘miracle’ coronavirus treatment tomorrow as he told Americans to ‘settle in’ to quarantining and warned it would last ‘several months’.
It came as the number of cases of coronavirus in New York City alone rose to 12,000, an increase of more than 3,000 overnight. The governor predicted the current crisis would last ‘several months’ more, doing away with any notion that it might be over in two weeks, as a tweet from President Trump on Sunday night suggested.
Cuomo, while telling people to try to find the ‘silver lining’ in the situation that they’d have more time to spend with family, said New York was working on preventative measures.
Tomorrow, the state’s doctors will start trialing hydroxychloroquine.
The drug has not yet been proven as effective in battling the virus, but President Trump drummed up excitement over it when he called it a ‘game changer’ last week. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the White House coronavirus expert, said more work was needed before it could be heralded as a solution.
Cuomo said on Monday that New York is also launching a trial later this week to inject seriously ill people with coronavirus anti-bodies in the hope that it will boost their immune systems.
The governor is also taking under advisement the argument that only the most vulnerable must isolate and allow younger, healthier people, to return to work.
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Monday that people had to ‘deal with the reality’ they now face and ‘settle in’ to self-isolating for ‘several months’
‘The FDA gave the New York state department of health approval to use on a compassionate care bases a drug we think has real possibility.
‘On the drug therapy, Tuesday we are going to start the hydroxychloroquine with the zithromax the drug combination that president Donald Trump has been talking about.
‘The FDA approved the New York state department of health to proceed with an experiment of drug again on a compassionate care bases.
‘What it does is takes the plasma from a person who has been infected with the virus, processes the plasma and injects the anti-bodies into a person who is sick.
‘There have been tests that show when a person is injected with the antibodies that then stimulates and promotes their immune system against that disease. It is only a trial. It is a trial for people who are in serious condition.
‘The New York state department of health has been working on this with some of the best healthcare agencies in New York. We think it shows promise and we will be starting that this week.
‘There is also work on a drug where test the anti-bodies of a person and see if they have the virus,’ he said.
There are now more than 20,000 cases in the state of New York, including 12,000 in the city of New York.
The US now has the third highest number of infections in the world, after Italy and China, with 39,000. Four hundred people have died.
More tests are being done in New York than in any other state in the US and testing rates have now surpassed those of South Korea, Cuomo said.
In one night, 16,000 tests were done. That is why the number of positive cases is sky-rocketing. Of the 20,000 plus cases identified in the state, 157 people have died.
Cuomo said the figures were encouraging: ‘Many will get infected but few will actually pass away from this disease. This is all evolving and this is all evolutionary – there has to be a balance or parallel tracks that we’re going down,’ he said.
The governor has also issued a call to action for all retired, registered nurses to come back to work, and he is mandating that hospitals increase their capacity by at least 50 percent. He wants them to aim to double it.
National Guard troops are seen arriving at the Javits Center, which is going to be used as a field hospital
The troops will be tasked with setting up field hospitals in the Javits Center and in college campuses
The Javits Center in New York City is to become a field hospital with at least 1,000 beds
Thirteen percent of the 20,000 cases of cases in the state are people who have had to be hospitalized. Twenty-four percent of the hospitalizations – nearly a quarter – are in ICU.
The state currently has 53,000 hospital beds, including 3,000. It needs 110,000 beds and between 18,000 and 37,000 ICU beds.
The Army Corps of Engineers is building hospital beds to go up in existing hospitals and make-shift facilities, like one that is being built at the Javits Center.
We can fix the economy later, we can fix everything else but we cannot fix loss of health
Cuomo toured it on Monday and said the city was still in the ‘calm before the storm’.
‘This is going to get much worse before it gets better. You’re going to see more people coming into the health system than we can handle.
‘Once we get through that, we’ll focus like a laser on the economy,’ he said, while touring the site.
He said ‘first order of business’ was to stop the public health emergency, rather than fixing the economy.
‘We can fix everything else, but we can’t fix loss of health,’ he said.
Medical supplies are also being distributed throughout the state on Monday.
Cuomo has sent out 440,000 masks, 176,000 pairs of gloves, 72,000 gowns, 92,000 face shields and 169,000 N-95 masks.
There are now several states in lockdown including New York which has the highest number of cases by far
A man crosses an abandoned intersection in Sunnyside, Queens, on Sunday as New Yorkers followed the ‘stay at home’ guidance
Cuomo also echoed other state and local leaders slamming President Trump for now enacting the Defense Production Act which would order private businesses to produce certain items needed to combat the crisis.
Instead, states are having to bid against each other and against the federal government – in addition to foreign governments – for the remaining supplies on the world’s market.
‘California offers $4, I offer $5, another state piles in and offers $6.
Trump said on Sunday night that he would reassess the situation in 15 days
‘It’s not the way to do it. Why are we competing? Let the federal government put in place the federal defense act. All it does is say to a factory, you must produce this quantity.
‘It cant just be, “hey who wants to help?
‘Let me know.” we need to know who is going to produce and when. That’s a beautiful thing but you can’t run this operation that way – it can’t just be based on we’re waiting for people to come forward on offers.
‘Yes, it’s the government telling private businesses what to do. So what? This is a national emergency. You’re paying them.
Bill de Blasio on Monday said that New York City would run out of supplies and ventilators within a week
‘You cannot continue to do these supplies on an ad-hoc basis.’
Cuomo said he knew isolation would be difficult for people but he urged them to stay ‘socially distant’ and ‘spiritually connected’.
‘Deal with this reality. Understand the negative effects of this.
‘These are personally negative effects. Don’t underestimate the emotional trauma and pain of isolation. It is real.
‘This is not the human condition – not to be comforted, close to be afraid and you can’t hug someone. Billy and Steve walked in today, I hadn’t seen them in months, I can’t shake their hands, I can’t hug them.
‘This is all unnatural.’
He said one ‘silver lining’ for him was that he now got to spend time with his daughter, Cara, who had come to assist the state government in its handling of the crisis.
Cuomo also used video messages from Danny DeVito and Robert DeNiro, pleading with people to stay indoors.
His announcement came after Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that New York City hospitals were less than a week away from running out of supplies on Monday as the city continued to battle coronavirus and became the ‘epicenter’ of the pandemic in the US.
The city needs ventilators and protective personal equipment for doctors and nurses to ensure they can treat people without becoming infected themselves.
An outdoor testing facility at St Barnabas Hospital in the Bronx on March 20
On Monday morning, de Blasio pleaded with the federal government to send help fast, and warned people would begin dying who could otherwise be saved if reinforcements did not arrive soon.
‘We can only get through this week if we don’t get some relief quickly. We will get to a point where people can’t be saved who could have been saved.
SURGEON GENERAL WARNS: IT’S IS GOING TO GET BAD THIS WEEK
Surgeon General Jerome Adams
The Surgeon General has urged the nation to ‘come together’ to fight coronavirus and warned: ‘This week, it’s going to get bad’ in a plea to the public to stay indoors and stop spreading the deadly disease.
Dr. Jerome Adams appeared on Today on Monday morning to tell young Americans who are still going out and socializing despite being warned to stay indoors and distance themselves by 6ft.
He fumed over the number of people still going out in large groups and referred to the shocking number of crowds he saw in Washington DC via a webcam set up for people to virtually enjoy the famous cherry blossom blooms.
‘I want America to understand. This week, it’s going to get bad. We really need to come together as a nation. You’re seeing young people out in beaches – here in DC.
‘The district set up a cam to watch the cherry blossoms. You look on the cam and you see more people than cherry blossoms. This is how the spread is occurring.
‘We really, really need everyone to stay at home. I think there are a lot of people who are doing the right thing. But unfortunately we’re finding out a lot of people think this can’t happen to them.
Dr. Adams said the US demography is younger than other countries. Nearly 30 percent of the cases were among people under the age of 45.
‘The demography seems to be very different in the US versus in other countries. There are theories that it could be because we know we have a higher proportion of people in the US and also in Italy who vape – we don’t know if that’s the only cause.
‘It’s important for people to know: You can get this disease, you can be hospitalized from this disease, you can die from this disease.
‘Most importantly, you can spread it to your loved ones.’
Dr. Adams’ warning came as Tom Bossert, former national security adviser, predicted that New York City’s cases will continue to increase for the next six weeks.
He believes the worst spike will come in the next two weeks.
‘France, Spain, GB and US are now all on the same epidemic curve.
‘Pretty soon he US will become the leader because of its size in terms of reported cases and that will be a terrifying day – what I’m trying to communicate to people is that while NY is bad, the rest of the country can’t take a breath.
‘We’ve got a six week growth curve in NYC, the next 2 weeks will be the most aggressive multiples of 10 potentially.’
‘New York City will have more than it can handle within seven days.
‘It’s moving so fast. Even a few days ago I thought we could safely get into April… now I can’t even say that.
‘If we don’t get ventilators this week, we are going to start losing lives we could have saved,’ he warned.
Trump said on Sunday that ventilators and vital supplies were on their way to New York City and that the national guard had been mobilized to help.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo has already told of plans to turn the city’s unused public venues into field hospitals.
De Blasio, who has been more frantic in his pleas for help since the pandemic began, said on Monday that he would accept a ventilator from ‘anyone’ who has one.
‘Anyone in the USA who has a ventilator that you can get to NYC, we need it now – I will take any help from anywhere,’ he said.
There has been uproar over President Trump’s handling of the crisis, particularly in his delay of enacting the Defense Production Act.
Trump says he’s using it but governors and mayors say otherwise.
They claim they are being forced to bid against the federal government and foreign countries to get their hands on the ventilators they need, and that there is a pattern of ‘disgusting’ price gouging which hinders them.
De Blasio echoed the Surgeon General Jerome Adams’ earlier comment that the situation was going to become worse before it gets better.
‘This week is going to be worse than the following week.
‘I mean we have to be honest about this.
‘This is just the beginning and I don’t mean that to be anything but blunt and honest with New Yorkers and all Americans.
‘It’s the beginning of something that will get worse throughout April and into May and we’ve got to brace ourselves and we’ve got to change our lives and we absolutely need help from Washington,’ he said.
De Blasio said the number of beds that will be erected in places like the Javits Center – a sprawling expo center – was ‘encouraging’.
‘I think it could be absolutely crucial because we’re at a point literally this week where our public system, the largest in the country, is getting increasingly stressed and running out of equipment.
‘So, that operation at the Javits Center could be a lifesaver for us. We expect to see a lot of that up and running this week.’
Gov. Cuomo said he would also turn some CUNY and SUNY campuses into hospitals.
The USNS Comfort, a Navy hospital ship with capacity for 1,000 people, is due to dock in the city in the coming weeks.
It will not cater to coronavirus patients but will take in others requiring hospital care in order to free up beds in the hospitals.
New York City closed its bars and restaurants last Monday night. The state has since issued a stay-at-home order which applies to all non-essential workers.
It is a move that is crippling the economy but is vital to preventing the virus from spreading.
Cases in New York have spiked more than anywhere else in the country
De Blasio said on Monday that it was necessary because the ‘human cost’ of not trying to stop the virus was unfathomable.
‘How many members of our family, especially our older relatives, who are the people, you know, really vulnerable here – are we simply saying as a nation we’re going to turn away and ignore the challenges facing them? I don’t think that’s right.
‘I think we have to understand that if we act intensely, we can save thousands, tens of thousands of lives all over this country and stop this thing from becoming even more total and more intense.
‘And we have to recognize, if coronavirus was not checked in some ways and slowed then you’re talking about a health care system that can’t function at all, including for all the people with other challenges, with all the other health care challenges we deal with all the time.
‘So I understand people who say, you know, wow, this is an extraordinary sacrifice. It is.
‘But if you don’t slow this thing down, they’ll sacrifice a lot more on the other end of the equation and we got to think about the human cost here,’ he said.
US now has the THIRD most coronavirus infections in the world behind China and Italy, New York State has 6% and NYC has 4%
Fueled in large part by the virus’s rapid spread in New York, the US is now the third-most infected country in the world, with more than 39,000 cases.
Only China and Italy have seen more cases of COVID-19 than the US, with 81,093 and 59,138 cases in each.
New York now has nearly six percent of worldwide coronavirus cases, according to Governor Andrew Cuomo’s Monday announcement.
With 20,875 New Yorkers diagnosed with the virus sweeping the globe, the state has far surpassed all other states and hotspots in the US for coronavirus cases.
And New York City alone has 12,305 cases, accounting for 3.5 percent people with coronavirus worldwide.
Cases in the New York and country have surged as a result of both the virus’s rapid spread in and outside of high-density areas like New York City and as testing capacity has ramped up steeply in the state.
With 16,000 COVID-19 tests being administered a day, New York is now testing more people per capita each day than South Korea, which has set the global pace for testing.
Hundreds, if not thousands, of new cases have been confirmed there on a daily basis for the past two weeks in New York and the death toll has risen to 157.
The state is bracing for its hospitals to become overwhelmed, with Governor Cuomo pushing to double beed capacity, telling the workforce to stay home and beginning trials of experimental drugs for coronavirus on Tuesday.
Already, 13 percent of New York residents who have tested positive were hospitalized as of Monday, Cuomo said.
The majority of cases – nearly 11,000 – in the state are in New York City, where the virus has spread like wildfire in the densely populated boroughs.
Other hotspots include Nassau County with 1,900 cases and Westchester, where a lawyer lives there and who worked in Manhattan became a ‘super-spreader.’ Now, nearly 2,000 in the county are infected.
In an effort to stem the virus’s spread, Cuomo ordered all non-essential businesses to close, effective 8pm Sunday.
He also hit out at New Yorkers for ignoring the government’s warnings to stay home and keep their distance from one another.
‘You would think there was nothing going on in parts of New York City,’ the governor said of his Saturday tour of the city.
‘I don’t now what I’m saying that people don’t get. This is not life as usual. None of this is life as usual.’