Kellyanne Conway on Thursday blamed Bill de Blasio for the spread of coronavirus in New York City after the Mayor told people ‘to go out on the town’ in tweet earlier this month.
The White House adviser told Fox News she was ‘not playing politics’ but added: ‘You have a mayor saying, “Look at me, I’m on the subway, go out on the town”.
‘He told people through a tweet on March 2, “Go live your lives and go out on the town,” and then recommended what show everybody go see.’
Conway was referring to a March 2 tweet from de Blasio in which he made movie recommendations.
He wrote: ‘Since I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions.’
Nearly 22,000 people have been infected with the coronavirus in NYC and the death toll stood at 281 by Thursday afternoon. The city is now the epicenter of the U.S outbreak.
Kellyanne Conway on Wednesday blamed Bill de Blasio for the spread of coronavirus in New York City after the Mayor told people ‘to go out on the town’ in tweet earlier this month
Mayor de Blasio announced Thursday his goal of reopening the city’s schools by April 20
Conway was referring to a March 2 tweet from de Blasio in which he made movie recommendations. He wrote: ‘Since I’m encouraging New Yorkers to go on with your lives + get out on the town despite Coronavirus, I thought I would offer some suggestions’
Speaking Wednesday Conway said. ‘So it’s very unfortunate that we now have the spread in the whole New York metro area, which as you all know includes many parts of New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania. I personally know people who commute from Pennsylvania into New York for work — into New York City for work.
‘That obviously includes heavily the commuting counties in and around New York City, which didn’t go into lockdown until almost a week ago, unfortunately.’
White House officials said Tuesday that anyone who has recently been to New York should self quarantine for 14 days.
Dr Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House task force, warned that people leaving the hardest hit area of the United States might not be sick, but could have been exposed to the virus.
A medical worker directs a patient to enter a COVID-19 testing site at Elmhurst Hospital Center
She said: ‘Everybody who was in New York should be self-quarantining for the next 14 days to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread to others, no matter where they have gone, whether it’s Florida, North Carolina, or out to far, far reaches of Long Island.’
Mayor de Blasio announced Thursday his goal of reopening the city’s schools by April 20, despite the dramatically escalating coronavirus outbreak which saw 100 deaths in the state in one day.
De Blasio predicted that the city is to see the worst of the pandemic in April and May but still hopes to see students return to class before the crisis eases up.
On Thursday afternoon, the mayor visited Brooklyn Navy Yard where 120,000 face masks are expected to be made by local business in the coming days to ease the growing strain on the healthcare system severely lacking in supplies.
He teased an announcement that desperately needed ventilators will be soon be produced locally.
As of Thursday morning, there are 21,873 cases of coronavirus confirmed in the five boroughs, according the the Health Department.
Of those, 11,967 people, or 55 percent, are younger than 50 years old but the majority of those who have died have been older.
An FDNY medical worker wears personal protective equipment outside a COVID-19 testing site at Elmhurst Hospital Center in New York City on Wednesday
Nobody under 18 has died of COVID-19 in New York City and 96 percent of deaths have had an underlying illness.
Health officials believe the cases confirmed in New York City is still just a fraction of the number truly infected in the city as hospitals and health care structures begin to buckle under the weight of patients, the high number of deaths, and the extreme lack of ventilators and personal protective equipment (PPE).
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered a somber update on Thursday morning as the number of deaths in the state was revealed to be 100 in the past 24 hours alone.
‘That’s what comes first: the rate of increase in the number of cases,’ he said.
‘That’s what we are looking for.’