Wealthy NYC businesses board up their stores to defend against civil unrest as virus decimates NYPD

High-end stores throughout New York such as Louis Vuitton and Dolce & Gabbana are boarding up their windows in anticipation of civil unrest as the death toll in the city reached 1,867 on Friday with 305 new deaths.

The wealthy businesses had already been ordered closed along with bars and restaurants as part of the shelter in place protections but they are now taking further steps to secure their property and products as the city’s police department suffers high numbers of officers calling in sick with the coronavirus raging through its ranks.  

New York City cases spiked to 57,159 on Friday night with 5,350 new cases, as the national total rose to 277,999 confirmed cases and 7,164 deaths.  

Boarded up windows and empty streets have transformed the city that never sleeps into a war zone with city officials sending out on an emergency alert to New Yorkers’ cellphones on Friday calling on health workers to present themselves for battle against the coronavirus outbreak on the front lines in the city’s overstretched, overwhelmed and under resourced hospitals.   

The alert came amid warnings that New York City will run out of crucial supplies by the end of next week and that Sunday will be ‘D-Day’ in terms of assessing what is needed for the weeks going forward. 

Some high end stores like Dolce & Gabbana on Mercer Street boarding up with plywood windows and entrances to prevent looting in Manhattan as pictured on Saturday, March 28, as the NYPD reports that it has been hard hit by the coronavirus

View of a boarded up Louis Vuitton store in the SoHo neighborhood of NYC on April 1 as stores close during the crisis

View of a boarded up Louis Vuitton store in the SoHo neighborhood of NYC on April 1 as stores close during the crisis

An inspirational message is painted on a boarded up business as New York City attempts to slow down the spread of coronavirus through social distancing on Thursday. Some stores have boarded up to protect against civil unrest and looting

An inspirational message is painted on a boarded up business as New York City attempts to slow down the spread of coronavirus through social distancing on Thursday. Some stores have boarded up to protect against civil unrest and looting

Healthcare workers wheel the body of deceased person from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease on Thursday. The city sent an emergency alert to all cellphones on Friday asking for more workers

Healthcare workers wheel the body of deceased person from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease on Thursday. The city sent an emergency alert to all cellphones on Friday asking for more workers

Dolce & Gabbana, Jimmy Choo and Louis Vuitton were among the Manhattan stores to cover up their windows with plywood in the past week as the crisis in the city worsened despite streets being empty of customers or even passersby. 

The rows of boarded up buildings create a stark reminder of the newly unemployed workers who lost their jobs after the scale of the outbreak caused stores, bars and restaurants to shut their doors for the foreseeable future.  

Some businesses attempted to light the mood on the closures, despite the rows of plywood covering their entrance, painting messages of support and encouragement that the coronavirus will be beaten. 

Throughout Manhattan, the unsightly coverings are offset with the words of motivation.  

‘We are all in this together,’ one reads. ‘Stay save. Save lives.’ 

Louis Vuitton in Soho was among the storefronts to leave its customers a messages on the wooden boards guarding its property reading: ‘The journey that was paused will eventually start again, Louis Vuitton wishes you & your loved ones health & safety.’ 

Some high end stores like Jimmy Choo on Greene Street boarding up with plywood windows and entrances to prevent looting in Manhattan despite the NYPD reporting that crime levels have been down since the shelter in place order emptied streets

Some high end stores like Jimmy Choo on Greene Street boarding up with plywood windows and entrances to prevent looting in Manhattan despite the NYPD reporting that crime levels have been down since the shelter in place order emptied streets

Brunello Cuccinelli on Madison Ave is boarded up as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States Thursday

Brunello Cuccinelli on Madison Ave is boarded up as the coronavirus continues to spread across the United States Thursday

A message is displayed on a boarded up Louis Vuitton storefront in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City on Wednesday

A message is displayed on a boarded up Louis Vuitton storefront in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City on Wednesday

Boarded up storefronts are seen in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City on Wednesday. Many wealthy businesses have covered up their windows to protect against civil unrest and looting as the coronavirus crisis in the city worsens

Boarded up storefronts are seen in the SoHo neighborhood of New York City on Wednesday. Many wealthy businesses have covered up their windows to protect against civil unrest and looting as the coronavirus crisis in the city worsens

Upper East Side residents walk passed The Supply House Restaurant located at 1647 2nd Avenue in Manhattan which is closed and boarded up due to COVID-19 pandemic. Bars and restaurants have shuttered up as residents continue to shelter

Upper East Side residents walk passed The Supply House Restaurant located at 1647 2nd Avenue in Manhattan which is closed and boarded up due to COVID-19 pandemic. Bars and restaurants have shuttered up as residents continue to shelter 

The boarded up windows appear as the New York Police Department reveals the extent to which its force its being ravaged by the virus with one detective and seven civilian workers dying in recent days. 

The NYPD was forced to beg the government to send more masks for officers, only for the White House to turn it into a publicity stunt with the catchy name ‘Operation Blue Bloods’ and boast about its own response.

On Monday, NYPD Chief of Department Terence Monahan had sent a desperate email to the White House pleading for more protective gear.

Shortages of masks have left officers at an increased risk of contracting the infection, as they are left with no choice but to make house calls across the city without any protective equipment.

The city’s cops have been sacrificing their own health during the pandemic in order to protect New York residents.

As of figures released Thursday, 6,498 uniformed members of the NYPD were on the sick report, amounting to 18 percent of the workforce, while 1,354 uniformed members and 169 civilian members have tested positive.  

Concerns from businesses that they need to board up their store are, as yet, unwarranted with reports of less crime in the city despite the marked difficulties of the NYPD to patrol the streets to the same extent with their own diminishing force. 

According to data released by the NYPD for the last month, between March 16 and March 22, there was a 17 percent drop in major felonies while grand larceny was down 31 percent and misdemeanor assaults by 21 percent when compared to the same time last year. 

Along with views of boarded up businesses, residents are now faced with the image of all New Yorkers covering their faces when they leave their homes as advised by Mayor Bill de Blasio in his Thursday press conference.  

The city’s new advice came just before President Trump announced at his own Friday press briefing that the Centers for Disease Control was now recommending that Americans wear non-medical cloth masks – but pressed that it wasn’t a mandate.

‘So it’s voluntary, you don’t have to be doing it,’ the president said from the briefing room podium. ‘This is voluntary, I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.’

For days, top experts, including members of Trump’s coronavirus taskforce said they were debating whether or not to put out a mask recommendation.

One concern is that Americans not working in the medical field would scoop up masks needed to protect doctors, nurses, first responders and others on the front lines.

Some high end stores like Fendi on Greene Street boarding up with plywood windows to prevent looting

Some high end stores like Fendi on Greene Street boarding up with plywood windows to prevent looting

A sign that say "CLOSED We will miss you. Thanks for you support!" is posted at the door of PQR Pizza Quadrata Romana located at 1631 2nd Avenue in Manhattan on March 23. Bars and restaurants closed their doors on March 17

A sign that say “CLOSED We will miss you. Thanks for you support!” is posted at the door of PQR Pizza Quadrata Romana located at 1631 2nd Avenue in Manhattan on March 23. Bars and restaurants closed their doors on March 17

An Upper East Side resident walks passed PQR Pizza Quadrata Romana located at 1631 2nd Avenue in Manhattan which is closed and boarded up due to COVID-19 pandemic. Stores are protecting their property during the closures

An Upper East Side resident walks passed PQR Pizza Quadrata Romana located at 1631 2nd Avenue in Manhattan which is closed and boarded up due to COVID-19 pandemic. Stores are protecting their property during the closures

Medical staff move bodies from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center to a refrigerated truck in Brooklyn as the death toll in the city continues to climb. On Friday there were 305 more deaths bringing the total to 1,867 with a total of 57,159 cases

Medical staff move bodies from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center to a refrigerated truck in Brooklyn as the death toll in the city continues to climb. On Friday there were 305 more deaths bringing the total to 1,867 with a total of 57,159 cases

For days, Trump suggested that Americans could simply wear scarves to get by.

But on Friday he said the CDC was putting out the new recommendation for masks.

‘From recent studies we know that transmissions from individuals without symptoms is playing a more signifcant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood, so you don’t seem to have symptoms and it still gets transferred,’ the president explained.

‘In light of these studies the CDC is advising the sue of non-medical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure,’ he said. 

Earlier on Friday, the city’s mayor Bill de Blasio called on President Trump to create a mandatory enlistment for healthcare workers in order to sufficiently staff hospitals. 

During a press conference on Friday afternoon, de Blasio called on the president to do ‘what no president had ever done before’ and force medical staff from around the US to come to New York to fight. 

He says the theoretical army of doctors could then be deployed anywhere in the country to fight the virus where it strikes most viciously. 

The call was followed by an emergency alert issued to all cell phones in New York that pleaded with healthcare workers to come on board ‘to help healthcare facilities in need’.  

De Blasio also announced he has given the NYPD permission to raid businesses that are hoarding vital medical supplies. 

Workers at Mount Sinai West Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, bring out 5 dead body's. Hospital workers faced with the grim task hurriedly brought the dead to store in a refrigerated truck at the back of the hospital

Workers at Mount Sinai West Hospital in Manhattan, New York City, bring out 5 dead body’s. Hospital workers faced with the grim task hurriedly brought the dead to store in a refrigerated truck at the back of the hospital

Brave staff in Mount Sinai West Hospital in Manhattan are charged with bring out dead bodies to a refrigerated truck

Brave staff in Mount Sinai West Hospital in Manhattan are charged with bring out dead bodies to a refrigerated truck

Over a 30 minute period on Friday, healthcare workers brought out five bodies from Mount Sinai West Hospital Manhattan

Over a 30 minute period on Friday, healthcare workers brought out five bodies from Mount Sinai West Hospital Manhattan

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling on President Trump to enlist doctors and nurses from around the country to come and help his overstretched hospitals in the fight against coronavirus

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling on President Trump to enlist doctors and nurses from around the country to come and help his overstretched hospitals in the fight against coronavirus

NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio is calling on President Trump to enlist doctors and nurses from around the country to come and help his overstretched hospitals in the fight against coronavirus 

An emergency alert was also sent to cell phones in New York City on Friday evening, calling on licensed healthcare workers to volunteer to 'support facilities in need'

An emergency alert was also sent to cell phones in New York City on Friday evening, calling on licensed healthcare workers to volunteer to ‘support facilities in need’

Earlier on Friday, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to retrieve all equipment that the state needs – ventilators and PPE equipment – and use it where it is needed.

De Blasio celebrated the decision on Friday and said he’d gone further to give the FDNY, NYPD and New York Sheriff’s Office permission to raid any businesses that are hoarding the supplies. 

There are more than 57,700 cases of coronavirus in the city of New York and 1,867 people have died.

He also wrote an op-ed in The New York Times about his strategy.  

He believes there are still masks and gloves in the construction industry and in manufacturing businesses and also in non-essential medical scenarios. 

‘Right now there are docs and nurses and medical professionals going about their normal lives but a lot of them could be freed up in a crisis. I have called for today, something unprecedented: A national enlistment effort; a national effort to bring all available medical personnel into the fight, wherever that fight is raging the most, to recruit docs nurses and medical pros from all over the country send them rapidly and move them rapidly to the next biggest problem. 

‘We will then offer our personnel to go to the next front. it’s never been done but we know what it looks like because this country’s been through war and our military has the ability to put together a national structure and insure they get where they need to go. 

‘Our military have not been brought in in anywhere near the way they could have been I’m really thankful USNS comfort are here but they are few in number compared to the might of the military. there’s a very small presence; it should a huge presence. 

‘They have not been called up to action – it’s time for the commander-in-chief to give the order. If we’re fighting a war lets act like we’re fighting a war. 

‘I’m telling the president, do something no president has had to do in modern history; create an enlistment for medical personnel and make sure our military medical personnel are not on their bases. We need them now.’ 

De Blasio went on to say the nation – but particularly New York City – was ‘in the middle of a war’.  

Medical workers remove a body from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn on Friday

Medical workers remove a body from the Wyckoff Heights Medical Center in Brooklyn on Friday 

There are makeshift morgues set up all over New York City to cope with the escalating death tol

There are makeshift morgues set up all over New York City to cope with the escalating death tol

‘If another country were attacking the US, our largest city and simultaneously attacking Florida, Michigan, Louisiana, and thousands of Americans had died and if i said, “do you think the military would be called up?” 

‘You’d say yes. The enemy is killing thousands of Americans who don’t need to die, who should not die if the right medical help were there for them. You cant say every state for themselves every city for themselves. 

‘That’s not America when there’s a disaster. Everyone goes from all over the country to help. It’s an American belief that we go to help. We have to wake up with the reality we’re facing, this is a war with many many fronts.’  

De Blasio believes that most businesses that still have supplies will turn them over. However if they don’t, he says law enforcement can take them. 

He did not specify how they will find out what is where, or whether or not the businesses will be punished for not giving them up. 

‘‘We know for a fact that there’s still a lot of supplies that have not been applied – they’re sitting in offices and warehouses and that’s not acceptable. I’m authorizing the NYPD, sheriff’s office, FDNY to support the efforts to acquire these supplies from these private companies. 

‘I’m certain many will comply readily. in the event that any private organization attempts to resist this new instruction from the state and does not provide those crucial, life-saving supplies and equipment – I’m authorizing the NYPD to use their law enforcement capacity to make sure those items are turned over immediately and brought immediately to where the need is greatest in our hospital system,’ he said. 

He also thanked the president and Jared Kushner for getting 200,000 N-95 masks to the city ‘within hours’ on Friday.

‘I want to give special thanks to the president and to Jared Kushner they told me they would get 200,000 n-95 masks to our hospital system. I was on a call with them yesterday, they said they would produce them immediately and low and behold… a few hours later, that they had been delivered.’ 

On Friday, the U.S. experienced its worst day of the crisis yet as deaths rose by 1,084 to over 7,100 with more than 275,000 confirmed cases across the country as experts warn the peak is still two weeks away. 

The national total now stands at 7,164 deaths and 277, 999 cases, a jump of 32,234 new cases since Thursday. 

New York City remains the epicenter of the outbreak with 57,159 cases. The Big Apple’s deaths reached 1,867 on Friday, recording 305 new deaths since Thursday. 

The state’s death rate also hit a new high on Friday with 23 people dying every hour through the last 24-hour period. Deaths total 2,935 and there are 103,060 confirmed cases of the virus, as of Friday evening. 

New hotspots continue to emerge in Michigan, Louisiana and Georgia where soaring fatality rates are causing concerns that they may become the next major outbreak centers.  

The state’s infection rate still ranks below New York and New Jersey, the two states with the highest death tolls and number of infections, which currently have a 35 percent rate of positive tests.

New York state recorded 562 news deaths and 10,482 additional cases as of Friday evening. 

Overnight, the death toll rose from 2,373 to 2,935 – the single highest increase in a day yet and the equivalent of 23 people dying every hour. The number of cases went up by 10,317 to 103,060.

Health officials are maintaining a close watch on infection rates and the death tolls in each state to see what parts of the country will follow New York.

About 90 percent of Americans - or 297 million people - are now in some form of lockdown due to the coronavirus as of Thursday but some states are still leaving it down to individuals

About 90 percent of Americans – or 297 million people – are now in some form of lockdown due to the coronavirus as of Thursday but some states are still leaving it down to individuals

Officials this week predicted that between 100,000 and 240,000 Americans will die from the coronavirus.

With a current death toll of more than 7,000, the United States is now dwarfing the number of deaths officially reported in China (3,327) where the outbreak first originated back in December.

While the death toll in Italy (13,915) and Spain (10,348) is still higher, the US eclipsed the number of infections in the hard-hit European countries with both Italy (115,242) and Spain (112,065) reporting only around half the number of infections. 

A new graph shows that just 20 days after the first case was reported, the US had more than 20,000 cases.

Over the same time period, Spain had around 7,000, Italy and the UK had under 5,000 and Iran had about 1,000.

About 90 percent of the US, or 297 million people, are currently in some form of lockdown to help stop the spread of the virus.

At least 38 states, Washington DC and Puerto Rico were all in lockdown as of Thursday.

Florida, Georgia, Maine, Mississippi, Nevada, Pennsylvania and Texas are among the latest to urge residents to avoid going outside to help slow the spread of the deadly virus.

Some states, however, are still refusing to order lockdowns with the governor of Missouri insisting it is down to ‘individual responsibility’. 

Arkansas, North Dakota, South Dakota and Iowa currently have no known lockdown measures. Some cities in states including Utah, Wyoming and Alabama have their own local orders but no statewide mandates.

It comes as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to changes it guidance for hot spot areas in the US and urge people living in those cities or states to wear masks or other face coverings outside.

Donald Trump announces the CDC is telling EVERYBODY to wear masks or face coverings ‘voluntarily’ but says ‘I don’t think I’m going to be doing that’ – then Melania tweets plea to take ‘covering seriously’

President Trump announced at his Friday press briefing that the Centers for Disease Control was now recommending that Americans wear non-medical cloth masks – but pressed that it wasn’t a mandate.

‘So it’s voluntary, you don’t have to be doing it,’ the president said from the briefing room podium. ‘This is voluntary, I don’t think I’m going to be doing it.’

Minutes later, first lady Melania Trump tweeted that Americans should take mask-wearing seriously.

‘As the weekend approaches I ask that everyone take social distancing & wearing a mask/face covering seriously,’ she tweeted from her FLOTUS account. ‘#COVID19 is a virus that can spread to anyone – we can stop this together.’

President Trump said the CDC would put out a recommendation that Americans wear masks - but said it was voluntary and he would not be doing it

President Trump said the CDC would put out a recommendation that Americans wear masks – but said it was voluntary and he would not be doing it 

The president urged Americans not to wear medical-grade masks and instead could make masks from fabric at home

The president urged Americans not to wear medical-grade masks and instead could make masks from fabric at home 

The first lady sent a Friday evening tweet telling Americans to 'take social distancing & wearing a mask/face covering seriously'

The first lady sent a Friday evening tweet telling Americans to ‘take social distancing & wearing a mask/face covering seriously’ 

But the president suggested it might make him look foolish as he communicated with world leaders.

‘I’m feeling good,’ Trump said when asked why he wouldn’t sport face-wear. ‘Somehow sitting in the Oval Office, sitting behind that beautiful Resolute Desk, the great Resolute Desk, I think wearing a face mask as I greet presidents, prime ministers, dictators, kings, queens, I don’t know, I just don’t see it for myself,’ Trump said.

For days, top experts, including members of Trump’s coronavirus taskforce said they were debating whether or not to put out a mask recommendation.

One concern is that Americans not working in the medical field would scoop up masks needed to protect doctors, nurses, first responders and others on the front lines. 

For days, Trump suggested that Americans could simply wear scarves to get by. 

But on Friday he said the CDC was putting out the new recommendation for masks. 

‘From recent studies we know that transmissions from individuals without symptoms is playing a more signifcant role in the spread of the virus than previously understood, so you don’t seem to have symptoms and it still gets transferred,’ the president explained. 

In light of these studies the CDC is advising the sue of non-medical cloth face covering as an additional voluntary public health measure,’ he said. 

The president suggested cloth or fabric masks that could be ordered online or made at home. 

They should also be able to be washed. 

‘I want to emphasize that the CDC is not recommending the use of medical grade or surgical grade masks and we want that to be used for our great medical people that are working so hard and doing some job,’ the president said. 

Trump also said that mask-wearing did not replace the social distancing guidelines the government already put out, including standing six feet apart and ‘practicing hand hygiene’ as the president put it. 

‘Again, we’re all going to come back together here,’ he assured the American people.  

But then reiterated he wouldn’t be caught wearing a mask. 

‘I’m choosing not to do it,’ the president said. 

Surgeon General Jerome Adams later took the podium and expressed that it’s a nice thing to do. 

‘Remember this is all about me protecting you and you protecting me,’ Adams said.  ‘And if people voluntarily choose to wear a face covering they’re wearing it to protect their neighbors from getting coronavirus because they could have asymptomatic spread.’ 

And Robert Redfield, the CDC director, also gave his take when Trump was asked by another reporter why not set an example and wear a mask.   

‘So really the purpose here is first and foremost to embrace the social distancing. That’s the No. 1. That’s the powerful weapon. And, you know, this virus has a great weakness, it can’t justmp from one person to another if it’s gotta swim more than six feet,’ Redfield began. 

‘We know that a face barrier can actually interrupt the number of virus particles that can go from one person to another,’ the CDC explained.   

Trump was tested for the virus for a second time on Thursday – this time with the quicker 15-minute test. Participants in White House meetings are also now getting this test. 

‘I was just tested also, so I assume I don’t have the virus so I don’t have to worry about spreading it,’ the president also said.   

New York’s death rate leaps to new high of 562 in a day: Cuomo reveals 23 people died every HOUR over last 24hrs – bringing the total to 2,935 and 102,863 infections – more than the number of those killed in NYC on 9/11

The coronavirus death toll across the state of New York has risen by 562 in just 24 hours, bringing the total number of victims to 2,935, and the number of infections has gone past 100,000.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo revealed the startling new figures at a press conference on Friday morning where he pleaded with the other states to send help before the pandemic peaks.

Overnight, the death toll rose from 2,373 to 2,935 – the single highest increase in a day yet and the equivalent of 23 people dying every hour. The number of cases went up by 10,482 to 102,863.

More people have now died across the state of New York as a result of the coronavirus than were killed in New York City in the Twin Towers attacks on 9/11. That day, 2,753 died in New York and an additional 224 died in the attacks on the Pentagon and on United Flight 93.

Across America, there are now more than 270,000 cases of the virus and more than 7,000 people have died.

Gov. Cuomo said on Friday that the only ‘logical, practical’ plan was for the country to enact a rolling deployment of resources to the regions that need it when they need it.

Since New York is ‘the first encounter’, he is asking for help to be sent his way now but said he will return the favor if and when the crisis in his state is over.

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Friday that the number of cases and deaths continue to rise despite ongoing mitigation efforts

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo said on Friday that the number of cases and deaths continue to rise despite ongoing mitigation efforts 

He has signed an executive order which allows him to take excess ventilators from hospitals that do not have a surge in coronavirus patients and redeploy them to any that are overrun by cases.

Cuomo said he knows individual hospitals will not like the order, but that it is what must be done to avoid people dying ‘because we didn’t share’.

He has promised to either return the ventilator once to the hospital it was taken from or reimburse them for it. His strategy hinges on the proviso that different localities will hit their peaks at different times.

‘I understand they don’t want to give up their ventilators. Ventilators are expensive pieces of equipment…but I don’t have an option and I’m not going to get into a situation where we know we’re running out and we could have people dying because there are no ventilators but there are hospitals in other parts of the state that have ventilators they are not using,’ he said.

Asked whether he was worried some of the hospitals could sue him for the order, he said: ‘It’d be a slow day if I didn’t get sued five times but if they want to sue me for borrowing their excess ventilators to save lives, let them sue me.’

Cuomo used the analogy of borrowing someone’s drill to illustrate his point.

‘Lend me your drill. I will bring it back to you or I will buy you a new drill. How do you lose ? I’m not taking your last drill. You have five other drills in your toolbox.

‘You’re not going to to use use drills between then and if something happens where you go on a drilling frenzy? Call me and I’ll bring you more,’ he said.

Nationally, he said there will be instances of two cities hitting their apexes at the same time but that largely, the spread will be staggered. 

Read more at DailyMail.co.uk