New York Post, Friday, March 13, 2020
nypost.com
outbreak
By Julia Marsh,
Bernadette Hogan
and Aaron FeisWhile Mayor de Blasio fought
tooth-and-nail to prevent corona-
virus closures before declaring a
state of emergency on Thursday,
the Big Apple was already shriv-
eling around him — with muse-
ums and courts deciding on their
own to close or scale back and
Gov. Cuomo stepping in to order
large venues and even Broadway
shuttered.
“There is no precedent for this
in our history, in New York’s his-
tory,” a rattled de Blasio said in a
City Hall press briefing after Cu-
omo effectively closes the Great
White Way, Madison Square Gar-
den and Barclays Center.
“It’s going to get a lot worse be-
fore it’s going to get better,” the
mayor warned, while saying he
agreed with Cuomo’s decision.
The number of confirmed city
cases climbed to 95 on Thursday,
accounting for nearly one-third
of the 325 cases statewide.
New York has yet to record a
death from the disease, but
de Blasio predicted the contagion
would take its toll.
“We’re going to lose some of
our fellow New Yorkers,” he said.
“That, unfortunately, is inevita-
ble.”
Hizzoner made the dire predic-
tion as he declared a state of
emergency that gives him author-
ity to take a number of steps, in-
cluding establishing a curfew,
taking public transit offline and
restricting when people and vehi-
cles can enter or leave the city.
Previously, de Blasio had
strongly opposed taking such
steps — including the postpone-ment of the St. Patrick’s Day Pa-
rade — telling CNN hours earlier,
“I don’t want to see Broadway go
dark if we can avoid it.”
But effective at 5 p.m. on Thurs-
day, Broadway went dark in the
first phase of a Cuomo-mandated
ban on gatherings of 500 people
or more.
Starting at 5 p.m. on Friday, that
prohibition expands to houses of
worship, restaurants and bars, as
well as concert and sports venues
like the Garden, which de Blasio
said could be closed through Sep-
tember.
The string of closures scuttled
the plans of Rita and Ed Ever-stine, a tourist couple from hard-
hit Washington state.
Rita was set to run the New
York City Half Marathon, and
both she and Ed were hoping to
attend the St. Patrick’s Day Pa-
rade and take in “Tina” on Broad-
way. All of those activities have
become victims of coronavirus
cancellations.
“It’s unfortunate, but it’s under-
standable,” said Ed, 69. “We don’t
want anyone to get sick. We
would rather everybody be
healthy.”
Added Rita, 67, “Hopefully, the
restaurants will stay open be-
cause we want to get all the goodNew York food.”
Venues with occupancy limits
of less than 500 will still be al-
lowed to operate, though only at
half their usual capacity.
Larger venues may operate
with a maximum of 499 people.
Hospitals, nursing homes, gro-
cery stores, mass-transit hubs
and schools are among the facili-
ties exempt from the restriction.
The Archdiocese of New York
announced on Thursday that its
parochial schools will be closed
for a week starting Monday.
The archdiocese includes Man-
hattan, The Bronx and Staten Is-
land, as well as Westchester andother counties north of the city.
The Diocese of Brooklyn —
which includes Queens — said it
plans to keep campuses open but
is monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, the city shuttered a
Bronx school building on Thurs-
day after a child there displayed
symptoms consistent with the
coronavirus. The building houses
two co-located schools — the
Laboratory School of Finance and
Technology and South Bronx Pre-
paratory — for grades 6–12.
Still, de Blasio vowed the city
would “do our damnedest” to
keep schools open.
Even the wheels of justice will
turn more slowly, with new re-
strictions enacted at courthouses
in the city and suburbs.
The Manhattan federal court,
which covers The Bronx and
Westchester, will suspend new
jury trials that are scheduled to
begin next week.
State courthouses will bar peo-
ple at risk of contracting the coro-
navirus effective Friday, including
those who had been to China, Iran,
Italy, Japan or South Korea
A slew of prestigious New York
cultural institutions also an-
nounced plans to close their
doors: Carnegie Hall, the Frick
Collection, the Metropolitan Op-
era, MoMA, the Whitney, the
Guggenheim, all branches of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and
the Museum of Natural History.
The New York Public Library is
suspending all programming.
Additional reporting by Georgett
Roberts, Selim Algar, Priscilla De-
Gregory, Ben Feuerherd and Larry
CelonaIt’s closing time
for the Big Apple
l B’way, Garden & museums shutter
l Blasio declares state of emergency
The National Guard rolled into New Rochelle early
Thursday, establishing a state-ordered coronavirus
“containment area” within the hard-hit community.
The drastic measure will see large gathering spaces
like schools and houses of worship shuttered for two
weeks in the Westchester County suburb.
Among the National Guard’s first orders of business
was helping distribute food to families with kids who
have been forced to stay home from nine area schools
where they would normally receive breakfast.
“The breakfasts are cereal, milk, cereal bars, [and]
the bags have pancake mix, canned food,” said Staff
Sgt. Raymel Romero, 28, a veteran of two tours in Af-
ghanistan who was stationed at New Rochelle HS.
Civilians were still allowed to come and go in the
mile-radius zone, which is centered on the Young Is-
rael of New Rochelle synagogue, where the area’s pa-
tient zero worships.
Metro-North trains will maintain regular service
and businesses including grocery stores will not be
forced to shutter, officials have said.
As of Thursday evening, Westchester County had
tallied 148 confirmed cases of the deadly disease, rep-
resenting nearly half the state total. Kevin SheehanNew Rochelle is now on ‘Guard’
chow time: Selvin Jimenez, 10, picks up
food from National Guard troops in New Ro-
chelle, Westchester County, on Thursday.ReutersEditorial / Page 24