The Wall Street Journal - 19.03.2020

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL. ** Thursday, March 19, 2020 |A12A

The new coronavirus has
upended New York state’s nor-
mal methods of making laws
and passing the state budget,
and it has given new life to
the argument that the state
needs to raise taxes.
Unions and progressive
groups already had been call-
ing for higher taxes on the
wealthy to help cover the
state’s existing $6.1 billion
budget deficit and raise more
funds for housing, school aid
and health care.
State Sen. Liz Krueger, a
Democrat from Manhattan
who chairs the chamber’s fi-
nance committee, said in an
interview that the potential
for higher unemployment
helped make the case.
“I don’t know that it was on
everybody’s table three weeks
ago, but I think it’s on every-
body’s table to think about
now,” Ms. Krueger said.
State Comptroller Thomas
DiNapoli said Tuesday the
amount of projected revenue
could fall short of lawmakers’
expectations by as much as $
billion. In January, Gov. An-
drew Cuomo proposed a $
billion budget.
Republican lawmakers said
they oppose tax increases, espe-
cially as businesses suffer losses
from the coronavirus outbreak.
Mr. Cuomo, a Democrat, said
Wednesday: “You have busi-
nesses closing, you have people
out of work. I don’t think now is
the time to tell people we’re go-
ing to raise your taxes.”
Democrats control both the
state Assembly and Senate. On
Wednesday, leaders in both
chambers said they were look-
ing to the federal government
for relief but that tax in-
creases were possible.
“We’ve always been willing
to consider revenue,” said
Senate Majority Leader An-
drea Stewart-Cousins, a Demo-
crat from Yonkers. “It cer-
tainly is not my first priority,
but we want to consider reve-
nues wherever we can. But our
circumstance at this point is
becoming certainly bigger
than us, so our national part-
ners are going to be more im-
portant than ever.”
The state faces a March 31
deadline to adopt a budget. Nor-
mally each legislative house
would develop and pass its own
spending plan, but this year that
procedure is being scrapped.
The state Assembly and
Senate passed a bill Wednes-
day that guaranteed 14 days of
paid leave to workers required
to quarantine because of the
outbreak. Mr. Cuomo said he
would sign the measure.
The bill had bipartisan sup-
port, even though most law-
makers weren’t present in the
chamber to cast their ballots.
Just five of the 63 senators
were on the floor; Republican
and Democratic leaders agreed
to let members record their
votes with the Senate clerk
from their offices. The 150
members of the state Assem-
bly were only allowed on the
floor in groups of 12.
The Capitol closed to visi-
tors on Sunday. Hallways that
normally teem with lobbyists
were empty on Wednesday.
Ms. Stewart-Cousins said she
would be in Albany to negotiate
details of the budget with Mr.
Cuomo and Assembly Speaker
Carl Heastie, a Democrat from
the Bronx. The three met pri-
vately on Wednesday afternoon.
Ms. Stewart-Cousins said
senators would disperse, but
be “on standby.” Mr. Heastie
said he wasn’t sure when
members would return.
“This is uncharted terri-
tory,” Mr. Heastie said.
Most of the state’s deficit
was caused by a $4 billion
overrun in its Medicaid pro-
gram, which provides health
care to more than six million
New Yorkers. Mr. Cuomo con-
vened a task force to find $2.
billion in ongoing savings
within the program.
A coronavirus relief bill
that passed Congress would
bring more than $6 billion in
additional annual Medicaid
funding to New York, U.S. Sen.
Chuck Schumer said this week.
But Mr. Cuomo said this
week that language in the fed-
eral bill would prevent his task
force from making changes,
and therefore “negates my
ability to do a budget.”

BYJIMMYVIELKIND

Revenue

Wo e s P u t

Ta x B o o s t

On Table

added.

City officials also hope to

turn the Jacob K. Javits Con-

vention Center in Manhattan

into a large hospital, using

federal medical stations, ac-

cording to Ms. Criswell.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said

earlier this week the city

New York City hospital

emergency rooms started see-

ing a sharp rise in people com-

ing in with flulike symptoms in

early March—a concerning sig-

nal well before the crisis

ramped up.

The visits increased daily be-

ginning on March 1, and rose

most in Queens, where the larg-

est number of new coronavirus

cases have been reported, ac-

cording to surveillance data

from the city’s 53 emergency

departments compiled by the

New York City Department of

Health and Mental Hygiene.

On March 12, there were

1,156 patients complaining of

flulike symptoms. No more than

422 visits were reported on any

day in the month of March in

the previous three years. City

officials announced the first re-

ported case of coronavirus on

March 1.

It isn’t clear if any of the pa-

tients reflected in the data had

coronavirus. Most weren’t tested

for it. It is the end of flu season.

ByMelanie Grayce

West,Katie Honan

andCoulter Jones

extreme measures, including

closing New York City public

schools. That morning he was

still resistant, and he later said

the decision to switch to re-

mote learning for 1.1 million

students was one of the most

difficult decisions he ever

made.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo has

warned that the projected peak

for coronavirus cases in New

York state is some 45 days

People feeling anxious about the

pandemic also could contribute

to the rise. And it is just one

data point, among many, that

city officials were seeing.

A spokeswoman for New

York City Mayor Bill de Blasio,

Avery Cohen, said the city’s re-

sponse to the coronavirus was

limited by a lack of tests. Offi-

cials followed directives from

the Centers for Disease Control

and Prevention when giving

guidance to New Yorkers, and

prepared for multiple scenarios,

she said.

City leaders were encourag-

ing telecommuting and stag-

gered hours for employers in

early March, she noted.

“The city has been ramping

up its preparedness since mid-

January and the measures put

into place have escalated as the

situation intensified,” said Pat-

rick Gallahue, a spokesman for

the city’s health department.

The city’s health commis-

sioner, Oxiris Barbot, began

suggesting minor social dis-

tancing efforts like fist bumps

and “elbow handshakes” on

March 2. Days later, she re-

minded New Yorkers to stay

home if they were sick.

It wasn’t until March 15 that

Mr. de Blasio announced more

away. There are 2,382 reported

cases of coronavirus across the

state, he said Wednesday.

Widespread testing for coro-

navirus started in earnest this

week, as several New York-

based hospital systems and pri-

vate labs began offering tests.

In an analysis of flu seasons

going back to 2017, the number

of adults arriving at emergency

departments and complaining

of flu symptoms is 25% above a

recent previous peak, said Da-

vid C. Lee, assistant professor

of emergency medicine and

population health at NYU Lan-

gone Health.

Recent weeks of data show a

decline in the number of pedi-

atric patients suffering from

the flu, which indicates that the

regular flu season has tapered

off. But, Dr. Lee said, it isn’t fair

to compare a previous peak

with a present number of emer-

gency department visits that is

still accelerating.

The data also doesn’t show if

the increase of emergency de-

partment visits is from sick

people or worried people, he

said. “Is the skyrocketing a rush

of people who are worried or is

this just the epidemiology of

the illness?” Dr. Lee said. “I

think it’s the latter.”

“It is worrying to see such a

rapid rate of rise,” he added. “It

suggests we are at the very be-

ginning of this.”

Hospitals, by design, aren’t

able to accommodate pandemic

surges of patients, experts said.

The Jacob K. Javits Convention

Center and private hotels have

been identified as possible

places for temporary hospitals,

city officials said.

The emergency department

of one of Manhattan’s major

hospitals is beginning to see a

crush of patients but not yet

overrun, according to one

health-care worker. The emer-

gency department is filled with

a mix of the “worried-well,”

possible coronavirus cases and

people who have the flu, the

person said.

Emergency-department sur-

veillance data is just one piece

of the picture for deciding how

to implement sweeping public

health measures such as closing

schools or limiting activity, said

Robert Amler, dean of the

School of Health Sciences and

Practice at New York Medical

College and a former CDC chief

medical officer. Anticipating

how long it will take people to

change their own behavior is

another consideration, he said.

Spikes in City ER Visits Were a Warning

GREATER NEW YORK

Many companies have

heeded previous calls to send

employees home. Bars, restau-

rants and night-life venues

have been prohibited from all

but takeout food service. Still,

Mr. Cuomo said additional

controls are needed.

“If it doesn’t slow the

spread, we will reduce the

number of workers even fur-

ther,” the governor said at a

news conference.

Later, he signed a separate

executive order closing malls,

amusement parks, bowling al-

leys, zoos and play centers that

takes effect Thursday night.

Mr. Cuomo is concerned

about the strain that the rap-

idly increasing number of pa-

tients will have on the state’s

health-care system. The num-

ber of confirmed cases of the

virus in New York rose to

2,382 on Wednesday, up from

1,374 cases a day earlier.

Officials believe the number

of coronavirus patients will

peak in about 45 days. By then,

they say the state could need

as many as 110,000 hospital

beds and 37,000 intensive-care

beds for virus-related illnesses.

The state currently has

53,000 hospital beds and

3,000 intensive-care beds,

many of them occupied by

people with other illnesses.

By Wednesday evening,

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the

city had recorded 1,871 con-

firmed cases of the virus. They

included at least one inmate

and two staffers at the Rikers

Island jail complex, city offi-

cials said, prompting calls for

stronger measures to combat

the disease there. At least 11

people in the city have died.

Mr. Cuomo said the federal

government is sending a hos-

pital ship, the USNS Comfort,

to help with the looming bed

shortage. The ship, which will

be moored in New York Har-

bor, can accommodate 1,

patients. The governor said

federal-government field hos-

pitals could be set up in the

state soon, each with a capac-

ity to hold up to 250 people.

Mr. Cuomo also sought to

calm fears about the virus. He

said 108 people who had the

virus have been discharged

from the hospital.

Most people who fall ill will

recover, he said. “People who

are vulnerable, we have to be

careful.”

In Connecticut, a man in his

80s died from coronavirus

complications, marking the

state’s first death due to the

illness, Gov. Ned Lamont said

Wednesday, as the number of

cases there rose to 96, up

from 28 from the previous

day. The man, who had been

living in an assisted-living fa-

cility in Ridgefield, was receiv-

ing treatment at Danbury Hos-

pital, Mr. Lamont said.

New Jersey officials expect

to meet Thursday with the

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

to discuss converting spaces

such as college dorms into

hospital rooms, Gov. Phil Mur-

phy said Wednesday. The state

faces a shortage of up to

313,000 hospital beds if coro-

navirus cases surge, Mr. Mur-

phy wrote in a recent letter to

the Trump administration ask-

ing for assistance.

The number of coronavirus

cases in New Jersey rose by

162 on Wednesday, Mr. Mur-

phy said, bringing the state’s

total to 427.

“This is increasing with a

pretty steep curve, as we ex-

pected,” the governor said.

—Katie Honan, Joseph De

Avila and Ben Chapman

contributed to this article.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo tight-

ened restrictions on busi-

nesses Wednesday, telling

them to allow employees to

telecommute or otherwise

keep half their workforce

home at any one time, as gov-

ernors across the tri-state

area grapple with increased

coronavirus cases.

Grocery stores, pharmacies,

shipping companies and other

essential services would be ex-

empt from the rule Mr. Cuomo

imposed through executive or-

der to help curb the transmis-

sion of the virus.

BYPAULBERGER

ANDJIMMYVIELKIND

Businesses Face New Restrictions

Cuomo says they

must keep half their

employees at home

as virus cases rise

A patient was loaded into an ambulance at the Brooklyn Hospital Center onWednesday. Anticipating a sharp rise in coronavirus cases, area hospitals are clearing out beds.

JOHN MINCHILLO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

EmergencyroomvisitsinNew

YorkCityforinfluenza-like

illnesses

Source: New York City Department of Health

1,

0

250

500

750

1,

1,

1,

visits

JMAF

Since

January

2016-

The hotels would be for

“those non-Covid patients

who are really minor but

need care,” she said.

It couldn’t be determined

how many beds would be im-

mediately available for these

patients or how much the

city would pay hotels.

The city currently uses

hotels for some quarantines,

and could use them to house

health-care workers who

need places to stay, Ms.

Criswell said.

With the city’s tourism in-

dustry hit by the virus,

many hotels have few cus-

tomers or are empty, she

had acquired an additional

1,300 beds by reopening

closed hospitals and other

facilities, including Roose-

velt Island’s Coler Specialty

Hospital, a city institution

that was no longer in use.

A recently built nursing

home in Brooklyn will be

used to hold 600 beds, and

two Bronx hospitals with

more than 100 beds also will

be available, according to

Mr. de Blasio.

To make more space, the

city is discharging patients

who can leave hospitals, can-

celing elective surgeries, and

building more capacity

within hospitals.

The city is activating its

medical corps of retired pro-

fessionals to meet demand,

and seeing if students could

be properly credentialed.

Ms. Criswell said those

health-care workers could be

shifted to work on patients

without coronavirus.

“This will be a race

against time to create these

facilities to get them up and

running, to find the person-

nel and the equipment we

need,” Mr. de Blasio said on

Tuesday. “We have no choice

but to expand rapidly and be

ready for anything.”

New York City is working

with the hospitality industry

to possibly convert entire

hotels into hospitals for pa-

tients who don’t have the

novel coronavirus, in an ef-

fort to increase capacity at

medical facilities as the out-

break grows.

The city’s emergency

management commissioner,

Deanne Criswell, said in an

interview Wednesday that

hotels could be vital as New

York City needs more hospi-

tal beds to treat those with

Covid-19.

BYKATIEHONAN

City Weighs Turning Hotels Into Hospitals

With the tourism

industry hit by the

virus, many hotels

are sitting empty.

NY