A6 eZ su THE WASHINGTON POST.SATURDAy, MARCH 21 , 2020
The Coronavirus Outbreak
BY SHAYNA JACOBS,
DEVLIN BARRETT
AND BEN GUARINOnew york — New York Gov.
Andrew M. Cuomo ordered a
statewide shutdown of nonessen-
tial business activity starting
Sunday, following California’s ex-
ample as two of the country’s
largest states take drastic action
to try to stop the spread of the
novel coronavirus.
Shortly after the announce-
ment, Illinois made a similar dec-
laration — another sign of how
states and cities are in some ways
on their own when it comes to
making momentous decisions in
the fight against the virus.
“We’re all in quarantine now,”
Cuomo (D) said at a Friday news
conference. “Think about it.
We’re all in various levels of quar-
antine.”
The order for nearly 100 per-
cent of New York’s workforce to
stay home will be painful and
costly, the governor said, but it
was deemed the only way to pre-
vent the surge of coronavirus
patients requiring intensive hos-
pital care from outstripping New
York’s capacity to provide ventila-
tors for the worst cases of the
covid-19 disease.
“These actions will cause dis-
ruption. They w ill cause business-
es to close. They will cause em-
ployees to stay at home. I under-
stand that. They will cause much
unhappiness,” Cuomo said. The
governor said that he accepts full
responsibility for the decision
and that if people are unhappy
about it, “Blame me.”
Businesses that fail to comply
with the order will be fined, al-
though the state is not planning
to sanction individuals found in
violation, officials said.
The move comes as state and
local authorities face the prospect
of running out of beds in hospital
intensive-care units, and also
grapple with urgent demand for
masks and protective gear for the
health-care workers treating cor-
onavirus patients. To try to keep
more hospital beds free, the state
is urging all hospitals to cancel
elective surgeries.
“I feel terrified,” said Judy
Sheridan-Gonzalez, a longtime
emergency room nurse and the
president of the 40,000-member
New York State Nurses Associa-
tion.
Sheridan-Gonzalez, who works
at Montefiore Medical Center in
the Bronx, said that when her
association recently surveyed its
members, only 4 percent felt con-
fident in their hospitals’ respons-
es so far to the pandemic.
“We had warned them since9/11 that we are not prepared for
disaster,” s he said, calling the lack
of equipment and staffing “a cri-
sis.”
Although industrial-quality
N95 masks are available at the
hospital where she works, nurses
are permitted to wear them only
when inserting tubes or perform-
ing other procedures that risk
suspending droplets of bodily flu-
id in the air, Sheridan-Gonzalez
said.
“A ll the nurses want to be able
to do what we can do,” she said,
but “it inhibits that desire to help,
to be placed in danger.”
A Montefiore spokeswoman
said the hospital is “following all
CDC guidance and protocol.”
At Mount Sinai Hospital, the
first in New York to treat a coro-
navirus patient, emergency de-
partment medical director Jolion
McGreevy said things are func-
tioning fairly smoothly. The hos-pital is seeing about 130 patients
a day reporting flu-like symp-
toms, and those patients are
steered to a separate screening
area.
“We’re not feeling a crunch of
the supplies,” McGreevy said.
“That’s not to say that it’s not at
the front of our minds.”
As of Friday, 7,102 New Yorkers
had tested positive for the novel
coronavirus, and 5,151 of those
were in New York City. Statewide,
35 people had died, officials said.
The figures mean that roughly
one-third of all known U.S. cases
are in New York City.
“I hate to say this, but it’s true:
We are now the epicenter of this
crisis, right here in the nation’s
largest city,” Mayor Bill DeBlasio
said.
Northwell Health, whose two
dozen hospitals and 800 outpa-
tient centers make up New York’s
largest hospital system, began re-stocking supplies in mid-January.
Still Northwell has been “burning
through months’ worth of sup-
plies in weeks, especially masks
and lab supplies,” said Northwell
spokesman Te rry Lynam.
Cuomo said his directive was
not a “shelter in place” order,
noting that New Yorkers can and
should take solo outings for exer-
cise, such as running or hiking,
but should keep a distance of at
least six feet from others at all
times, the governor said.
The term “shelter in place,”
Cuomo said, causes unnecessary
panic and evokes different kinds
of crises, such as an active-shoot-
er event.
But he also chided young
Americans for thinking they
could not fall ill and therefore
putting themselves and others in
greater danger.
“I can’t tell you how many
young people are out there saying
it doesn’t affect young people.
You’re just wrong. This is lunacy
what they’re doing in some parks,
in some areas,” the governor said.
“When you’re young, you think
you’re invincible. Yeah, you’re
wrong.”
Friday’s announcement is an-
other blow to the state’s large and
small businesses. In Manhattan,
some small businesses had al-
ready closed temporarily, but oth-
ers had remained open, hoping to
eke out enough money to stay
afloat despite the sudden loss of
most customers.
To soften the blow, the gover-
nor said he was also ordering a
90-day moratorium on all resi-
dential and commercial evic-
tions.
“I know that we’re going to put
people out of work with what I
did,” C uomo said. “I want to make
sure I don’t put them out of their
house.”
A number of industries are
exempt from the order, including
food, medicine, elder care, medi-
cal equipment, telecommunica-
tions and paper products.
New York is also taking aggres-sive steps to try to meet the
demands caused by the outbreak,
including manufacturing its own
hand sanitizer and funding new
production of protective gear. But
hanging over all of those efforts is
a need for more ventilators,
which Cuomo said are as impor-
tant as armaments were during
World War II.
“It’s ventilators, ventilators,
ventilators. That is the greatest
need,” the governor said. “The
rate of increase in the number of
cases portends a total over-
whelming of our hospital system.”
Cuomo said that if New York
state had a law like the federal
Defense Production Act, which
allows the federal government to
force private companies to priori-
tize federal contracts, he would
use it.
Without such a law, New York
is trying to be creative in spurring
more production of medical gear
that is in high demand around the
world.
“What I’m saying is, I will pay
businesses more. I’m trying to
make these products. If you are in
this line of work, we need masks.
If you’re making clothing, figure
out if you can make masks. I’ll
fund it,” Cuomo said.
New York officials are still de-
bating other steps that might
become necessary if the hospital
system does run out of beds. One
scenario floated by some officials
has been using the Javits Center, a
large convention hall on Manhat-
tan’s West Side, to handle over-
flow patients. The Javits Center
did not respond to multiple re-
quests for comment. Some ex-
perts have expressed doubt about
its usefulness, since the cavern-
ous space is not ideal for trying to
contain an infection.
Isaac Weisfuse, a former New
York City health official, said it
would be more prudent to use
hotels near hospitals if there was
a demand for extra bed space.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]N.Y. governor orders all n onessential businesses closed
State joins California
i n drastic action,
followed by IllinoisVICtor J. Blue/AgenCe FrAnCe-Presse/getty ImAges
The Brooklyn Bridge’s normally busy pedestrian path is nearly empty Friday as New Yorkers stay home
and tourism has come to a halt while the coronavirus outbreak disrupts life in the nation’s largest city.BY KATIE ZEZIMA,
SCOTT WILSON,
DAN LAMOTHE
AND KATIE METTLERMore than 70 million people —
one i n five Americans — h ave been
told to stay at home in California,
Illinois and New York, extraordi-
nary moves from state governors
that aim to limit people from in-
teracting and spreading the coro-
navirus. With more than 17,
confirmed cases and 231 virus-re-
lated deaths nationwide, authori-
ties believe the impact could sky-
rocket in coming days.
The orders essentially close
three of the nation’s largest cities:
New York, Los Angeles and Chica-
go. They c ome as Anthony S. F auci,
director of the National Institute
of A llergy and Infectious D iseases,
said Friday that Americans will
need to stay at home as much as
possible and maintain social dis-
tance from other people for at
least several weeks to stem the
spread o f the virus.
New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuo-
mo (D) said Friday that all New
Yorkers are prohibited from going
into their offices unless they per-
form essential services, such as
those who work at a hospital or
grocery store or who provide In-
ternet or water. Cuomo also has
banned all nonessential gather-
ings. The regulations take effect
Sunday.
“These provisions will be en-
forced,” he said. “These are not
helpful hints. This is not if you
really want to be a good citizen.”
Cuomo said people are still al-
lowed to leave t heir homes, a nd he
urged w alks outside f or the s ake of
mental health. New York is q uickly
becoming the e picenter of c orona-
virus cases in the United States:
The state conducted 10,000 coro-
navirus tests on Thursday, with
2,950 confirmed positive, Cuomo
said.
There w ere 7,102 confirmed cor-
onavirus cases in New York as of
Friday, Cuomo said, and 18 per-
cent of those patients have re-
quired hospitalization.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom
(D ) issued a statewide stay-at-
home order Thursday night. Like
in New York, trips to the grocery
store, pharmacy and other essen-
tial places will be allowed. News-
om projected that 56 percent of
California’s population — o r about
22 m illion people — would be in-
fected with the virus that causes
covid-19 in the next eight weeks if
no mitigation e fforts a re t aken.
“The point of the stay-at-home
order is to make those numbers
moot,” h e said.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D)
ordered the state’s approximately
13 million residents to stay home
starting Saturday and ending
April 7.
“A s this epidemic has pro-
gressed, we’ve had to make some
hard decisions,” he said. “But ulti-
mately you can’t have a livelihood
if you don’t h ave your life.”
Pritzker was one of the first
governors to require bars and res-
taurants to move to carryout-only
service. Dozens of states have fol-
lowed suit, including Florida,
where Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is-
sued an executive order Friday
closing bars and nightclubs for 30
days; he also is requiring restau-
rants to limit capacity to 50 pa-
trons and to ensure tables are at
least six feet apart. Gyms also will
close under the order. Connecti-
cut, New Jersey and Nevada also
moved Friday to close more busi-
nesses because o f the coronavirus.
Pennsylvania Gov. To m Wolf
(D) ordered all “non-life-sustain-
ing” businesses in the state to
close Thursday, effectively shut-
ting down the state and cities of
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. In
Ohio, Gov. Mike DeWine (R) or-
dered the closure of all adult day
care services and s enior centers.
The virus continues to upend
global financial markets, w ith U.S.
markets tumbling more than 10
percent from where they began
Monday to wrap up their worst
weekly finish s ince the 2008 finan-
cial crisis. The Dow Jones indus-
trial average fell more than 910points, erasing all Trump-era
gains. The Standard & Poor’s 500
index closed d own 4 .3 p ercent a nd
the Nasdaq f ell 3.8 percent.
The government announced
Friday that taxpayers will get a bit
of a reprieve amid the f iscal chaos:
The tax filing deadline has been
pushed from April 15 to July 15.
People will be able to make pay-
ments without interest or penal-
ties attached, according to Trea-
sury Secretary S teven Mnuchin.
President Trump spoke by
phone with Senate M inority Lead-
er Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.)
about the next phase of a coronavi-
rus relief package.
“We had a wonderful conversa-
tion. We b oth want to get to a good
solution,” Trump said during a
news briefing Friday. “Seeing peo-
ple that weren’t speaking, getting
along well, b ecause we all have one
common aim, and that’s to get rid
of this invisible enemy, get r id of it
fast.”
Schumer told the president
there were at least six policies the
Democrats want to see included in
the l egislation, including invoking
the Defense Production Act to get
ventilators and other medical
equipment made.
Senate Republicans introduced
a $1 trillion fiscal package Thurs-
day, w hich includes sending direct
cash payments to many Ameri-
cans.
Worldwide, the number of peo-
ple with the virus is soaring, with
more than 270,000 cases con-
firmed across the globe. TheWorld Health Organization noted
that it took more than three
months to reach 100,000 cases
worldwide — b ut just 12 days to log
the n ext 100,000.
In I taly, m ore than 4 ,000 people
have now died. The country re-
ported its highest daily death t otal
Friday, with 627 people succumb-
ing to the virus in 24 h ours. Most o f
Italy’s deaths have occurred dur-
ing the p ast week, a s overwhelmed
hospitals struggle to deal with the
surge of critically sick.
Italy is under a complete lock-
down, and authorities have cited
9,600 people in one day for violat-
ing the o rder.
The numbers of deaths and con-
firmed cases continue to rise in
Iran and Spain, where cases
surged 30 percent in a day. Nearly
20,000 Spaniards h ave tested p os-
itive for the virus that causes
covid-19, and more than 1,
people have died. The country a lso
is on l ockdown, and all hotels w ere
ordered to close b y the end of next
week. Most cases are centered in
the n ation’s capital, Madrid.
Hong Kong reported a record
jump in new coronavirus cases —
with 48 — as the region braces for
an uptick in illness involving peo-
ple w ho rushed back h ome t o beat
widening travel restrictions.
One positive tidbit was that for
the s econd day in a row there were
no new cases reported in China,
where t he virus took hold.
Further evidence of the United
States trying to seal itself off from
the outside world came Friday,when the United States and Mexi-
co reached an agreement for a
partial closure of the border be-
tween the two countries, officials
said. Mexican Foreign Minister
Marcelo Ebrard, said the border
would not be completely closed
but “restricted” when it comes to
tourism a nd recreation.
Chad Wolf, the acting secretary
of Homeland Security, said U.S.
authorities would begin “immedi-
ately” turning back and deporting
migrants who attempt t o cross the
border illegally, rather than de-
taining them or putting them into
court p rocesses.
The United States and Canada
jointly agreed earlier this week to
close their shared border. Canadi-
an Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
said Friday that Canada will send
back asylum seekers who attempt
to cross the b order irregularly.
American officials have started
to brace for a wave of coronavirus
patients, with the government
starting to identify hotels, college
dormitories and other unused
buildings to lease and turn into
makeshift hospitals, according to
the commanding general of the
Army C orps o f Engineers.
Lt. Gen. Todd T. Semonite said
New York will serve a s model, with
state governments n ominating f a-
cilities and the F ederal Emergency
Management Agency approving
and providing funding to trans-
form them.
“This is an unbelievably com-
plicated problem, and there is no
way we are going to be able to do
this with a complicated solution,”
Semonite said of the existing lack
of bed space. “We need something
super simple. So, our concept is a
standard design.”
It will include nurses’ stations
in hallways and require t he instal-
lation of equipment that creates
zero-pressure rooms to contain
germs, Semonite said. The plan
already has been approved by the
Department of Health and Hu-
man Services a nd FEMA, h e said.
Semonite met with Cuomo this
week and told the governor to
immediately identify possible fa-
cilities.
“He said, ‘How fast do you need
them?’ And I said, ‘I need one
tonight. I need three by tomorrow
night,’ ” Semonite said. “So, we
actually got turned on by the gov-
ernor. We got money from FEMA
to go into two buildings on Tues-
day night.”
Among the buildings the Corps
already has investigated is the
Javits Center, a convention f acility
in the Hell’s Kitchen section of
New York City, a nd structures a ffil-
iated with the State University ofNew York.
Semonite said his engineers
were walking through 10 other
buildings in the state on Friday,
including some hotels and other
structures with open-space de-
signs.
“The bottom line is, we’ve got to
do something very, very quick,”
Semonite said. “ Most o f the gover-
nors are saying that their peak is
somewhere around the middle of
April.”
In L os Angeles, where 4 million
people have been instructed to
stay inside their homes, life along
Wilshire Boulevard at first ap-
pears unchanged. People coming
and going in cars from apartment
towers, a jogger or two, families
and their p ets getting f resh air.
“This is like any other day,” said
a UPS driver, who w as not autho-
rized to speak to the media, as he
delivered a cart full of packages.
“Just a little less traffic and that’s
really it.”
But nothing is the same. This is
a Potemkin town, the second-larg-
est metropolitan area in the na-
tion, and behind t he Equinox win-
dows and fast-food drive-
throughs, it is empty.
Mayor Eric Garcetti (D) called
for his own citywide stay-at-home
order just before Newsom e xtend-
ed the policy statewide. So Angele-
nos have had a bit more time to
adjust.
Garcetti gave a dire warning on
NBC’s “ To day” s how Friday, s aying
the city’s hospitals are about to be
“overwhelmed” by coronavirus
cases.
Some residents said they are
trying to stay informed and are
taking i t one d ay a t a time.
“We’re just trying to stay calm
and keep up with the situation,”
said Sam Plouchart, a 38-year-old
real estate agent taking h is 2-year-
old son Casimir for an afternoon
walk in a jog stroller.
Plouchart said he has been
turning to government docu-
ments f or information r ather than
the n ews or social m edia, which he
has found confusing and mislead-
ing.
“Right now, we’re just doing
what we can, what’s allowed,”
Plouchart s aid.
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]Wilson reported from los Angeles.
Hannah Knowles, michael Brice-
saddler, marisa Iati, emily rauhala,
miriam Berger, thomas Heath and
taylor te lford in Washington and
Chico Harlan in rome contributed to
this report.One in five Americans told to stay home as authorities brace for more cases
BrendAn mCdermId/reuters
A person wears protective equipment while riding the AirTrain at John F. Kennedy International
Airport in New York City on Friday, as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D) announced further restrictions.