The Wall Street Journal - 13.03.2020

A9A| Friday, March 13, 2020 **** THE WALL STREET JOURNAL.

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cases of the virus as of Thurs-

day afternoon, including 95 in

the city, state officials said.

New York’s subway system

carries about 5.5 million people

each weekday. State and local

officials have said the subway

is safe to ride, but have urged

passengers to avoid crowded

cars and to stagger their com-

mutes. They have encouraged

biking or walking to work, or

working from home when pos-

sible. Subway cars are being

disinfected every 72 hours and

stations are being sanitized

twice a day, they said.

Ms. Feinberg’s comments

came as institutions citywide

close their doors and as work-

ers increasingly begin to work

from home. The MTA could re-

duce subway frequency or

switch to a Sunday-service

schedule, she said.

The subway has never shut

down because of a health

scare, but its 100-plus-year his-

tory is scattered with dayslong

closures because of storms, la-

bor strikes and blackouts.

The MTA spokesman said

the authority is also planning

for possible service reductions

across its bus systems and its

commuter railroads.

The MTA relies on fares to

cover almost 40% of its $

billion operating budget. State

and local taxes and fees cover

roughly the same amount.

Revenue from tolls at the

authority’s seven bridges and

two tunnels cover a further

12% of the budget. State offi-

cials said Thursday vehicular

traffic at crossings the previous

day was down 7%, compared

with a similar day last year.

All of those areas are at

risk as ridership falls and as

Mr. Cuomo talks of a nine-

month economic slowdown in

New York.

Nicole Gelinas, a senior fel-

low at the Manhattan Insti-

tute, a conservative think

tank, said falling tax revenue

could be worse for the author-

ity than the short-term crisis

of falling fare collections.

“If this continues to go on,

the tax hit will be significant

to an already dubiously imbal-

anced budget over the next

few years,” she said.

New York state Comptroller

Thomas DiNapoli warned in a

report Wednesday that a

sharp drop in revenue would

require higher-than-planned

fare and toll increases or bud-

get cuts.

Robert Foran, the MTA’s

chief financial officer, declined

in an interview to speak about

ridership or financial forecasts,

citing the need to avoid releas-

ing potentially misleading in-

formation before a pending

bond offering. But he pointed

out that the MTA has weath-

ered previous shocks, such as

the 2008 financial crisis and

superstorm Sandy in 2012.

“The MTA has been able to

manage its budget through

difficult times,” Mr. Foran

said. “This is certainly a chal-

lenging period.”

Subway service in New York

City could be scaled back as the

novel coronavirus outbreak

leads to falling ridership, a Met-

ropolitan Transportation Au-

thority official said Thursday.

During a radio interview,

Sarah Feinberg, the interim

chief of the MTA’s subway and

bus systems, said if federal or

state health officials order the

MTA to alter service, it would

do so. “We take our guidance

from them,“ she said.

Subway ridership on

Wednesday fell nearly 20% and

bus ridership dropped 15%,

compared with a similar day

last year, an MTA spokesman

said. Ridership on the MTA’s

two commuter-rail systems,

the Long Island Rail Road and

Metro-North Railroad, was

down 31% and 48%, respec-

tively, during Thursday morn-

ing’s rush hour, compared with

a similar rush hour last year.

The state had 328 confirmed

BYPAULBERGER

City Eyes Reducing Subway Service

will not be over soon.”

Mr. de Blasio said 10% of

the city’s 350,000 employees

would work from home and

another 20% would work on

staggered shifts.

The governor said the

state’s rules would remain in

effect indefinitely as officials

monitor the spread of the vi-

rus. Both the governor and

mayor said they aren’t plan-

ning mass school closures and

urged New Yorkers who can

work from home to do so.

“This is an evolving situa-

tion,” Mr. Cuomo said. “As the

facts change, change your re-

sponse. That’s what we’re do-

ing—you can calibrate up, you

can calibrate down.”

The number of confirmed in-

fections in New York state rose

to 328, officials said Thursday

afternoon. Of those infected, 47

were hospitalized, the governor

said. The center of the out-

break in New York is the city of

New Rochelle in Westchester

County. The county has 148

cases. There are 95 confirmed

cases in New York City.

In New Jersey, Gov. Phil

Murphy recommended the

cancellation of all public gath-

erings of more than 250 peo-

ple, including concerts, sport-

ing events, and parades. New

Jersey has reported 29 cases.

More than 200 school dis-

tricts in New Jersey have

closed or will close in the

coming days.

In Connecticut, which re-

ported six cases, Gov. Ned La-

mont also restricted large

gatherings and announced he

is waiving the requirement

that schools be in session for

180 days.

Two New York City public

schools that share a building

were closed Wednesday after a

student reported testing positive

for the coronavirus, city officials

said. The two schools, in the

Bronx, are the first city-run pub-

lic schools to be shut over the

outbreak. Mr. de Blasio said the

schools, the Laboratory School

of Finance and Technology and

South Bronx Preparatory, would

be shut for at least 24 hours.

The Archdiocese of New

York, which covers parts of

New York City and surrounding

areas, said Thursday it would

shut all Catholic elementary

schools next week, with the

possibility of a longer closure.

On Thursday, National

Guard personnel entered New

Rochelle after Mr. Cuomo es-

tablished a three-square-mile

“containment zone” centered

on the Young Israel of New

Rochelle synagogue. Schools

were closed within the zone,

and more districts were an-

nouncing cancellations.

National Guard and New

Rochelle health officials said

they were preparing sites to

provide testing for the virus.

They also set up food supplies

on tables outside the

Westchester Community Op-

portunity Program, a social-

service agency.

A program official said 14-

pound family boxes of pasta,

canned food, orange juice and

other goods could feed a fam-

ily of four for three days. Food

will be distributed outside

some schools, at city offices

and in parking lots.

“We are all set up as far as

food supplies, but there is

very little uptake,” said Jay

Sorensen, a New Rochelle vol-

unteer. “People are simply too

afraid to come out of their

house, even to pick up free

supplies.”

GREATER NEW YORK

Leaders in New York, New

Jersey and Connecticut an-

nounced restrictions on public

gatherings Thursday, shutting

down sporting events, Broad-

way theaters and even cutting

capacity at bars and restau-

rants as the new coronavirus

continues to spread.

New York Gov. Andrew

Cuomo said gatherings of more

than 500 people in the state

would be banned after 5 p.m.

on Friday. The restriction would

apply to Broadway theaters

starting at 5 p.m. on Thursday.

Moreover, gathering spaces

that can hold fewer than 500

people, including houses of

worship, would be required to

limit themselves to half capac-

ity. There will be exceptions

for schools, hospitals, nursing

homes, government buildings,

grocery stores and mass tran-

sit, Mr. Cuomo said.

New York City Mayor Bill

de Blasio declared a state of

emergency, which allows him

to establish a curfew, limit pe-

destrian and vehicular traffic,

and curtail business hours.

The impact of limiting the

size of gatherings will be “pain-

ful” for businesses and resi-

dents, the mayor said, adding

that he expects some businesses

would close temporarily. “We

are going into a long battle,” he

said at a news conference. “This

ByJimmy

Vielkind,Costas Paris

andJoseph De Avila

Tri-State Officials Curb Public Gatherings

National Guard troops set up food donations in New Rochelle.

JUSTIN LANE/SHUTTERSTOCK

A worker cleaned a Brooklyn subway station this week. New York City’s subway system carries about 5.5 million people each weekday.

SPENCER PLATT/GETTY IMAGES

and executive director there.

The overall volume at the hos-

pital has dropped about 10% to

15% since last week, with peo-

ple canceling elective surgeries

and appointments, he said.

Six people with the novel

coronavirus have been treated

at the community hospital,

which is just outside of a 3-

square-mile containment zone

in Westchester County that

has become the center of the

state’s outbreak. “You’d think

we’re overflowing, but it’s just

the opposite,” Mr. Alfano said.

A spokesman for the Greater

New York Hospital Association

said some hospitals had indi-

cated that average daily volume

is up at emergency depart-

ments, though it was unclear if

coronavirus has played a mean-

ingful role in the uptick.

In the event of a patient

surge, New York City’s public

Health + Hospitals system,

with 11 hospitals, would dis-

charge patients in beds who

can recover at home, accord-

ing to Mitchell Katz, the sys-

tem’s president and chief exec-

utive. Staff in outpatient

facilities, such as clinics,

would shift to inpatient areas.

The system has 376 rooms

with negative-pressure ventila-

tion, which prevents the escape

of contaminated air. If needed,

patients could be doubled up in

those rooms, he said.

NYU Langone Health Sys-

tem said it is planning to turn

non-clinical space to clinical

areas, moving patients when

needed, said Andrew Brotman,

NYU Langone’s senior vice

president and vice dean for

clinical affairs and strategy.

Test centers for coronavirus

will be rolled out in the next

week or two, he said.

New York hospitals may

need to halt all elective surger-

ies and recall former doctors

and nurses to handle a surge in

new coronavirus patients, Gov.

Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.

Stopping the surgeries

would help avoid overwhelm-

ing the health-care system, the

governor said. The move

would add 25% to 30% to the

system’s capacity, he added.

New York’s Department of

Health would expedite recerti-

fication for former doctors and

nurses, he said. The state also

is considering how the capac-

ity of health-care systems in

upstate New York could relieve

those downstate. “You over-

whelm the health-care system

and that’s where you get in

trouble,” Mr. Cuomo said.

Officials at New York City-

area hospital systems have said

they are prepared for the sickest

coronavirus patients who need

intensive medical interventions.

They say they have dusted off

plans made in response to the

Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks,

the SARS outbreak in 2003,

2009’s H1N1 pandemic and su-

perstorm Sandy in 2012. But

how those plans can adapt for a

pandemic response is unknown,

experts say.

Sherry Glied, an economist

and dean of New York Univer-

sity’s Robert F. Wagner Gradu-

ate School of Public Service,

said modern health care isn’t

designed for pandemics. The

number of hospital beds have

been shrinking in New York in

recent years as patients are

discharged more quickly after

many procedures or are

treated on an out-patient basis.

“Is the everyday, regular hos-

pital system able to deal with

an enormous pandemic? No, of

course it isn’t,” Dr. Glied said.

“The question is, ‘Do we have

plans in place to convert that

system into one that can deal

with an enormous pandemic?’ ”

Earlier this week, the hall-

ways of Montefiore New Ro-

chelle Hospital were quiet, said

Anthony Alfano, vice president

BYMELANIEGRAYCEWEST

Hospitals Gear Up

For Virus Surge

Broadway, Cultural

Institutions Close

With Broadway and New

York City’s cultural scene in gen-

eral coming to a coronavirus-

prompted close on Thursday, in-

dustry professionals are tallying

the potential financial impact.

Their quick assessment is

the hit could be well beyond

$100 million dollars, when fac-

toring in the cost to the the-

aters, shows and institutions

involved and the broader New

York economy.

Part of what makes the situ-

ation so devastating, profession-

als said, is the duration of the

shutdowns, which will run longer

than previous closures due to

weather, the terrorist attacks of

9/11 or even some labor strikes.

Broadway shows aren’t set

to resume until the week of

April 13. The Metropolitan Mu-

seum of Art, Metropolitan Op-

era, Carnegie Hall and the New

York Philharmonic announced

slightly shorter shutdowns

through the end of March.

The Tribeca Film Festival,

scheduled for April 15-26, said

it is postponing its 2020 event.

Still, New York Philharmonic

President and Chief Executive

Officer Deborah Borda called

the nearly three-week closure

“precedent setting.”

For Broadway, the shut-

down couldn’t have come at a

worse time, theater profession-

als said. The season was head-

ing into its busy period leading

up to the Tony Awards on June

7. More than 15 shows were
   set to open by April 23, the
   last day for Tony eligibility.
   The Broadway League said
   there was no word on whether
   the Tony Awards or the eligibil-
   ity deadline will be moved.
   Broadway stands to lose
   more than $100 million in
   ticket revenue from the closure,
   based on past industry figures.
   During a typical week, the in-
   dustry grosses at least $25 mil-
   lion, but that number can top
   $40 million in peak periods.
   —Charles Passy

Former doctors and

nurses may be

recalled to handle an

increase in patients.

NY