The number of coronavirus cases in the area continues to go up. There are more than 15-thousand in New York State as of Sunday afternoon. More than half of those are in New York City.
In New Jersey, there are nearly two thousand cases and the virus is now in all 21 counties. After New York ordered all workers at non essential businesses to stay out of the office or job site Friday, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy followed through with the same order over the weekend for his state, an extreme measure to try and contain the spread of coronavirus.
“Only businesses critical to our response may remain physically open to the public. And that is an increasingly limited list. “
That includes grocery stores, gas stations, pharmacies, and banks. The governor is ordering all gatherings including weddings and funerals to be cancelled.
“We need you to just stay at home”
A state run coronavirus testing site is opening today at the PNC Arts Center in Holmdel. The first state run site at Bergen County Community College hit its capacity in under an hour Sunday.
“The numbers will continue to grow significantly. There’s just no other way around that. That will be many many thousands.”
The governor says state officials are working with Army Corp of Engineers to expand hospital capacity.
“We are almost certainly going to be uh in need of every single critical care bed we can find in the state.” I
n Newark over the weekend, Mayor Baraka ordered residents in three specific areas to stay home and only go out for emergencies and essential needs. This is after officials mapped out where the people who tested positive are located.
In New York, Governor Cuomo is fuming after visiting New York City Saturday. He says he saw a density level that is wholly inappropriate. The message has been keep six feet apart but Cuomo witnessed crowds and numerous basketball games.
“I was in these parks. You would not You would not know that anything was going on. This is just a mistake. It’s arrogant. It’s self destructive.”
The governor ordered New York City to come up with a plan to deal with park crowds. Shortly after, Mayor Bill de Blasio responded.
“You can’t play team sports at this point. It’s going to be unfortunately quite a while before that’s possible again. There’s no more gatherings. There is no more events. There’s no more big barbecues. All that is gone for now.”
Governor Cuomo is directing the Army Corp of Engineers to build four temporary hospitals, one in Westchester, one in Manhattan and two on Long Island. In addition, President Trump has approved FEMA to come in to put up federal hospitals at the Javits Center in Manhattan which will come with supplies and staff.
“We get these facilities up, we get the supplies, we will save lives. If we don’t, we will lose lives. I don’t mean to be overly dramatic but I want to be honest.”
Cuomo says he’s ordering all elective non emergency surgeries to be canceled starting Wednesday to free up hospital space.