Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
As New York Approaches 1,000 Deaths, Leaders Brace For A Tough Week Ahead
Gov. Andrew Cuomo and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio on Sunday painted a grim picture of the coming week as the state鈥檚 death toll from Covid-19 approached 1,000, but at the same time they dismissed calls to impose tighter restrictions on people鈥檚 movements in a region that has become the nation鈥檚 largest concentration of coronavirus infections. 鈥淭he virus continues its march across the state of New York,鈥 Cuomo said at a news conference on Sunday. 鈥淚 don鈥檛 see how you look at those numbers and conclude anything less than thousands of people will pass away.鈥 (Durkin, Giambusso, Mahoney and Toure, 3/29)
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said on Sunday that 237 people had died since the day before, the largest one-day increase in the state since the coronavirus outbreak began. (3/29)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said his city is on track to run out of supplies next weekend. "We have enough supplies to get to a week from today, with the exception of ventilators," de Blasio said Sunday. "We're going to need at least several hundred more ventilators very quickly," the mayor said. "We are going to need a reinforcement by Sunday, April 5, in all categories, especially ventilators but in other areas as well. And personnel is becoming more and more the issue." (Yan, 3/29)
New York City, already the epicenter of the coronavirus crisis inside the United States, is still days, if not weeks, from the peak of the outbreak there. The head of the city's hospital system says it has enough ventilators and protective equipment to survive through the end of the month. After that, New York will need massive help, and fast. (Breslow, 3/27)
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday said nonessential businesses must remain closed and that gatherings will be banned until April 15 as the death toll from the new coronavirus surged over the weekend. Over 500 people around the state died from the disease between Friday and Sunday, Mr. Cuomo said, bringing the overall toll above 1,000鈥攖he highest for any state in the nation. The total includes a New York Police Department detective as well as several health care workers. (Vielkind, 3/29)
The official statistics reported by health authorities would seem to show that the United States has more coronavirus infections than any other country and that the New York caseloads exceed any other state. But the true statistics are far from clear. Reporting and testing vary so much from country to country and state to state that it鈥檚 hard to know the exact size of the outbreaks, and that is especially the case in New York. (Stobbe, 3/30)
Women preparing to give birth at some hospitals in New York City will no longer have to labor alone, state officials said Saturday. Melissa DeRosa, the secretary to Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, announced that an executive order would be issued that required all hospitals in New York, both public and private, to allow women to have a partner in the labor and delivery room 鈥 in compliance with the latest guidance from the New York State Department of Health. (Van Syckle and Caron, 3/28)
Serta Simmons Bedding seeks to ease part of the overwhelming burden the hospital and health care facilities are enduring as New York City鈥檚 hospitalizations climb due to the coronavirus. The company, which is based in Doraville, Georgia, has announced it will donate 10,000 mattresses to those facilities in the wake of the pandemic that has claimed the lives of more than 1,000 Americans and sickened tens of thousands. (Toone, 3/27)
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)聽issued a travel advisory聽late Saturday night for the New York tri-state area after President Trump said he had requested the measure in an effort to stem the spread of the coronavirus.聽The news comes聽hours after the president said he was considering a short-term quarantine of "hot spots" in parts of the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. These states have fluid populations that travel in and out of New York City, where cases of聽COVID-19 and deaths due to the disease continue to rise at an alarming rate. (Moreno, 3/28)
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) said Sunday that New Yorkers who violate orders from police to disperse public gatherings will be fined up to $500 amid the coronavirus outbreak. Politico reported that the mayor made the announcement at a press conference, while stressing that fines would be only issued as a last resort to those truly intent on violating his order. (Bowden, 3/29)
One odd side effect of covid-19 has been what it does to taste. Even those who have avoided the illness enjoy things they once disliked: Government spending. Facetiming with family. Andrew M. Cuomo. The governor of New York鈥檚 morning news conferences have become part of the country鈥檚 new daily rhythm. He is broadcast live from the wood-paneled Red Room of the state capitol building or New York City鈥檚 convention center 鈥 a leader in a polo shirt or neatly knotted tie, projecting competence to go along with the PowerPoint projection of hard truths. And to the surprise of anyone who has watched his State of the State, it鈥檚 must-see television. (Ellison and Terris, 3/29)
Gov. Andrew Cuomo鈥檚 approval ratings soared this month as he responded to the surging outbreak of the novel coronavirus, a new poll shows. A poll released Monday by the Siena College Research Institute found 87% of those surveyed approved of how the Democratic governor has handled the epidemic. The poll also found 76% liked the response of their local health department, 74% approval for Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and 41% for both President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. (Vielkind, 3/30)