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Coronavirus Update: Number Of Cases Continues To Climb Across Tri-State; New Jersey’s 1st Patient Speaks Out
March 9, 2020 at 8:15 pm
Filed Under: Andrew Cuomo, Bill de Blasio, coronavirus, fort lee, Health, James Cai, Jenna DeAngelis, Local TV, New Jersey, state of emergency
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases in New York has grown to 143, Gov.
Andrew Cuomo said Monday.
That makes it the state with largest number of confirmed cases in the country.
In New York, most cases are in Westchester County, with New York City and Nassau County having the second and third most cases.
In New Jersey, there are now 11 cases, with six additional ones identified Monday.
New Jersey declared a state of emergency Monday night.
Connecticut has two cases.
As a result, there are more school closures in the area and the financial markets are taking a big hit.
Cuomo also said New York state is implementing a policy where if a person at any school tests positive, that school will be closed for at least 24 hours for an assessment and make a determination about longer closures.
CORONAVIRUS: CDC Latest | NY Health Dept.
| NYC Health Dept.
| NY Hotline: 1-888-364-3065 | NJ Health Dept.
| NJ Hotline: 1-800-222-1222 | CT Hotline: 211
Officials continue to try to find where positive cases are, isolate and contain them.
One way to do that is by keeping our hands clean, and Cuomo has the answer for that.
Cuomo introduced “New York State Clean Hand Sanitizer,” ceremoniously unveiled at the start of his Monday morning coronavirus briefing to address shortages and price gouging.
It is made by prisoners through the Department of Corrections and Community Supervision.
About 100,000 gallons of free alcohol-based hand sanitizer will be produced each week to help combat price gouging.
“We’ll be providing this to governmental agencies, schools, MTA prisons because you can’t get it on the market,” Cuomo said.
“It’s much cheaper to make it ourselves than to buy it on the open market.”
Cuomo also made a surprise announcement.
One of the latest cases is a top transportation official in charge of the airports: Rick Cotton, executive director of the Port Authority.
Cotton is in his mid-70s and is asymptomatic.
“He’ll be working from home and the senior team that work with Rick will also be tested,” Cuomo said.
The governor has been calling on the federal government to increase testing capacity at more labs so thousands of test can be done a day.
Northwell Health labs on Long Island just got federal approval to begin manual testing as Suffolk County deals with its first confirmed case.
Nassau county has 17 confirmed cases, including a cluster in Hempstead.
“We’re going to be doing investigations into the new cases.
We go through their contacts, where they go to school, where they go to work, how they get to work if they’ve traveled, been to a family gathering,” said Nassau County Executive Laura Curran.
