NY to require face coverings in busy public places

Even as politicians speak about “reopening” the country, NY continues to be intensifying restrictions intended to stop the coronavirus from spreading.

Face coverings will be now be needed in any place where people can’t stay at least six feet away from other folks. While other isolation measures seem to be to been employed by in keeping new infections down, New Yorkers continue steadily to die by the hundreds each day. Meanwhile, NEW YORK officials said they might create a crisis food reserve and take other steps to fight hunger in a city where huge numbers of individuals have been thrown out of work.

Here are the most recent coronavirus developments in New York:

Face coverings

NY residents will be asked to wear face coverings anytime they come into close contact with other persons outside their homes, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday.

The mandate will demand a mask or face covering, such as a bandanna, on busy streets, public transit, or any situation where people cannot maintain 6 feet of social distancing, whether or not it is passing a person briefly on a wooded trail. The order takes effect Friday.

“Stopping the spread is everything. How can you not wear a mask when you’re likely to come near a person?” Cuomo said at his daily briefing. “On what theory would you not do this?”

The governor, who has himself eschewed masks during his daily news briefings, though he comes within six feet of his staff, said there will at first be no civil penalties for noncompliance, but he’s urging merchants to enforce it among customers.

Though hospitalizations from the outbreak have leveled off, NY officials remain trying to lessen the rising death toll. NY recorded 752 deaths Tuesday, for a total of almost 11,600 since the outbreak began.

Those figures don’t include roughly 4,000 more deaths in New York City that city officials say were probably caused by the virus, but haven’t been confirmed by a lab test.

Cuomo’s announcement came hours after NEW YORK Mayor Bill de Blasio needed stores to make customers wear face coverings so that you can protect staff against exposure. De Blasio had previously recommended face coverings in public in the city.

The brand new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms for many people. For a few, especially older adults and persons with existing health issues, it could cause more serious illness or death.

Food plan

In a city where 1.2 million residents - including one in five children - struggle sometimes to feed themselves, the number is likely to grow as around half-million New Yorkers have lost or will probably lose their jobs soon.

“We can make sure everyone gets the meals they need,” de Blasio said in unveiling a $170 million plan to help.

The town already is offering 250,000 free meals a trip to schools and delivering 25,000 a day to senior citizens. Officials expect to provide 10 million free meals in April and expect the need to grow to as much as 15 million in-may.

Meanwhile, the city has contacted some 11,000 taxi and livery drivers - whose livelihoods have already been shattered as persons stay home - to employ them to provide meals to those that can’t leave home.

While officials said the city food supply is stable, they also intend to create a $50 million reserve of as much as 18 million shelf-stable meals.

Nursing homes

The virus has been unmerciful on assisted living facilities, killing 2,500 patients in just a few weeks, but up to now NY state has refused to reveal the names of facilities where people have died.

State officials took one step toward transparency Wednesday, saying they'll now require facilities to tell residents and their own families within 24 hours if another patient at the house has contracted the virus or died. The upcoming executive order will include adult homes, where a lot more than 580 people have died.

But the state will continue steadily to withhold the names of assisted living facilities that have experienced extreme outbreaks from others, saying patients deserve privacy.

The change was intended to help persons like Cindy Coughlin, who told The Associated Press she’s struggled to get info on whether there exists a COVID-19 outbreak at the nursing home in Johnson City where her 83-year-old father in-law resides.

Coughlin said she’s baffled to understand the way the public release of information would endanger anyone’s privacy.

“I wish they might do that,” Coughlin said. “I don’t’ know if it could make you feel worse or better, but I believe I’d feel a lot better knowing there is only 5 cases there rather than 25. I assume that’s a very important factor I can’t understand.”

The economic equation

Cuomo said getting people back again to work safely before a vaccine is developed will require not merely large-scale testing, but tracing the non-public contacts of people who test positive and isolating infected people.

But testing and tracing people in a state of 19 million is not possible without federal help, he said.

“That is clearly a massive undertaking,” he said. “It’s intelligent but it’s massive.”

In the meantime, NY will get started testing 2,000 persons a day for virus antibodies this week with a newly developed finger-prick test. Priority will get to nurses, New York City police and other first responders, so they can know if they’ve been infected.

Both Cuomo and de Blasio said leaders have to be deliberative about trying to rev up the economy without creating a chance for the coronavirus to come roaring back.

“I would like to restart the economy desperately ... but the best way to do it is to be cautious,” de Blasio said.

Cuomo said the state could consider lifting restrictions first for businesses that pose a lesser risk of infection and are considered more “essential.”

Out of prison

Former NY state Senate leader Dean Skelos was expected to be released soon from prison to home confinement after testing positive for the coronavirus.

Skelos has been serving a four-year and three-month prison term after he was convicted of extortion, wire fraud and bribery.