Trump nixes quarantine idea for NY, NJ and Connecticut

As coronavirus cases rose in the national epicenter of NY, President Donald Trump surprised governors of the state and neighboring NJ and Connecticut by saying Saturday that he could impose a quarantine on the residents before tweeting later in your day a travel advisory was the ideal solution.

Trump's comments about a quarantine led New York Gov Andrew Cuomo to call it illegitimate and “a federal declaration of war.” The travel advisory urges residents of the three states to avoid all but essential travel for 14 days. Meanwhile, Cuomo postponed New York's presidential primary from April to June, and nurses made anguished pleas for more protective equipment and rebuffed officials' claims that supplies are adequate. With NY cases expected to mushroom toward a mid-to-late-April peak, Cuomo took a manual-pump air mask at hand to show what might lie in store if needed ventilators don't arrive.

Here are the most recent coronavirus developments in New York:

A TRI-STATE QUARANTINE?

Trump told reporters at the White House he was weighing the thought of a quarantine to avoid persons in the tri-state area from traveling for a short while. Late Saturday, though, he tweeted that he'd went with a travel advisory.

The travel advisory urges residents of NY, NJ and Connecticut to immediately avoid any nonessential travel for two weeks.

All 50 U.S. states have reported some cases of the virus that triggers COVID-19, but New York has the most, with over 52,000 positive tests for the condition and more than 700 deaths. About 7,300 persons were in NY hospitals Saturday, including about 1,800 in intensive care.

The federal government gets the capacity to take measures to avoid the spread of communicable diseases among states, but it's not clear whether which means Trump can order persons never to leave their states.

Trump cited requests from Florida Gov Ron DeSantis, a fellow Republican and outspoken Trump supporter who has complained about New Yorkers coming to his state amid the outbreak and ordered them to isolate themselves on arrival for two weeks.

Trump said he previously spoken with Cuomo, but the Democratic governor said there had been no talk of a quarantine when both spoke Saturday morning.

The governor said roping off states would amount to “a federal declaration of war,” arguing it could be illegal, economically catastrophic, “preposterous,” and shortsighted when other parts of the U.S. are seeing cases rise, too.

“If you start walling off areas all over the country, it might be totally bizarre, counterproductive, anti-American, anti-social,” Cuomo told CNN.

Locking down the nation’s financial capital would shock the stock market and “paralyze the economy” at a time when Trump has indicated he’s itching to get it on track, the governor added.

“Why you'll just create total pandemonium on top of a pandemic, I've no idea,” Cuomo said.

PRIMARY DELAYED

Cuomo said he was delaying the state's presidential primary from April 28 to June 23, when the state plans to carry legislative congressional and local party primaries.

“I don’t think it’s wise to be bringing people to 1 location to vote" on the April date, he said.

NY joins over a dozen states which have delayed some elections. A smaller group including Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana, Connecticut, Maryland, Rhode Island, Indiana and Kentucky have also postponed their presidential primaries.

The governor's decision came as election commissioners across New York warned they were "risking" their health insurance and safety to meet up impending deadlines for testing machines and preparing ballots prior to the April 28 date.

CHANGE FOR HOSPITAL BIRTHS

Cuomo also says he's signing an executive order instructing hospitals to permit at least one partner into delivery rooms.

The governor took the action Saturday after some hospitals had barred patients from having any visitors, including expectant fathers, as a result of the risk those persons could pose to healthcare workers if they're infected.

NURSES APPEAL FOR MASKS

At a news conference outside city-run Jacobi Hospital, nurses needed more masks and other gear to safeguard themselves against the virus which has so far sickened a lot more than 29,000 people and killed over 500 in the town.

At least one health care worker, Mount Sinai West assistant nursing manager Kious Kelly, 36, has died of the virus. Others also have fallen ill around the metropolitan region.

Jacobi nurses said managers at the Bronx hospital have already been rationing protective equipment, making them struggling to change out the high-end particle-filtering masks known as N95s as often because they should. Two Jacobi nurses are "fighting because of their lives in the ICUs right now,” pediatric nurse Sean Petty said, blaming a scarcity of equipment.

City officials have insisted there’s enough protective equipment for roughly another week, though they’re worried for the weeks after.

Mayor Bill de Blasio said the city delivered 200,000 N95 masks to hospitals Friday, with 800,000 more to come Saturday, along with loads of less-protective surgical masks and other gear. The United Nations mission on Saturday donated 250,000 face masks to the town, with the U.S. mission to the U.N. assisting to facilitate the gift.

The town hospital system’s president, Dr. Mitchell Katz, said at a news conference Friday that staffers working exclusively with coronavirus patients could conserve supplies of N95 masks by wearing one throughout their shifts, overlaid with surgical masks that can be changed more often. Some health care staff have chosen to wear helmets with reusable air filters -- somewhat like “a Darth Vader mask,” he said.

In a few patient-care settings, a surgical mask will suffice, he said, but personnel who prefer N95s can use them.

Petty said policies on protective equipment were being driven by shortages, not science, and he slammed officials as subjecting medical personnel to avoidable risks.

“We won't let any health official or government official say that people have sufficient” protective equipment, he said, “until every health care worker comes with an N95 for each time they interact with a COVID-19 patient.”

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as for example fever and cough that get rid of in 2-3 weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia and death.

PUBLIC SERVANTS FELLED BY VIRUS

NEW YORK Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announced the death of Detective Cedric Dixon, a 23-year veteran who was assigned to the 32nd Precinct in Harlem.

“We have lost three members of our family in just a little over 48 hours. I cannot commence to describe what we are feeling,” Shea said Saturday. He declined to offer details about Dixon’s health.

“This disease is particularly aggressive against persons with vulnerabilities and I’ll leave it at that,” Shea said.

Giacomina Barr-Brown, a civilian employee who worked in a roll call office, died Thursday night in her home. Dennis Dickson, a department janitor, died earlier from problems of the disease.

New York City Correction Officer Quinsey Simpson on Friday became the first correction officer to die from the coronavirus, in line with the Correction Officers’ Benevolent Association.

Simpson have been in the Department of Correction for 18 years and worked at Rikers Island.

“His tragic death out of this invisible disease has left our hearts broken,” COBA President Elias Husamudeen said.

MANUAL AIR MASKS

As the state continues scrambling to try to amass 30,000 ventilators before a projected mid-to-late-April peak in coronavirus cases, Cuomo bluntly illustrated the alternative: masks with manually operated air bags.

He said the state has bought 3,000 of them, has ordered 4,000 more and is considering training National Guard personnel to operate them. It entails pumping the bulb-like bag yourself -- 24 hours per day for each and every patient in need.

“If we have to turn to the device on any large-scale basis, that's not a satisfactory situation,” Cuomo said, “so we go back to locating the ventilators.”

The government has sent over 4,000 ventilators to the state and NEW YORK this week.

OTHER DEVELOPMENTS:

- A Navy hospital ship is because of arrive Monday in NEW YORK within efforts to improve the number of hospital beds available.

- Health officials warned of the potential spread of the virus in prisons and jails.

- Retirement communities also continued to cause concern, with one Long Island complex reporting six deaths from the coronavirus in less than two weeks.

- Drivers with New York license plates are being stopped by Rhode Island State Police in order that National Guard officials can collect contact information and inform them of a mandatory, 14-day quarantine.