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Second New Yorker Has COVID-19

NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo
NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo
Gov. Cuomo

After a second New York state resident tested positive for the novel coronavirus, Temple Young Israel of New Rochelle has been ordered to halt all services immediately. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says a 50-year-old man in Westchester County has COVID-19. The County Health Commissioner directed the temple to stop services for the foreseeable future, and says people who attended services there February 22 and a funeral and bar mitzvah there one day later must self-quarantine until at least March 8.

Cuomo appeared at the capitol Tuesday with legislative leaders and Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Howard Zucker.

“Who did not travel to any of the places that are on the quote-unquote watch list, did travel to Miami, but that is not a place that we have known that there is any cluster of coronavirus, and he has tested positive, lives in Westchester, works in Manhattan, has been with his family in Westchester, so we are now going through possible connections to track down possible connections to find people,” Cuomo said.

Cuomo says the man has a child at the orthodox Jewish SAR Academy in the Bronx, which closed as a precaution. He added that the man has an underlying respiratory illness.

Senate Majority Leader Andrea-Stewart Cousins joined the briefing just hours after the legislature approved Cuomo’s request for $40 million in emergency funding to handle the coronavirus crisis. Cuomo signed the bill Tuesday morning, just after word of the case in New Rochelle.

“Little did I know that this morning I would wake up to find that in the county I live in, in the city I represent, there is an active case. I had to tell that to my daughter on her way to work in a hospital. And because of our actions, I was able to tell her with confidence that we are preparing to step up, to lead,” she said. 

Cuomo also announced that two Buffalo-area families who recently traveled to Italy are under isolation while testing is being completed. He says 80 percent of people who contract the virus will be fine and may not even realize they have it, while the lethality rate is double that of the flu at about 1.4 percent.

Commissioner Zucker was asked what the average person should do given the rising fears about the virus’ spread. He says it’s not practical or necessary for everyone to be tested.

“First, good common sense and judgment on some of these issues. I think that if someone is ill, they should speak with their health professional and give a call, a clinic if they need to, and then initially to take the necessary precautions: cough into your sleeve, sneeze into your sleeve, wash your hands, and stay home if you’re sick, and if someone in your house is sick, stay home as well, so that will slow the spread of a disease and also protect the individual,” Zucker said.

Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, a Bronx Democrat, said New York is as ready as it can be.

“I don’t think there’s a more prepared state, a more prepared health department, to deal with the situation at hand. As the governor said, it’s a situation we’ve never dealt with before, and some of these decisions, time is going to be of the essence,” Heastie said. 

Cuomo said he is amending the paid sick leave bill before lawmakers to cover time off for the coronavirus. He added that the SUNY system is contemplating bringing study abroad program students home. A decision on that was said to be imminent.

A 39-year-old healthcare worker living in Manhattan also tested positive for COVID-19 this weekend after recently returning from Iran. Officials say she has mild symptoms and is at home.

A lifelong resident of the Capital Region, Ian joined WAMC in late 2008 and became news director in 2013. He began working on Morning Edition and has produced The Capitol Connection, Congressional Corner, and several other WAMC programs. Ian can also be heard as the host of the WAMC News Podcast and on The Roundtable and various newscasts. Ian holds a BA in English and journalism and an MA in English, both from the University at Albany, where he has taught journalism since 2013.
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