Mayor Bill de Blasio painted a terrifying picture of New York City’s battle against the spread of the coronavirus.
The city has faced one of the worst outbreaks of COVID-19 in the United States. During an interview on MSNBC on Tuesday night, de Blasio seemed surprised by the illness’s effect on the city.
“I’m really sorry to tell you this cause the number has gone up literally over 100 cases in the course of the day. We’re at 923 cases at this hour tonight with 10 people who have passed away,” de Blasio reported. “In the city alone.”
He continued, “It’s unbelievable how rapidly this crisis is growing right now.”
On Tuesday morning, the city had 644 cases, showing a daylong jump of 279 cases. This rapid increase may also be affected by the increased availability of coronavirus tests in the city.
De Blasio noted that he and Gov. Andrew Cuomo are considering a shelter-in-place order to keep people from gathering and spreading the illness. The San Francisco Bay Area recently enacted a similar order to stop the spread in that region.
“Look at this movement we’re seeing. It’s tragic. I didn’t even know, by the time I got to your show, it would be 100 more people, but what I said earlier today is, this is moving very fast,” de Blasio said. “We should all be very concerned about how we find a way to slow down the trajectory of this virus. The idea of shelter in place has to be considered now.”
He said he would have considered a shelter in place order “impossible” less than one week ago. De Blasio also warned that the economic damage from the virus will likely be “worse than we realize.”
“We don’t know what the future of our supply chain will look like. You’re talking about people who, in any scenario, could have no money to spend on food, on medicine, the basics,” he explained.
De Blasio said the city may need “mass feeding operations” like the bread lines during the Great Depression. He added, “I don’t say that to be apocalyptic, I say that to be practical.”
Globally, more than 200,000 have confirmed cases of the coronavirus and more than 8,000 people have died. Since the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December, more than 82,000 people have recovered from the illness.
