New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio estimates that 50% of New Yorkers will contract the novel coronavirus.
“It’s a fair bet to say that half of all New Yorkers and maybe more than half will end up contracting this disease,” de Blasio said during a Wednesday City Hall press briefing. “That’s worrisome, very deeply worrisome.”
New York City Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot agreed with the mayor’s assessment, adding that the number of COVID-19 cases could greatly increase by fall.
“We think 50% by the end of this epidemic, this pandemic, so by the time September rolls around, likely 50%, but it could also be much higher,” Barbot said.
Last week, de Blasio was the subject of media scrutiny for visiting a YMCA gym after announcing that restaurants, bars, gyms, and other businesses in the city would need to close. The mayor defended his decision to workout a day before the order went into effect, saying, “There was almost no one there.”
“I had heard that information prior,” he continued. “I suspected that we were all going to be about to close them down, and this would be the last time to get some exercise.”
According to the New York Department of Health, nearly 31,000 state residents have tested positive for COVID-19, representing approximately 50% of all cases present in the United States.
More than 480,000 people have tested positive for the coronavirus globally. Of those, at least 22,000 have died from it, and more than 117,000 have recovered. The U.S. has seen at least 69,000 confirmed cases with 619 reported recoveries.
