President Trump is considering quarantining New York, Connecticut and New Jersey in desperate efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic.
The move will restrict travel to and from the three states, which are some of the hardest-hit by the outbreak.
‘Some people would like to see New York quarantined because it’s a hotspot — New York, New Jersey maybe one or two other places, certain parts of Connecticut quarantined. I’m thinking about that right now,’ he said Saturday.
‘We might not have to do it but there’s a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine – short term – two weeks for New York, probably New Jersey, certain parts of Connecticut.’
He said the possible quarantine would be ‘short-term’ but that it would be ‘enforceable’.
The president dismissed the idea that he would need to deploy the National Guard to ensure residents comply with the quarantine rules.
‘We’re not going to need that,’ he said.
President Trump is considering quarantining the whole of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey in desperate efforts to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic
The move would help tackle the issue other states are facing where New Yorkers are fleeing the city and traveling to other states and areas, where they are potentially risking more lives and spreading the disease further afield.
‘Restrict travel, because they’re having problems down in Florida, a lot of New Yorkers going down. We don’t want that,’ he said.
New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo hit back at the president’s plans in a press conference Saturday.
‘I don’t even know what that means. I don’t know how that could be legally enforceable,’ said Cuomo.
‘And from a medical point view, I don’t know what you would be accomplishing.
‘But I can tell you, I don’t even like the sound of it.’
Cuomo said he had spoken with Trump earlier Saturday and the two had not discussed a possible quarantine.
The president made the comments as he touched down in Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews around noon Saturday and spoke to reporters.
US President Donald Trump boarding Marine One as he departs the White House in Washington, DC, on Saturday, as he said a short-term quarantine could be enforced in the three states
‘We’re looking at it,’ he said about the possible quarantine of the three states.
‘We’re looking at it and will be making a decision. A lot of the states that are infected – they’ve asked me if I’d look at it so we’re going to look at it. Maybe for a short period of time.’
‘It would be for a short time’ for parts of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, he said.
However when asked if he would shut down the New York City subway he said: ‘No we wouldn’t do that.’
He said he would talk to New York state Governor Cuomo about the measures later today.
Trump also took the opportunity to praise the work Congress had done to pass the $2 trillion emergency bailout package, which he signed into law Friday.
‘We have great oversight – a lot of oversight. We have a lot of people watching. It’s a wonderful thing we’ve done for the workers and for the citizens,’ he said.
‘A lot of people are going to work. It will bring back the economy I think very fast.’
His comments on a possible quarantine seemed to backtrack on his previous claims that he wants to get the economy and normal life back up and running as soon as possible.
Trump said this week that he wanted the US ‘opened up and raring to go’ by April 12 for Easter.
He’s since eased his stance slightly after Dr. Anthony Fuaci pushed back against the premature deadline, but has not officially backed down.
Fauci, America’s top disease expert, poured cold water on the president’s plan saying: ‘I think what the President was trying to do, he was making an aspirational projection to give people some hope.’
‘But he’s listening to us when we say that we’ve really got to reevaluate it in real time, and any decision we make has to be based on the data,’ he told CNN.
The president’s plan to have the country open for business soon has been slammed by healthcare professionals.
More than 800,000 doctors across the United States sent a letter to Trump Friday, saying that opening the economy by Easter could ‘gravely jeopardize the health of all Americans.’
The Council of Medicinal Speciality Societies addressed the letter to Trump, Vice President Mike Pence and White House Coronavirus Task Force Ambassador Deborah Birx on Friday.
It said medical staff are risking their lives to treat coronavirus patients and called on the Trump administration to support ‘science-based recommendations’ on social distancing.
The number of deaths in New York state reached 728 Saturday, as the US’s epicenter for coronavirus struggles to bring the pandemic under control.
The death toll in the city rose to 450 as of early Saturday morning as its healthcare system is threatened with imminent collapse.
On both Thursday and Friday, another 85 people died of the virus, or an average of one New Yorker every 17 minutes. There are 26,697 confirmed NYC cases as the national total soars over 100,000.
Queens is emerging as the epicenter of the epicenter in New York City with 8,214 cases, a one-day increase of 32 percent.
In just the past week, one funeral home in Queens has held service for close to a dozen people who have died from the virus, and is expecting to do more.
Manhattan patients are testing positive at a significantly lower rate than the outer boroughs with no neighborhood reporting over 40 percent of patients confirmed positive.
New York state Governor Andrew Cuomo hit back at the president’s plans in a press conference Saturday: ‘I don’t know what it means … I don’t know how it will be enforceable. I don’t like the sound of it’
The city’s healthcare system is buckling under the strain of the rise in cases.
Medical emergency calls were up 40 percent to about 6,500 a day, shattering historical records and leading to up to 170 callers being put on hold at a time, according to EMS union officials.
Inside the city’s hospitals, healthcare workers faced unspeakable scenes of suffering and death.
‘Hell. Biblical. I kid you not. People come in, they get intubated, they die, the cycle repeats,’ said Dr Steve Kassapidis of Mount Sinai Queens, in an interview with Sky News. ‘9/11 was nothing compared to this, we were open waiting for patients to come who never came. Now they just keep coming.’
‘The hospitals look like a war zone,’ Dr Emad Youssef of Brookdale Hospital in Brooklyn told CBS News. ‘People lining up out of the hallway, through the EMS bay, through the ambulance bay, with masks on themselves, with oxygen on their nose.’
The U.S. Navy hospital ship USNS Comfort is headed for New York to be used as a makeshift hospital amid the pandemic
A medical worker at the coronavirus testing tent set up outside Elmhurst Hospital Center in New York on Saturday: The number of deaths in New York state reached 728 Saturday, as the US’s epicenter for coronavirus struggles to bring the pandemic under control
The death toll in New York City rose to 450 as of early Saturday morning as its healthcare system is threatened with imminent collapse
Neighboring state New Jersey has also been grappling to bring the outbreak under control, with 8,825 confirmed cases and 108 confirmed deaths.
Last week, New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed an executive order mandating that all non-essential retail businesses close their stores and almost all state residents stay home to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The order affects some 9 million residents in the state and exempts those who work in essential services such as healthcare and the food industry, the governor said at a news conference.
It banned all gatherings including weddings and parties, Murphy said.