Andrew Cuomo, the governor of New York declared a state of emergency on Saturday after the number of coronavirus patients in New York rose to 76.
During a news conference in Albany, Cuomo said twenty more people have tested positive for coronavirus in New York, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 76.
He also disclosed that there are 11 confirmed cases in New York City, 57 in Westchester County, two in Rockland County, four in Nassau County, and two in Saratoga County including a man who is apparently an Uber driver whotested positive, resulting in more than 40 doctors and others at the hospital treating him to go into self-quarantine.
“You know what’s worse than the virus? The anxiety,” Mr. Cuomo said, noting that most patients would suffer mild or no symptoms.
The declaration of emergency will allow the state to speed up the purchasing of supplies and the hiring of workers to assist local health departments that have been handling the monitoring of thousands of self-quarantined patients, Mr. Cuomo said.
“Somebody has to go knock on their door, once a day,” he said. “This is labor intensive.”
The declaration would also allow officials to skirt purchasing regulations, if necessary, he said.
The total number of confirmed cases across the US is 312, and there have been 17 deaths as of Saturday.
