All businesses in New York will be required to allow at least half of their workforce to work from home after Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a press conference in Albany Wednesday.
It’s the latest action from Cuomo to tamp down on the spread of the novel coronavirus, or COVID-19, which had tested positive in 2,382 New Yorkers as of Wednesday morning.
That’s on top of an order from Cuomo, earlier this week, that shuttered all restaurants and bars, and limited those businesses to take-out and delivery only. On-the-go alcohol is allowed, according to the State Liquor Authority.
New York state has also ordered that all gyms, movie theaters, and casinos close until further notice.
Essential services will be exempt from Cuomo’s order Wednesday, with a defining list expected later in the day. Cuomo gave grocery stores and pharmacies as an example, but it’s likely that more businesses will be marked as exempt.
As the number of positive cases in New York continues to rise, the number of people who’ve been hospitalized as a result has gone with it. As of Wednesday, 549 individuals had been hospitalized with COVID-19, which is about 23% of the total identified cases.
But there was a silver lining to Wednesday’s news: Cuomo said that, so far, 108 people who had originally been hospitalized with the disease have recovered and been discharged.
Cuomo expects the number of hospitalizations due to the disease to continue to rise, and has been working with the federal government to improve hospital capacity. He said Wednesday morning that President Donald Trump had agreed to deploy resources to New York.
A hospital ship called the U.S. Comfort will be stationed in New York Harbor, and will be able to accommodate 1,000 rooms. Cuomo said it was, essentially, a floating hospital.
Cuomo said he’s also meeting with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers later Wednesday to discuss ways to retrofit existing facilities and use them as supplemental locations to treat individuals diagnosed with COVID-19.
New York currently has about 3,000 intensive care unit beds. Cuomo has said, in recent days, that the state could need as many as 12 times that amount with the number of cases expected at the peak of the disease. Cuomo expects that peak around early May.
Cuomo also said that Pennsylvania will join the coalition established earlier this week between New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut to implement a series of simultaneous regulations. Cuomo’s said that will help prevent people from traveling to other states to avoid rules.
Of those diagnosed with the disease in the last three or four weeks in New York, 20 had died as of Wednesday morning, Cuomo’s office confirmed. That’s less than 1% of the individuals who’ve been diagnosed.
