Trump rolls back on New York coronavirus quarantine plan
US President Donald Trump this weekend rowed back on suggestions that coronavirus-hit New York could be quarantined after criticism from the state’s governor.
Trump said on Saturday afternoon that he might impose a ban on travel in and out of New York and parts of New Jersey and Connecticut, the parts of the US worst-hit by coronavirus.
Critics called the idea unrealistic and said it would trigger chaos in a region that acts as the engine of the eastern US economy.
“If you started walling off areas all across the country it would be totally bizarre, counter-productive, anti-American,” New York governor Andrew Cuomo said on CNN.
Trump dropped the idea hours later saying on Twitter, “A quarantine will not be necessary”.
Instead he said he would instead ask the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to issue a “strong travel advisory” that would be administered by the three states’ governors.
The CDC later warned residents against non-essential domestic travel for 14 days. It said the warning did not apply to employees of “critical infrastructure industries” including trucking, public health and financial services.
Today Cuomo announced the number of deaths from the coronavirus in New York state increased by 237 in the past day, reaching a total of 965 since the outbreak began.
The state also reported 7,195 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past day for a total of 59,513, Cuomo told a news conference. Another 1,175 people were hospitalised in the past day, increasing the total to more than 8,500 hospitalisations in the state, including more than 2,000 in intensive care, Cuomo said.
Trump today blasted the media for its reporting of the crisis and boasted about the high viewer ratings his coronavirus press conferences were receiving.
“Because the ‘Ratings’ of my News Conferences etc. are so high, ‘Bachelor finale, Monday Night Football type numbers’ according to the [New York Times], the Lamestream Media is going CRAZY. ‘Trump is reaching too many people, we must stop him.’ said one lunatic. See you at 5:00 P.M.!” He tweeted.