Governor Andrew M. Cuomo reiterated Thursday that he does not believe it necessary to bar people from traveling out of New York City, or to require them to quarantine upon arrival at their destination.
His comments came after a long briefing from the statehouse in which he announced another 100 deaths reported overnight due to COVID-19. The statewide death toll stands at 385. Around the U.S., 1,067 people have died.
Cuomo said that to address the demand for hospital beds, the state is constructing overflow hospitals at nine locations, including two on Long Island at SUNY Westbury and SUNY Stony Brook.
But even with the overflow beds, and mandates that hospitals increase their capacity by 50 percent, the governor said that all realistic scenarios anticipate the state’s hospital system will soon be overwhelmed.
The state expects about 140,000 hospital beds will be needed at the apex of demand; it had 53,000 before work began to augment capacity.
“You cannot get the curve down low enough so that you don’t overwhelm the hospital capacity,” Cuomo said.
In Suffolk County, the number of cases rose to 2,735, Cuomo said, and statewide 37,258 people have tested positive for COVID-19. County health officials said Thursday that 287 patients were hospitalized, up by 81 from the day before.
On Shelter Island, only one case was included in the county’s daily tally, down from two the day before. No explanation was given, but a source says that one of the hometown of one of the cases may have been reassigned after further inquiry.
[Read this Gazette post to learn about our local medical resources]
NYC travel ban, self-quarantine not necessary
Near the end of the briefing, Cuomo was asked about local governments — counties, towns and villages — that are calling on him to institute in-state travel bans or self-quarantine orders.
Cuomo said he stands by his comments of a day earlier when he dismissed such actions as unnecessary.
On Tuesday at a White House briefing, Deborah Birx, the response coordinator for the White House Coronavirus Task Force, praised action by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis requiring travelers from the New York metro area to self-quarantine upon arrival in Florida.
“I think, like Governor DeSantis has put out today, everybody who was in New York should be self-quarantining for the next 14 days to ensure that the virus doesn’t spread to others, no matter where they have gone, whether it’s Florida, North Carolina, or out to far, far reaches of Long Island,” Dr. Birx said.
On Wednesday, the Town of Shelter Island joined other East End townships — Southold and Southampton — in announcing a requirement that anyone arriving from New York City must self-quarantine for 14 days.
Southampton Town Supervisor Jay Schniederman, head of the East End Supervisors and Mayors Association, encouraged his colleagues to join his call for the governor to take action.
While there are no official measures in place to assess the movement of people in and out of our communities, anecdotal reports say second home owners —who usually come only in summers or for shoulder season long weekends — have been arriving on the East End in large numbers.
About half of the homes on Shelter Island are used seasonally, and many are owned by families who make their primary residence in New York City.