NYC could ease coronavirus restrictions in late May, but hampered by lack of testing

[brooklynite]

Source: Politico

New York City could begin to ease some coronavirus restrictions in late May or June — but it will require widespread testing of residents for the virus, which the city does not yet have the ability to do.

Even as the death toll continues to surge — reaching 5,150 on Thursday, according to state data, with more than 84,000 confirmed cases of Covid-19 — the city has begun to plan for a gradual return to normalcy down the road, Mayor Bill de Blasio said
“People have been following the rules, and that’s why we’re starting to see some improvement. And we are far from out of the woods,” de Blasio said, citing hopeful signs like a stabilization in hospitalizations. “If we really work hard, we have a chance of seeing change in May or June.”

The de Blasio administration has in recent weeks downplayed the importance of testing for the virus, telling New Yorkers not to get tested unless they’re sick enough to be hospitalized and shutting down its own walk-up testing sites at public hospitals.

Read more: https://www.politico.com/states/new-york/city-hall/story/2020/04/09/nyc-could-ease-coronavirus-restrictions-in-late-may-but-hampered-by-lack-of-testing-1274364

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I imagine Gov. Cuomo will override any such decision.

[Loki Liesmith]

1. Hopefully he won't need to override the decision

Get the testing protocols in place and we can open sooner rather than later.

[doc03]

2. But Trump says we did a phenomenal job of

testing. According to him other countries are calling. him
wanting adivice on testing.

[Mike 03]

3. I wonder if any NYC folks are finding themselves nostalgic for Mike

Bloomberg. de Blasio seems a little bit slow to get it (maybe "dense" would be a better word).

[robbedvoter]

6. Not quite but I certainly lost any like for this guy.

A study said that had he acted the way San Francisco did, 50-80% of the cases could have been avoided. He is a disaster. If not for 🍊, he’d be the villain of this.

[bucolic_frolic]

4. How you gonna test everybody in NY?

the virus will just move onto the next untested or already tested area. by the time you get back there you've got wave2 going

[Igel]

5. Depends on his plan and on the test.

If you get a low number of cases, then PCR tests and contact tracing can work again and those not infected can go back to work. But contact tracing in NY would be a nightmare without a lot of social distancing still being in effect.

If you have serology tests you can tell who's had it and who should be immune, and they can go back to work, while others might need to stay at home if they're in high-risk groups or go out and work with precautions if in low-risk groups.

People keep saying what about people who are immune but could carry it on their persons, hands, effects, transferring it from those who are infected to those who are still uninfected. It remains to be seen how important a vector that is--and what can be done to mitigate it.

[robbedvoter]

7. President Cuomo said people who need to go to work - essential jobs and

More importantly, the immunity tests for those who recovered would allow people to return to work.

[rocktivity]

8. "No Symptoms, No Test" is a cover story for "Not Enough Tests"

And that's what killing us -- if you'll pardon the expression.

With no vaccine or antidote in sight, the only alternative to "riding out" the peak is testing everyone ASAP and effectively quarantining the infected. What we're doing now can help slow the rate of infections, but it's next to useless in the absence of knowing exactly how many people got infected on the front end.


rocktivity