Lockdowns, stay-at-home policies multiply as coronavirus cases, deaths mount
More states issue stay-at-home orders amid coronavirus outbreak
States shut down as COVID-19 cases tick up; St. Joseph University Hospital chairman of medicine Dr. Bob Lahita weighs in.
In the U.S. and across the globe, more people were under official lockdowns or stay-at-home policies early Saturday as coronavirus cases and fatalities mounted.
In New York City, coronavirus patients were dying at a rate of more than one an hour, with that rate expected to rise, the city’s health commissioner said Friday, according to The New York Post.
ILLINOIS JOINS CALIFORNIA, NY BY ISSUING ‘STAY AT HOME’ ORDER TO COMBAT CORONAVIRUS
After California’s governor issued the nation’s strictest “stay at home” order Thursday night, taking effect at midnight Friday, governors New York, Illinois and Connecticut did likewise – with Oregon among the states expected to follow next.
“This is not a permanent state, this is a moment in time,” California Gov. Gavin Newsom said, trying to assure the nation’s most populous state that the order would eventually lift.
New York state, the state with the most COVID-19 cases in the nation, received a Major Disaster Declaration on Friday from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), giving it access to a share of $42 billion in federal Disaster Relief Fund dollars, the Post reported.
Early Saturday, New York had more than 8,400 confirmed cases and nearly 50 deaths, while the entire the U.S. had more than 19,600 confirmed cases of the virus and about 250 deaths.
All told, the orders would confine more than 70 million Americans to their homes – able to go out only for essential reasons, such as vital work duties or to gather food and supplies.
In Los Angeles, the sight of nearly empty freeways was startling in a city long known for extensive traffic snarls.
Outside the U.S., Colombia’s president called for three weeks of home isolation, to begin Tuesday, with the capital Bogota already on lockdown Friday, The Associated Pres reported.
Peru, Ecuador and Venezuela were already on lockdown.
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Nations were hoping to avoid situations in China and Italy, where the most cases have occurred. China had more than 81,000 cases early Saturday while Italy had more than 47,000.
Worldwide, the case tally was above 275,000 and the death toll was above 11,300 – with no downturn expected in either figure anytime soon.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
