Mayor Bill de Blasio said he will urge Gov. Andrew Cuomo to start planning for a shelter-in-place order as he expects the cases in New York City to “undoubtedly” surge to 1,000 on Wednesday.
“I will be speaking with the governor about it later on today,” de Blasio said on NBC’s “Today” show Wednesday morning after the two leaders publicly clashed about the draconian measure during dueling press conferences Tuesday.
“It has to be considered seriously starting today,” de Blasio said.
Cuomo, whose approval is needed for the order to be enacted, insisted Tuesday the option wasn’t on the table.
But de Blasio said a potential order to keep New Yorkers in their homes — except for essential business such as trips to pharmacies and supermarkets — may be necessary given the explosion of cases in the city.
As of Tuesday morning, 923 city residents had tested positive for the potentially deadly disease.
“One hundred-plus new cases yesterday, that’s what I am seeing as a kind of a gallop,” de Blasio said.
“We’re going to top 1,000 today undoubtedly. We’re going to be at 10,000 not so long from now. When you think about that rate of increase, what that’s going to do to our hospitals, particularly our ICUs, look, this is something that needs urgent intervention by the federal government and I think we’re all going to have to go deeper in changing our approach,” de Blasio said.
“Which is why I think an honest conversation about shelter-in-place has to happen,” he said.
De Blasio said he’s still trying to figure out how cash-strapped New Yorkers will be able to afford food and medicine, because the measure would only allow essential employees, such as first responders and health care providers, to go to work.