New York Mayor Bill de Blasio warned this Monday that the city may be forced to another “total closure” of activity in the coming weeks before the increase in covid-19 cases.
“I think there is a possibility of having to take a complete break, a total closure in the coming weeks because we cannot allow this pace,” De Blasio said of the rise in infections in an interview with CNN.
The New York mayor stressed that transmission levels have been in unseen figures since May and, if continued, will threaten the capacity of hospitals.
“We have to protect lives, we have to protect the capacity of our hospitals to save lives. And when it comes to this situation, we have to start closing the most sensitive areas,” De Blasio explained.
Authorities have already made several decisions, including ban consumption inside bars and restaurants, a measure that went into effect on Monday after it was announced on Friday.
Since last September 30, the city’s premises could serve food and drinks inside, although the maximum capacity had been reduced to 25% of its capacity.
Now, we return to the previous situation, in which restaurants can only cater to the terraces – something that complicates the arrival of the cold – or sell food and drink to carry out.
De Blasio, however, made it clear that the restrictions are expected to reach other sectors as well, something that has also been suggested by state governor Andrew Cuomo, who has the final decisions in his hands.
The mayor insisted that it is necessary to slow down the pace of infections, especially now that vaccinations have begun: “This is the last big battle against coronavirus here in New York. I’ve been telling people, we have a tough December, a tough January, we’re going to fight one more battle. “.
“And then the vaccine will have been administered and done its job. We have to be disciplined at this last opportunity to make sure we fight the coronavirus,” he said.
New York was during last spring the great epicenter of the pandemic in the United States, but then managed to control the crisis during the summer and the mayor part of the fall, with levels of contagion much lower in many parts of the country.
In recent weeks, however, the indicators have worsened again, both in the Big Apple and in the rest of New York State, where about 20 million people live.
As announced by the authorities on Monday, hospitalizations for covid-19 now exceed 5,700 in the state and, of the nearly 160,000 tests performed on the previous day, just over 9,000 (5.66%) were positive. , while 83 deaths were recorded.
In all, since the pandemic began, New York State has accumulated more than 35,000 coronavirus deaths and the United States as a whole is close to 300,000.