Gov. Cuomo on Monday announced that the state would partner with hospitals to increase capacity to 1,000 tests per day statewide for the coronavirus.
“From the beginning, we have believed it was not a question of if New York would have a coronavirus case, but when,” he said. “That’s why New York State has been preparing for weeks, and we are diligently managing the situation.
The respiratory illness has claimed more than 3,000 lives around the world, including six in the United States, but it also has proven so mild in some cases that some people don’t realize they had it until it’s over.
Governments and medical experts have been working to confront the disease as well as keep everyone calm.
Medical officials are asking people to stop buying face masks so that they’ll be available to that those in the thick of the fight against the illness.
Hand sanitizer has disappeared from many Huntington stores as people try to prepare for an epidemic; even Amazon.com has run out of some hand sanitizer products, though most doctors say that simple handwashing and avoiding touching one’s face with hands is effective.
One Long Island woman reported that when she she wheeled her cart into a Costco, an employee stopped her to wipe it down with Clorox.