Coronavirus US: New York streets to close to traffic, give walkers more space
New York will go deeper into shutdown as more than 100km of the Big Apple’s city streets are marked for closure to traffic.
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New York, the epicentre of the US coronavirus outbreak, will close some city streets to vehicle traffic, expand footpaths and create temporary bike lanes to offer New Yorkers more space outside as lockdown measures continue.
New York mayor Bill de Blasio announced Monday that 64km of streets will be closed to cars in May, with the goal of 160km of street closures, to allow New Yorkers more space to socially distance outside.
He made the announcement just days after he joined city officials in cautioning against a proposal to open up streets to pedestrians, saying it could not be done safely in a city as dense as New York. There would not be enough NYPD officers available to enforce it, he said.
But in a news conference on Monday, the mayor said the City Council had come forward with a vision for opening up more streets that alleviates concerns by the city’s Police Department.
“Over the next month, we will create a minimum of 40 miles of open streets. And as the crisis continues, the goal is to get up to 100 miles,” Mr de Blasio said.
As part of the plan, New Yorkers will soon be able to walk, run, skate, and bike on the city’s already vacant streets.
New Yorkers hit Central Park with their faces covered just hours after @NYGovCuomo issued a statewide executive order to wear masks in public places where you “pass peopleâ€. It will be mandatory by Friday @newscomauHQ #coronavirusus pic.twitter.com/4IckNexCwX
— Megan Palin (@Megan_Palin) April 16, 2020
The street closures, mostly located in and around parks, will allow much-needed space for outdoor recreation in a packed city where most footpaths are too narrow for social distancing.
Meanwhile, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced Monday that stay-at-home restrictions could be eased in mid-May for parts of New York State where the coronavirus outbreak is less severe. The governor outlined reopening parameters as hospital admission rates and deaths continue to decline from peaks earlier this month. The 337 deaths recorded statewide Sunday was the lowest daily tally this month and down from a high of 799 on April 8. More than 17,000 people have died in New York since the start of the outbreak.
Mr Cuomo said at his daily news briefing that statewide restrictions set to expire May 15 will likely be extended in many parts of the state.
“But in some parts of the state, some regions, you could make the case that we should un-pause on May 15,” said Mr Cuomo, who likened it to turning a valve a bit at a time.
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The governor laid out a series of conditions to reopen individual regions that included decreasing hospitalisation rates, robust testing and tracing, places to isolate positive cases and enough hospital capacity if cases surge again. Preliminary results of antibody tests, which check for substances the immune system makes to fight the virus, suggest the coronavirus is far less prevalent in some upstate areas compared New York City, a pandemic hotspot.
While almost a quarter of people in New York City tested positive, the rate was below two per cent in northern and central New York, according to preliminary estimates.
New York’s 5th Avenue near deserted, around 1pm on this sunny Saturday @newscomauHQ #coronavirusus pic.twitter.com/1IKyDJb1Bo
— Megan Palin (@Megan_Palin) April 11, 2020
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump cancelled a scheduled coronavirus briefing at the White House on Monday – the second one wiped from the calendar in days after he was heavily criticised for suggesting it was worth investigating whether coronavirus could be treated in humans by injecting disinfectant.
“There has never been, in the history of our Country, a more vicious or hostile Lamestream Media than there is right now, even in the midst of a National Emergency, the Invisible Enemy!” Trump tweeted this morning.
“FAKE NEWS, THE ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE!”
Mr Trump has insulted reporters and media institutions throughout his tenure, repeatedly referring to critical stories about him as “fake news”.
The briefings might return later this week but not in the same format, a White House source told The US Sun.
RELATED: New York’s grim death count
NEW: Update to Covid-19 streamgraph
— Steven Bernard (@sdbernard) April 26, 2020
Have moved to a 7-day rolling average to remove the weekly patterns in the data.
• Brazil - significant jump in death toll the past 3 days
• US still struggling
• UK possibly past the peak
For latest analysis... https://t.co/j59C2msmQo pic.twitter.com/p9zKqO7ZiG
Trump apparently does not want to speak about the speculation surrounding Kim Jong-un’s health, according to the source.
The country now has an overall death toll of 54,876, with 965,910 confirmed infections, according to a coronavirus tally by John Hopkins University in Maryland on Monday afternoon AEST.
megan.palin@news.com.au | @Megan_Palin
Originally published as Coronavirus US: New York streets to close to traffic, give walkers more space