New York State’s virus deaths jump to more than 1900

Bodies were loaded onto refrigerated trucks outside overwhelmed hospitals in New York as the state’s virus deaths jump to more than 1900.

2 min read

April 2, 2020 - 7:18AM

Coronavirus: Harrowing footage from the New York epicentre

New York authorities rushed to bring in an army of medical volunteers as the statewide coronavirus death toll doubled in 72 hours to more than 1900 and the wail of ambulances in the otherwise eerily quiet streets of the city became the heartbreaking soundtrack of the crisis.

As hot spots flared around the US in places like New Orleans and Southern California, the nation’s biggest city was the hardest hit of them all, with bodies loaded onto refrigerated morgue trucks by gurney and forklift outside overwhelmed hospitals, in full view of passing motorists.

“It’s like a battlefield behind your home,” said 33-year-old Emma Sorza, who could hear the sirens from severely swamped Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.

And the worst is yet to come.

“How does it end? And people want answers,” New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said. “I want answers. The answer is nobody knows for sure.”

A body is moved by forklift outside Brooklyn Hospital in New York where there has been a surge in coronavirus deaths. Picture: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images/AFP

Refrigerated trucks are being used as makeshift morgues as the city struggles to cope with the number of deaths. Picture: John Minchillo/AP

In New York State, the death toll doubled in just 72 hours. Picture: John Minchillo/AP

Stocks tumbled on Wall Street and markets around the world, a day after President Donald Trump warned Americans to brace for “one of the roughest two or three weeks we’ve ever had in our country,” with 100,000 to 240,000 deaths projected in the US before the crisis is over.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost more than 970 points, or over 4 per cent.

Under growing pressure, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis belatedly joined his counterparts in more than 30 states in issuing a statewide stay-home order, taking action after conferring with fellow Republican, Mr Trump.

The governors of Pennsylvania and Nevada, both Democrats, took similar steps. Mississippi’s GOP governor was expected to follow suit.

Meanwhile, European nations facing extraordinary demand for intensive-care beds are putting up makeshift hospitals, unsure whether they will find enough healthy medical staff to run them. London is days away from unveiling a 4000-bed temporary hospital built in a huge convention centre.

In a remarkable turnabout, rich economies where virus cases have exploded are welcoming help from less wealthy ones.

Russia sent medical equipment and masks to the United States. Cuba supplied doctors to France. Turkey dispatched protective gear and disinfectant to Italy and Spain.

Worldwide, more than 900,000 people have been infected and over 45,000 have died, according to a tally kept by Johns Hopkins University, though the real figures are believed to be much higher because of testing shortages, differences in counting the dead and large numbers of mild cases that have gone unreported.

A hearse picks up deceased bodies from a refrigerated truck outside Brooklyn Hospital. Picture: Angela Weiss/AFP

A funeral director and Wycoff Heights Medical Centre employee transport a body. Picture: Mary Altaffer/AP

At least 100,000 deaths are expected in the US before the crisis is over. Picture: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images/AFP

The US recorded about 200,000 infections and 4400 deaths, with New York City accounting for about one out of four dead.

More than 80,000 people have volunteered as medical reinforcements in New York, including recent retirees, health care professionals taking a break from their regular jobs and people between gigs.

Few have made it into the field yet, as authorities vet them and figure out how to use them, but hospitals are expected to begin bringing them in later this week.

Those who have hit the ground already, many brought in by staffing agencies, have discovered a hospital system being driven to breaking point.

To ease the crushing caseload, the city’s paramedics have been told they shouldn’t take fatal heart attack victims to hospitals to have them pronounced dead. Patients have been transferred to the Albany area.

A navy hospital ship has docked in New York, the mammoth Javits Convention Centre has been turned into a hospital, and the tennis centre that hosts the US Open is being converted to one, too.