Coronavirus: Donald Trump backs down on NY quarantine

Donald Trump has backed away from enforcing an unprecedented quarantine on parts of New York.

Donald Trump and Defence Secretary Mark Esper bid farewell to hospital ship USNS Comfort at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, on Sunday. Picture: AP

Donald Trump has backed away from enforcing an unprecedented quarantine on parts of New York after the state’s Governor warned it would trigger chaos as the management of America’s fast-escalating coronavirus crisis descended into chaos.

In a remarkable standoff, the President threatened to lock down parts of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to prevent people from leaving the nation’s virus hotspots in a bid to slow the rampant spread of the virus. But the President tweeted the idea before consulting Governor Andrew Cuomo, who hit back, saying it was a “preposterous” idea that would cause “chaos and mayhem” and would amount to a “federal declaration of war”.

Mr Trump had earlier said that a quarantine to prevent people leaving might be needed because people quitting those hotspots were spreading it to other areas. “They’re having problems down in Florida, a lot of New Yorkers going down,” he said.

But Mr Cuomo reacted angrily, saying it would be “wholly counter­-productive” to prevent the movement of people in and out of New York. “I don’t know how it could possibly work … we need goods coming in and out of New York. It would be chaos and mayhem … I don’t think it is plausible, I don’t think it is legal,” he said, adding it would create “pandemonium on top of a pandemic”.

A lone jogger runs down a partially empty 7th Avenue in New York. Picture: AP

In the end, Mr Trump tweeted that a quarantine would “not be necessary” but that a travel advisory warning against non-essential domestic travel would instead be issued.

The dispute came amid grim scenes in New York City where 45 refrigerated trucks have been sent to hospitals around the city to store bodies as local hospitals ­become overwhelmed by coronavirus cases. New York state is the hardest hit part of the nation with more than 52,000 cases and at least 728 deaths as the national toll in the US spiked sharply with more than 124,600 cases and almost 2200 deaths. Worldwide there were 678,700 cases and 31,700 deaths as of Sunday night AEDT.

Mr Trump has come under growing criticism from governors and health experts who say he is not moving fast enough to secure desperately needed equipment to fight the virus, including ventilators, masks, protective clothing and the provision of widespread testing. He was widely criticised at the weekend for casting doubt on Mr Cuomo’s claim that New York needed 30,000 ventilators to cope with the soaring infection rates. “A lot of equipment is being asked for that I don’t think they’ll need,” the President said.

Under criticism, Mr Trump the next day announced the government would use its powers under the Defence Production Act to order a ramp-up in the production of ventilators from private companies including General Motors.

However, these companies are unlikely to produce their first ventilators for at least a month, meaning they will be too late to help deal with the current surge of cases in the New York region.

Mr Cuomo said on Sunday (AEDT) his call for 30,000 ventilators to cope with the pandemic was based on data from scientists.

“The numbers, the data says at the high point of need, you could need 140,000 hospital beds and 30,000 ventilators, as we’re planning for that ‘worst case scenario,’ which the models predict,” he said. “I have no desire to procure more ventilators than we need.”

A new survey of senior officials in more than 200 US cities and towns has found a dire need for more masks, ventilators and other emergency equipment to fight the pandemic.

“It is abundantly clear that the shortage of essential items such as face masks, and test kits, personal protective equipment, ventilators and other items needed by health and safety personnel has reached crisis proportions in cities across this country,” said Tom Cochran, head of the US Conference of Mayors.

As the virus spreads across the US there is growing concern about the fast growth in infections in other cities including New Orleans where the Mardi Gras is believed to have contributed to soaring rates. Chicago, Los Angeles and Detroit are also showing a steep spike in infections, leading to fears they will soon become major hotspots.

Cameron Stewart is also US contributor for Sky News Australia