NYPD transit chief has coronavirus: Cop who protects city’s 5.6m daily subway riders falls ill with a fever as De Blasio warns that city’s 326 cases will dramatically increase
- NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Edward Delatorre tested positive for coronavirus toward the end of last week
- Late Sunday, Delatorre’s fever had subsided and he was resting at his Bronx home and said to be in ‘good spirits’
- The chief comes into contact with hundreds of cops in his job each day and now staff are attempting to work out who he may have been with in the days before his diagnosis
- Coronavirus symptoms: what are they and should you see a doctor?
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The NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Edward Delatorre has fallen ill with a fever and tested positive for the coronavirus.
The chief was tested for the disease several days ago after he fell ill and since received the results that he had contracted the virus.
On Sunday, Delatorre’s fever had diminished and he was said to be resting at home in the Bronx.
The NYPD Transit Bureau Chief Edward Delatorre has fallen ill with a fever and tested positive for the coronavirus
The department is now desperately working to understand which employees Delatorre was in contact with while he was infected, according to the New York Post.
Usually, Delatorre would be in contact with hundreds of cops, in his role as the transit chief.
The NYPD has been unable to confirm or deny Delatorre’s diagnosis.
Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the decision to close schools beginning Monday through at least April 20 and possibly for the school year, following a growing number of school closures in communities and entire states around the country and mounting pressure in New York from residents, City Council members and others.
New York City has a total of 326 confirmed cases of the virus and five deaths. In the state of New York there are more than 700 cases.
A man in a surgical mask rides on the subway in the Brooklyn borough, following the outbreak of coronavirus in New York City
MTA workers disinfect a subway station in Manhattan in an attempt to keep it clean
The mayor called it a ‘very troubling moment, a moment when I’m just distraught at having to take this action, but I became convinced over the course of today that there is no other choice’.
De Blasio said he will be ordering hospitals to cancel non-emergency surgeries beginning on Monday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo weighed in on de Blasio’s decision and said: ‘This action is necessary to reduce density and mitigate the spread of #COVID19.’
On Sunday, de Blasio also said he was ordering the city’s famed restaurants, theaters, bars and movie houses closed in an effort to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
Any restaurant, bar or cafe selling food will only be able to do so via delivery or take-out, according to the mayor.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the decision to close schools beginning Monday through at least April 20 and possibly for the school year. He also announced the closure of all bars and restaurants
‘The virus can spread rapidly through the close interactions New Yorkers have in restaurants, bars and places where we sit close together,’ de Blasio said. ‘We have to break that cycle.’
The mayor said it was not a decision he was making lightly.
‘These places are part of the heart and soul of our city. They are part of what it means to be a New Yorker,’ he said. ‘But our city is facing an unprecedented threat, and we must respond with a wartime mentality.’
There was no word yet on how long the businesses would remain closed. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for more details on the executive order, which de Blasio plans to announce on Monday.
More than 50,000 restaurants in New York were expected to shutter by Tuesday at 9 a.m. According to the National Restaurant Association, restaurants account for more than $51 billion in annual revenue and have more than 800,000 employees.
Bill de Blasio shared a notice warning the public to stay home sick to limit exposure to the virus
De Blasio also said Sunday that he isn’t ruling out quarantining New York City as cases of coronavirus in the most populous U.S. city skyrocketed this week.
‘Every option is on the table in a crisis,’ de Blasio told CNN Sunday morning.
‘We’ve never seen anything like this,’ the Democratic New York City mayor, who had a quick stint running in the presidential primary, continued.
‘It’s changing every hour so we’re going to constantly make new decisions,’ de Blasio said, adding he expected the case tally in the city to rise to 1,000 in the next few days.
‘We will come through this, but until we do, we must make whatever sacrifices necessary to help our fellow New Yorkers,’ de Blasio said.
In the US there are more than 3,774 cases of coronavirus and at least 69 deaths as of Sunday evening
This graph shows how the number of cases in the US of the killer virus have leaped from January to March