(Bloomberg) -- New York City officials intend to enlist thousands of health-care workers next month to conduct hundreds of thousands of diagnostic tests a day, and isolating anyone found to be carrying the disease.
The plan, which hinges on the city’s still-unmet capacity to test residents, will require training thousands of “disease detectives” to interview each individual found positive for the virus, Mayor Bill de Blasio said in a news briefing Wednesday. The city would then trace his or her social contacts to test and isolate them if necessary.
De Blasio’s goal is far more ambitious than what New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Tuesday: 40,000 a day for the entire state.
The city will rent thousands of hotel rooms for virus carriers with no or mild symptoms who live in crowded households that make isolation impossible, de Blasio said. Individuals staying in the hotels would require daily medical supervision, food and laundry services, the mayor said. He didn’t give a cost estimate for the program.
“We have to find a way to do this,” de Blasio said. “All those pieces are not in place today, but they will be next month.”
This month, six testing sites near public housing will open, the mayor said. Face coverings and gloves will be distributed to all residents. Senior housing residents will get free food delivery, hand sanitizer, protective equipment, wellness outreach phone calls -- and 10,000 free WiFi-enabled tablets with internet service to link them to family and friends, the mayor said.
Health Department data showed an uptick citywide in virus-related hospital admissions to 252 from 204 as of April 19. Covid-19 patients requiring intensive care in public hospitals dropped to 821 from 857 that same day.
©2020 Bloomberg L.P.
RECOMMENDED FOR YOU
POPULAR