Governor Andrew Cuomo told New Yorkers to brace for the possibility of an imminent shutdown, and Mayor Bill de Blasio urged city residents to work from home if possible, as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations continued to climb across the state.
On Monday afternoon, hours after a Queens health care worker received the first COVID-19 vaccine in the country, Cuomo offered his most dire warning in months about a virus that once again threatens to push hospitals to the brink. "The increase in hospitalizations could overwhelm some regions if nothing changes by January," he said. "If we do not change the trajectory, we could very well be headed to shutdown."
Statewide coronavirus hospitalizations, currently at 5,700 people, could double by next month, leading to another 3,500 deaths, according to the governor. He called on hospitals to begin forming partnerships now to deal with the possible surge in patients.
De Blasio echoed the grim forecast on Monday, warning city residents to prepare emotionally and practically for "the potential of having to do a full pause, a full shutdown, in the coming weeks."
Eight hospitals across the five boroughs have reached more than 90 percent capacity of their intensive care units. All of the city's COVID indicators have now surpassed the thresholds laid out by the Mayor's Office.
Cuomo said he would declare a "full shutdown" if case and hospitalization rates show that a region's hospital capacity will reach 90 percent within three weeks. It would resemble the PAUSE order issued in March, which shuttered non-essential businesses and prohibited most gatherings. On Monday, the state's ban on indoor dining in NYC went into effect.
Mark Levine, a Manhattan City Councilmember who chairs the health committee, told Gothamist that a more drastic shelter-in-place order could be handed down within a week.
"We are on a really dangerous trajectory, and the window to head off a full shelter-in-place order is rapidly closing," Levine said. "We have very few steps to take ahead of that left. The most glaringly obvious one being shutting down non-essential offices. That needs to happen today."
At his press conference on Monday, de Blasio said he agreed with the advice that "folks who don’t need to be going into a workplace at this point should do as much as they can remotely."
Just 10 percent of Manhattan office employees had returned to workplaces as of late October, according to a survey conducted by the Partnership for New York City. But those numbers varied widely among different sectors. Nearly three quarters of real estate employees have come back to the office, the survey found.
The news of the vaccine, while obviously welcome, could also lead some New Yorkers to let their guard down, according to Levine, worsening the pandemic's toll in the coming months, before much of the city's population is immunized,
"I think people need to hear a much more assertive message," Levine added. "We need to send a message that we’re beyond the point where masks and hand washing are enough to slow this."
