"How Delays and Unheeded Warnings Hindered New York’s Virus Fight
The federal response was chaotic. Even so, the state’s and city’s own initial efforts failed to keep pace with the outbreak, The Times found."
1. [The beginning in NY area. Note the March 5 date.]
"A 39-year-old woman took Flight 701 from Doha, Qatar, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in late February, the final leg of her trip home to New York City from Iran.
A week later, on March 1, she tested positive for the coronavirus, the first confirmed case in New York City of an outbreak that had already devastated China and parts of Europe. The next day, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, appearing with Mayor Bill de Blasio at a news conference, promised that health investigators would track down every person on the woman’s flight. But no one did.
A day later, a lawyer from New Rochelle, a New York City suburb, tested positive for the virus — an alarming sign because he had not traveled to any affected country, suggesting community spread was already taking place.
Although city investigators had traced the lawyer’s whereabouts and connections to the most crowded corridors of Manhattan, the state’s efforts focused on the suburb, not the city, and Mr. de Blasio urged the public not to worry. “We’ll tell you the second we think you should change your behavior,” the mayor said on March 5."
2. [Confidence from Cuomo and DiBlassio.]
"For many days after the first positive test, as the coronavirus silently spread throughout the New York region, Mr. Cuomo, Mr. de Blasio and their top aides projected an unswerving confidence that the outbreak would be readily contained.
Responses had been rehearsed during “tabletop” exercises. After all, the city had been here before — Ebola, Zika, the H1N1 virus, even Sept. 11.
“Excuse our arrogance as New Yorkers — I speak for the mayor also on this one — we think we have the best health care system on the planet right here in New York,” Mr. Cuomo said on March 2. “So, when you’re saying, what happened in other countries versus what happened here, we don’t even think it’s going to be as bad as it was in other countries.”
3. [Times blames NY. Note the 2d para. I don't really blame anyone, but it was ridiculous for NY officals and the Times to be blaming Trump and federal government. NY was more at fault. Again, I don't blame anyone, at least not yet. It was a tough and unprecedented situation, with little good data available.]
"Even so, the initial efforts by New York officials to stem the outbreak were hampered by their own confused guidance, unheeded warnings, delayed decisions and political infighting, The New York Times found.
Dr. Frieden said that if the state and city had adopted widespread social-distancing measures a week or two earlier, including closing schools, stores and restaurants, then the estimated death toll from the outbreak might have been reduced by 50 to 80 percent."
4. [Note the timing of actions by various states.]
"But New York mandated those measures after localities in states including California and Washington had done so.
San Francisco, for example, closed schools on March 12 when that city had 18 confirmed cases; Ohio also closed its schools the same day, with five confirmed cases. Mr. de Blasio ordered schools in New York to close three days later when the city had 329 cases.
Then seven Bay Area counties imposed stay-at-home rules on March 17. Two days later, the entire state of California ordered the same. New York State’s stay-at-home order came on the 20th, and went into effect on March 22."
5. [More background on being slow and seeming to be too positive.]
"From the start, Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Cuomo projected as much concern about panic as they did about the virus.
“We can really keep this thing contained,” Mr. de Blasio said at a news conference about virus preparations in late February.
That tone continued even after the first positive case was announced on March 1.
“Everybody is doing exactly what we need to do,” said Mr. Cuomo, seated with Mr. de Blasio, at a news conference on March 2. “We have been ahead of this from Day 1.”
6. [Comparison to Wuhan.]
"New York City, at the start of the outbreak, relied on 50 disease detectives to trace the rapidly rising cases of unconnected infected people, city officials said.
By comparison, in Wuhan, China, where the pandemic began, more than 9,000 such workers were deployed. New York City added to its original 50 only after the outbreak began to accelerate."
[DiBlassio waited too long.]
"By March 5, Mr. de Blasio seemed to acknowledge the virus had spread beyond control. “You have to assume it could be anywhere in the city,” he said.
Still, not wanting to cause undue alarm, he told New Yorkers to go on with their normal lives, which left many confused about the danger they faced.
The city’s health commissioner, Dr. Oxiris Barbot, had sought to reassure commuters, in early February, that “this is not something that you’re going to contract in the subway or on the bus.” The mayor reiterated the point several times in early March."
7. [CDC advice during the time.]
"The C.D.C. in early February said it was “unclear” if the virus could be transferred on surfaces and, by March, said that it might “be possible” for someone to get infected by touching a contaminated surface and then touching their face. The virus mainly spreads between people in close contact, the agency has said, such as occurs on a crowded subway."
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/08/nyregion/new-york-coronavirus-response-delays.html?action=click&module=Top%20Stories&pgtype=Homepage