NYC to use hotel rooms as quarantines sites

New York City is getting ready to use 11,000 empty hotel rooms for coronavirus quarantines, Mayor Bill de Blasio said Thursday.

Meanwhile, officials are also grappling with a projected USD 7.4 billion loss in tax revenue because of the crisis.

After initially lining up hotels to become temporary hospitals, the city is now planning to use the rooms as quarantine sites for some people in crowded apartments, for some homeless shelter residents and for health care workers who don't want to risk infecting family members, de Blasio said.

In some communities where infection rates are high, some people are living in cramped multi-generational households, the mayor noted.

If there is a threat that someone might get infected in the home and it might spread amongst the members of that family, we have to guard against that, he said.

De Blasio said the city will work with community health centers to identify who needs the service and will start moving people into hotel rooms April 22.

Initially, our projections told us we might have to use a vast number of hotels, dozens and dozens, to be able to accommodate all the medical needs, he said. So far, thank God, that has not been the case. The COVID-19 virus causes mild or moderate symptoms for most people. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, it can cause more severe illness or death.

New York City expects to take a USD 7.4 billion budget hit over the next 15 months because of the coronavirus, de Blasio said Thursday as he detailed planned cuts and appealed to President Donald Trump and Congress for an infusion of cash for cities and states.

If you lead, the Senate will follow. If you are silent, they will not. It's on you, Mr. President, the Democrat said at a news briefing. He said he spoke Wednesday to the Republican president and told him his hometown needs him. The city so far has spent over USD700 million to handle the virus outbreak and expects to spend a total of USD 3.5 billion by the end of December, according to a news release from the mayor's office.