'I'm not urging calm': New York Governor Cuomo declares state of emergency as coronavirus cases rise to 89 after infected Uber driver walked into a Queens hospital and potentially infected 40 doctors and nurses

• e-mail

New York state confirmed 13 new cases of coronavirus Saturday evening, taking the total number of residents infected to 89.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced the latest spike in figures in what has been a shock day for New Yorkers, as the number of cases of the deadly disease more than doubled in the last 24 hours and a state of emergency was declared. 

Cases are expected to rise higher still amid fears that 40 doctors, nurses and medical staff in a Queens hospital may have been infected by an Uber driver, after he walked into the hospital and later tested positive for the virus. 

Seventy of New York state's 89 cases are based in Westchester, where a Manhattan attorney was first struck down with the virus earlier this week. 

Cuomo declared a state of emergency Saturday afternoon, when he revealed the number of cases had reached 76. 

Figures have since been updated to include 13 additional cases.  

'We have now been testing around the clock,' Cuomo stated at the afternoon press conference. 

Governor Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency on Saturday as coronavirus cases skyrocket across New York

Locals and tourists were taking no precautions as they made their way through bustling Times Square. Governor Cuomo has now declared a state of emergency 

Forty-five new cases have been uncovered since Friday, with the majority related to the New Rochelle lawyer who was diagnosed as New York state's first case earlier this week.   

There are seven new cases in New York City - taking the total to 11.

Disturbingly, there are also signs of wider spread, with two cases now confirmed in Saratoga County in the northeast of the state - hundreds of miles away from any other cases.  

There are still thousands of New York state residents awaiting the return of coronavirus test results. 

By declaring a state of emergency, Cuomo said that he is able to free up $30 million that can be used for testing and the purchase of protective gear for healthcare workers.

'I'm not urging calm," Cuomo stated. "I'm urging reality. I'm urging a factual response as opposed to an emotional response... that people understand the information and not the hype.'

He added that, at present, there is no need to cancel large gatherings in any part of the state. 

Meanwhile, a Queens man who drives for taxi and ride-hailing services including Uber has now tested positive for coronavirus after showing up to St. John's Episcopal Hospital in the borough with flu-like symptoms on Tuesday.

The driver, 33, went home and returned later when his symptoms worsened, officials said.

Tests came back Friday night confirming he had coronavirus. 

The situation has prompted 40 doctors, nurses and hospital staff to go into self-quarantine amid fears they have now been exposed. The man is now in isolation at the hospital.

Investigators are now trying to piece together who he might have driven around in a bid to contain a possible spread.

The man was licensed to drive passengers around New York City, but not in the state’s five boroughs or from city airports, a spokesman for Uber told The Times.

'The hospital will need to replace those people temporarily. They will need money to do that. They need supplies. We need to keep the health care up and running,' Councilman Donovan Richards Jr, told The New York Times. 

Meanwhile, more than 4,000 people in the state have been urged to self-quarantine to prevent the spread of the disease. 

Most of those are New York City residents who have returned from the coronavirus hotspots of China, Iran, Italy, Japan and South Korea within the past 14 days. 

Cuomo says he has been informed that many people are not following the self-quarantine requirements. 

'When we say you are on precautionary quarantine, that is a serious situation. We expect to act in good faith and comply with it. If you do not comply with it, there are other measures that we could take,' Cuomo threatened. 

He also warned vendors who are price-gouging on products such as hand sanitizer and surgical masks that their businesses could be shut down. 

The governor declared that some stores were selling sanitizer for $80. 

The daughter of one of the New York City cases confirmed on Friday has spoken out, blasting health officials after her mother and another woman were repeatedly turned away from having tests, despite showing symptoms for more than two weeks.

Amanda, 31, told Bloomberg that her mother and another New York City woman, who are in their 60s and 70s, fell ill after they returned from a cruise around Egypt in February.

Despite showing symptoms for coronavirus and one of the women’s conditions deteriorating to a pneumonia-like illness, officials from the New York City health department dismissed their pleas to be tested, telling them they risked infecting others if they traveled to a healthcare facility and that if they did test positive, there was nothing that could be done anyway, the frustrated daughter claims.

It then emerged this week that another passenger on the cruise ship tested positive for the virus.

The two women were finally tested and results came back positive on Friday – two weeks after they first fell ill and three days after the positive diagnosis of the other passenger.

Questions are now being asked over whether health officials have risked more lives and helped to fuel the outbreak by refusing to test sick individuals.

New York is now the third state to declare a state of emergency over coronavirus cases, following Washington and California. 

Nationwide, at least 430 people in 31 states have tested positive for coronavirus, and 19 people have died.

An anxious man wears a medical mask on a New York City train on Saturday, as coronavirus cases rapidly rise in the area 

One anxious New Yorker wasn't taking any chances on Saturday as he made his way through a subway station in Midtown Manhattan

A woman makes her way through Grand Central Station in Manhattan Saturday morning, just blocks from where the infected New Rochelle lawyer worked 

 John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens was nearly deserted Saturday morning, after the borough announced its first coronavirus case 

The infected driver walked into the emergency room at St John's Episcopal Hospital in Queens, potentially passing on the disease to dozens of doctors and nurses 

The state of emergency was declared in New York as  

• 21 people on board a cruise ship floating off the coast of San Francisco tested positive to coronavirus 
• Two elderly people died in relation to the illness in Florida on Friday - the first deaths on the East Coast 
• Stanford University cancelled all in-person classes for the remainder of winter semester after a faculty member tested positive to coronavirus 
• The NBA prepares its stars to play matches without fans in attendance  
• Apple told all 12,000 employees at its headquarters Apple Park to remain home Friday, following similar guidance from Facebook and Microsoft
• City officials in Austin announced that South by South West festival is cancelled after dozens of stars and companies dropped out 

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CORONAVIRUS CRUISE SHIP OFF THE COAST OF SAN FRANCISCO WAITS IN LIMBO 

Relatives of the 3,500 passengers stranded on board a coronavirus-hit cruise ship off the coast of California are pleading for their loved ones to be evacuated before they become seriously ill.  

At least 21 people on the Grand Princess have contracted Covid-19 - just under half the number of those tested. California's Governor, Gavin Newsom, is now refusing to allow the vessel to dock in San Francisco. 

On Saturday, the daughter of one 90-year-old passenger said her father's health is rapidly deteriorating as he remains stuck on the cruise liner. 

'Keeping people on the ship is going to be a death sentence for many of the elderly passengers,' panic-stricken Lisa Egan told The Telegraph. 

'He has to take several medications daily, and he's going to run out today [Saturday]. I'm sure that's true for many passengers'.

Relatives of the 3,500 people on board the vessel say that the decision not to let their loved ones off the ship 'is a death sentence'. The vessel has been floating off the coast of San Francisco since Wednesday

Earlier on Friday, military helicopters delivered 46 coronavirus testing kits. 21  of the 46 people who took the tests tested positive to Covid-19

John Miller, who is on board the Grand Princess, told ABC7 Saturday that news the Grand Princess was prohibited from docking in San Francisco was 'the worst possible' thing he could have heard.  

Overnight, the captin of the ship announced the Coast Guard was arriving to airlift a passenger who required 'medical assistance' to the mainland.  

A helicopter arrived shortly after, with the unidentified person flown to San Francisco for treatment, according to CNN. It's unclear whether the person was one of the 21 who tested positive for coronavirus. 

The Grand Princess moved closer to land overnight, and is now floating around 20 miles off the coast of San Francisco - but there are still no details as to where or when the ship will port.  

An epidemiologist who studies the spread of virus particles says keeping passengers contained on the vessel will amplify the rate of infection. 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE AHA: 'MILLIONS OF AMERICANS WILL BE HOSPITALIZED WITH CORONAVIRUS' 

US hospitals are preparing for 96 million coronavirus infections and nearly half a million deaths from the outbreak, leaked documents have revealed.

The spread of the deadly disease could be far worse than officials claim, with 480,000 Americans expected to die from the virus and 4.8 million hospitalized, according to a presentation hosted by The American Hospital Association (AHA) in February.

This puts the crisis on a level more than 10 times greater than that seen in a severe flu season.

The shock figures fly in the face of claims made by President Trump who has maintained on many occasions that the risk to Americans is 'low'.

A woman wears a mask in Boston on Saturday, a day after 60 people were brought into nearby hospitals to be tested for the coronavirus. The virus has now killed more than 3,450 people and infected more than 100,000 across 92 nations since the outbreak began in China late last year

Dr. James Lawler, a professor at the University of Nebraska Medical Center, presented the harrowing 'best guess' estimates of the extent of the outbreak to hospitals and health professionals as part of the AHA webinar called 'What healthcare leaders need to know: Preparing for the COVID-19' on February 26.

The leaked slides also reveal the significant risks to older people and those with pre-existing health conditions if they catch coronavirus.

People aged 80 and over have a 14.8% chance of dying if they contract the infection, the slides revealed.

The risk declines with youth, though those aged 70-79 and 60-69 are still placed at a significant risk, with 8% and 3.6% mortality rates respectively.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  

PRESIDENT TRUMP HEADS TO THE GOLF COURSE AFTER VISIT TO THE CENTER FOR DISEASE CONTROL 

President Donald Trump headed to his golf course in West Palm Beach Saturday, following a visit to the CDC in Atlanta on Friday.  

During a chaotic press conference with doctors, the Commander-in-chief brushed off concerns about the limited number of coronavirus test kits and announced that 'anybody who wants a test can get a test.'

He left officials scrambling to explain how such a commitment could happen.

'The tests are beautiful,' Trump added after meeting with top U.S. scientists amid the coronavirus outbreak. 'Anybody who right now and yesterday, anybody that needs a test gets a test,' Trump said.

Trump praised his own administration's response amid concerns that the million test kits promised had yet to materialize.

President Donald Trump on Saturday headed to his golf course in West Palm Beach, after a visit to the CDC on Friday 

President Donald Trump displays a photo of the COVID-19 Coronavirus beside Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, HHS Secretary Alex Azar and CDC Associate Director for Laboratory Science and Safety Steve Monroe during a tour of the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

NBA WARNS TEAMS TO PREPARE FOR GAMES WITHOUT SPECTATORS DUE TO CORONAVIRUS CRISIS

The NBA wants its teams to prepare to play games without fans if necessary because of the coronavirus crisis, but LeBron James already says he won't play basketball in an empty arena.

The league circulated a memo to its teams Friday telling them to prepare in case it becomes necessary to play games without fans or media, as sports leagues in Europe have already done. The memo detailed potential actions that teams might need to take 'if it were to become necessary to play a game with only essential staff present.'

'We play games without the fans? Nah, that's impossible,' James said Friday night. 

The NBA want its teams to prepare to play games without fans due to fears over coronavirus

'I ain't playing if I ain't got the fans in the crowd. That's who I play for. I play for my teammates, and I play for the fans. That's what it's all about. So if I show up to an arena and there ain't no fans in there, I ain't playing. They can do what they want to do.'

The memo says teams should identify which team and arena people would be necessary to conduct games, and be able to communicate quickly with non-essential staff, as well as ticket holders and corporate partners.

Teams should also be prepared 'for the possibility of implementing temperature checks on players, team staff, referees, and anyone else who is essential to conducting such a game in the team's arena.'

Contents of the memo were first reported by The Athletic.