This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/03/nyregion/coronavirus-new-york-state.html

The article has changed 23 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 6 Version 7
Coronavirus in N.Y.: Second Case Sets Off Search for Others Exposed Coronavirus in N.Y.: Second Case Sets Off Search for Others Exposed
(about 2 hours later)
The authorities confirmed on Tuesday a second case of coronavirus in New York, a man in his 50s who lives in Westchester County, just outside New York City, touching off an intense search by health investigators across the region to determine whether he had infected others. The public health authorities descended on a hospital, telling some nurses and doctors they would need to be quarantined. They ordered a synagogue to halt all services, and told attendants at a recent bat mitzvah to stay at home for the rest of the week.
The inquiry stretched from a hospital in Bronxville, N.Y., to a nearby high school, to both a law office and a college campus in Manhattan. The effort provided one of the first glimpses in New York of the kind of comprehensive efforts that health officials in countries across the world have mounted to stem to spread of the coronavirus. Disease detectives were monitoring lawyers at a small midtown law firm for signs of illness, and scrutinizing the risk of contagion at a university.
New York health officials were tracking down doctors and nurses who treated the man in a hospital for days before he was confirmed to have the illness — and placing some in quarantine. And they were growing concerned that his son, a college student who officials believe lives in university housing, might be showing symptoms of the illness, too, raising fears of further transmission. The discovery of a second case of the new coronavirus in New York on Tuesday — a man of about 50 who lives in Westchester County, just north of New York City — quickly touched off an intense search by health investigators across the region to determine whether he had infected others, and who might have infected him.
The inquiry stretched from a hospital in Bronxville, N.Y., to a synagogue in nearby New Rochelle, to a law firm and a college campus in Manhattan and to Florida, where the man had visited weeks ago.
The effort provided one of the first glimpses in New York of the kind of comprehensive efforts that have been mounted to stem the spread of the coronavirus around the world — epidemiological detective work that was first conducted in China, where the disease seemed to arise.
Now, it is the reality officials across the United States will face as the epidemic spreads, including in Washington State, where the virus has killed several residents of a nursing home.
What these disease detectives find could well be unnerving, as the scope of the illness’s spread becomes clear.
“I think we have to assume this contagion will grow,” George Latimer, the Westchester County executive, said at a news conference on Tuesday.“I think we have to assume this contagion will grow,” George Latimer, the Westchester County executive, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
The man became ill on Feb. 22 and was admitted to a hospital in Westchester on Feb. 27., according to Dr. Demetre C. Daskalakis, the deputy commissioner for disease control at New York City’s Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. Officials acknowledged that the patient might have exposed doctors, nurses and others to the illness. On Sunday, the authorities announced the first confirmed case of the new coronavirus in New York: a health care worker who had been infected in Iran, where the illness is raging, and began exhibiting symptoms after returning home. But the health care worker had kept herself largely isolated, and the authorities expressed confidence they had the situation under control.
“We believe that a couple of the medical professionals have been quarantined,” Mr. Latimer said, adding that state health officials were examining “what exposure might exist” to the staff at that medical facility, the NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville. But the case announced on Tuesday was far more worrisome.
The patient has since been transferred to a Manhattan hospital. He is a lawyer who lives in New Rochelle, N.Y., and works in Manhattan. The authorities have little inkling of how the man, a lawyer who lives in New Rochelle but works in Manhattan, had been infected. He had traveled to Miami in February and regularly visited Israel, but had not been to any areas with widespread transmission.
Two of the man’s children have links to New York City. One child attends a Jewish high school in the Bronx’s Riverdale neighborhood, and the school was closed on Tuesday as a precaution. The other, the college student, attends Yeshiva University but had not been on campus since Feb. 27, according to a statement released by the school. Additionally, the statement said, a student at the university’s law school was in self-quarantine after having contact with the law firm where the Westchester man works.
City officials said the stricken man’s son, the Yeshiva student, exhibited light symptoms that could be the coronavirus, or perhaps nothing at all.
Get an informed guide to the global outbreak with our daily coronavirusGet an informed guide to the global outbreak with our daily coronavirus
newsletter. newsletter.
The city’s disease detectives were trying to recreate the son’s movements to learn whom he had close contact with. They have also been in touch with the small Midtown law firm where the Westchester man works and they have spoken with the man’s close colleagues to evaluate their level of exposure, officials said. Public health authorities were only beginning to tally the number of people he might have exposed to the illness.
Seven people who work at the firm have been deemed worthy of some level of monitoring — that can be as minor as a follow-up phone call, or it can involve a lengthy period of isolation to see if symptoms develop. The man became ill on Feb. 22 and was admitted to a hospital in Westchester on Feb. 27., according to Dr. Demetre C. Daskalakis, the deputy commissioner for disease control at New York City’s Department of Health.
In Westchester County, the authorities were doing the same type of work, tracking whom he had close contact with. The original diagnosis was pneumonia, according to a person who knows the patient well and who spoke on the condition of anonymity. After testing negative for the flu, he was removed from isolation, the person said. Several people visited him.
On Tuesday, county officials told the man’s synagogue, Young Israel of New Rochelle, to halt its religious services for the foreseeable future. Citing guidance from state officials, the county also told congregants who attended Shabbat services on Feb. 22 or went to a funeral or a bat mitzvah on Feb. 23 to quarantine themselves, and said it would order a quarantine for those who would not do so. But his health deteriorated, and after several days he was transferred to NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan. “At that point, it was a bit of a medical mystery,” the person said.
A Westchester County spokeswoman said the man was at the synagogue on those dates. He was tested for the new coronavirus on Monday and health authorities announced the result Tuesday morning. Officials did not specify why the man had not been tested for the virus earlier. He was in “severe condition” as of Tuesday afternoon, according to the Health Department.
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo said news of the second New York patient should not be a cause for alarm, reiterating that health officials had expected the virus to spread. Officials acknowledged that doctors, nurses and others at the first hospital the man checked into, NewYork-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital in Bronxville, might have been exposed to the illness.
“Yes, people are going to get infected,” the governor said in an interview on Long Island News Radio, adding that “80 percent self-resolve,” referring to the estimated recovery rate for mild or asymptomatic cases. “We believe that a couple of the medical professionals have been quarantined,” Mr. Latimer, the county executive, said.
Mr. Cuomo said the new patient had an underlying respiratory illness and was at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital in the city. The mayor’s office said he was in “serious condition.” Westchester County health officials were scrambling to trace his movements in the days before his hospital admission. The Westchester health commissioner ordered the synagogue, Young Israel of New Rochelle, to halt all services, and ordered the congregants who attended a bat mitzvah and a funeral there to self-quarantine.
“The real issue is how many people will get seriously ill,” Mr. Cuomo said. “How many people, God forbid, could lose their lives.” In New York City, investigators with the health department interviewed colleagues at the man’s law firm on East 42nd Street, and identified seven people there worthy of some level of monitoring to see if symptoms develop.
There were crucial differences between the first case in New York, which came to light on Sunday, and the second. The man has four children, two of whom flew back from Israel in recent days. But the younger two have links to New York City. One child, a daughter, attends a Jewish high school in the Riverdale neighborhood in the Bronx, and the school, SAR, which stands for Salanter Akiba Riverdale and describes itself as a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school, closed on Tuesday as a precaution.
The first coronavirus patient is a woman, 39, who began showing symptoms after returning home from Iran — the center of the outbreak in the Middle East. Health officials do not believe she was yet contagious when she flew home. And she came into contact with few people other than her husband and the driver who picked her up from the airport, health officials said. The other, a college student, attends Yeshiva University but had not been on campus since Feb. 27, according to a statement released by the school. City officials said the man’s son, the Yeshiva University student, exhibited light symptoms that could be the coronavirus, or perhaps nothing at all.
With that first case, the source of infection — another country — was known, and the authorities were hopeful that she had not spread the virus to other New Yorkers. Additionally, the school’s statement said, a law school student was in self-quarantine after having contact with the law firm where the Westchester man works.
But the second case appears different. The authorities do not know how the man became ill. Though he traveled to Miami in February, and had traveled to Israel as well in recent months, he is not known to have traveled to any areas with widespread transmission. For New York, this means the new coronavirus can no longer be thought of as an external threat that has yet to arrive. The man’s family is currently in quarantine in New Rochelle, the authorities said.
Epidemiologists say that the increase in cases should come as little surprise, given how few people have been tested. In New York City, fewer than 20 people had been tested; across the state, only a few dozen people have. The man, now hospitalized, had been planning to attend this week’s annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee in Washington, D.C., which is typically attended by thousands of people, including members of Congress, according to the person who knows him well.
The city’s public health laboratory confirmed the Westchester man’s case on its first day of being allowed to test for coronavirus, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office said. Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said news of the second New York patient should not cause alarm, and steeled New Yorkers for the prospect that the virus would spread.
“With the results confirmed within a number of hours, we were immediately able to take next steps to stop the spread of this virus,” the mayor’s office said in a statement. “Yes, people are going to get infected,” the governor said in an interview on Long Island News Radio, adding that most cases involved only mild symptoms. More severe symptoms include pneumonia and respiratory failure. Early estimates put the death rate at 2 percent, although that may drop.
Testing procedures changed over the weekend, when the state’s public health laboratory in Albany, Wadsworth Center, began administering coronavirus tests after receiving permission from the federal government. Epidemiologists say it is unsurprising that the illness appears to have spread with little detection given how few people have been tested for the virus. In New York City, fewer than 20 people have been tested; across the state, only a few dozen people have.
Previously, health authorities could not test patients locally and had to send samples to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, limiting the number of people tested. Testing on a larger scale has been hampered by regulatory hurdles and limitations that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has imposed, although those obstacles are easing.
Mr. Cuomo said the state was also monitoring two families in the Buffalo area who had recently traveled to Italy, one of the centers of Europe’s outbreaks. The city’s public health laboratory discovered that the man had the new coronavirus on the very first day the laboratory began testing, Mayor Bill de Blasio’s office said.
On Monday night, acting on a proposal by the governor, the State Legislature approved a $40 million emergency aid package to help the State Department of Health hire additional staff and equipment to help track and fight the disease. Mr. Cuomo said he would sign that bill on Tuesday, and he expected that additional measures to mitigate the disease could be necessary. More than 100 people in the United States have been confirmed through laboratory testing to have the new coronavirus.
“Quarantine is going to have to be done,” Mr. Cuomo said. “All of these things could very well happen.” The new virus is believed to have originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year before spreading to some 70 other countries. More than 92,000 people have been infected, and more than 3,100 have died. New hubs of transmission have emerged in Italy, South Korea and Iran.
He added that the State University of New York system was deciding whether to ask students abroad to return home.Also on Tuesday, at least two schools in the New York City area were closed for “precautionary measures” — the SAR Academy and SAR High School in Riverdale, and Westchester Day School in Mamaroneck, N.Y. The details known about the man’s time at the Bronxville hospital underscore an alarming threat — one undiagnosed patient with the new coronavirus can expose a large number of staff, leading to quarantines.
Mr. Cuomo said during a news conference on Tuesday that one of the Westchester patient’s children attended SAR, which stands for Salanter Akiba Riverdale and describes itself as a Modern Orthodox Jewish day school. Elsewhere, hospitals have already been a source of transmission for the new coronavirus. In Wuhan, more than 1,500 medical workers contracted the virus, according to statistics the Chinese government released in mid February. An earlier outbreak of a different coronavirus, the far more deadly SARS, was also fueled by transmissions that occurred in health care settings.
The school, which has more than 1,400 students, sent an email to parents and faculty saying it was canceling classes on Tuesday because of a “suspected case of coronavirus.” Administrators urged parents and staff to remain calm and follow advised preventive measures. The virus’s impending arrival has caused New Yorkers to grow concerned in the past week. After reports of price gouging on supplies including face masks and hand sanitizers, State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Democrat, introduced a bill on Tuesday to penalize businesses that raised prices on medical supplies by more than 10 percent during a public health emergency.
Representatives for SAR declined to comment further, referring questions to the State Department of Health. Concern is sure to grow as health detectives begin to investigate cases around the city. On Tuesday, police officers showed up at the building in Midtown where the Westchester man worked, reportedly after someone in the building called 911 saying they had contact with the man.
The Westchester Day School, a private Jewish day school, closed over an “abundance of caution,” said Rachel Goldman, the school’s executive director. Jonathan Crespy had come downstairs to meet his wife for coffee when he learned that a man who worked in the same building as him was the second coronavirus patient. Mr. Crespy had worked from home on Monday out of caution, he said, after learning about the city’s first coronavirus case.
Ms. Goldman said that the school did not have any reason to believe that any of its students, faculty or staff had coronavirus, but that it had opted to close when it learned that a person in one of the school’s feeder communities was suspected of contracting the virus. “I came back today,” he said. Asked by a reporter if he would consider working from home again tomorrow, he said, “I think I’ll go home now.”
After reports of price gouging on supplies including face masks and hand sanitizers, State Senator Brad Hoylman, a Democrat, introduced a bill on Tuesday to penalize businesses that raised prices on medical supplies by more than 10 percent during a public health emergency. Joseph Goldstein reported from New York, and Jesse McKinley from Albany, N.Y. Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Michael Gold, Jeffery C. Mays, Annie Correal and Corey Kilgannon contributed reporting.
“It’s said that after the storm come the vultures, and that’s exactly what could happen here if we don’t act now,” Mr. Hoylman, of Manhattan, said. “Profiting off fear of disease is unconscionable.”
Joseph Goldstein reported from New York, and Jesse McKinley from Albany, N.Y. Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Michael Gold, Jeffery C. Mays and Corey Kilgannon contributed reporting.