[Read our latest coverage of the coronavirus outbreak in the New York area.]

If there is one thing New Yorkers believe about themselves, it’s that no one pulls together quite as well during a crisis.

Vigorous hand-washing, staying home, bumping elbows instead of hugging — we got that. But with more than 200 confirmed cases of coronavirus in New York and more than 1,110 nationwide, some people are asking if they can do more to help.

“It’s been so internally focused,” Chris Principe, 40, said of the advice he has heard from public officials. Mr. Principe, who lives in Brooklyn and is a video director at the publishing company Condé Nast, said he assumed there would be ways for people to assist others.

That has been a common question, said Kathryn S. Wylde, president and chief executive of the Partnership for New York City, an association of major businesses in New York. But large-scale efforts have been hampered in part by safety concerns. The number of cases has increased, even as the capacity to test for the virus has remained limited, prompting concerns about accidental exposure.