A researcher works in a lab that is developing testing for the Covid-19 coronavirus | Kena Betancur/Getty Images NYC orders mandatory coronavirus testing for public workers

New York City will order some public workers to get tested for coronavirus, and force them into quarantine if they refuse, according to an order issued Thursday by the city health department.

And for the first time, the city is now asking all New Yorkers who have returned from at-risk countries — China, Iran, Italy, South Korea and Japan — to quarantine themselves for 14 days.


Mayor Bill de Blasio said mandatory testing for public workers — first responders, teachers and health care workers — will be triggered in cases where people have symptoms of the virus, have traveled to high-risk countries or had contact with others who are infected.

Employees who refuse to be tested will be ordered into mandatory quarantine and face discipline at work, de Blasio said.

For the public, isolation remains voluntary, but the city is now asking a much broader population of people to stay home as the virus spreads.

The new measures came as two new cases of coronavirus were found in New York City Thursday, and nine more in other parts of the state. In total, there are now 22 cases statewide — a number that doubled between Wednesday and Thursday.

The two people newly diagnosed in the city have no connection to other cases and have not traveled to the countries affected, officials said. They are both hospitalized and “critically ill,” de Blasio said. Both have underlying health problems.

“You have to assume it could be anywhere in the city, so we’re going to work on an assumption of intense vigilance,” de Blasio said during a press conference at police headquarters. The spread of cases within the city “suggests it will be more pervasive, and that worries us.”

Returning travelers will be met at the airport with quarantine information, and health workers will call them daily to check on whether they have symptoms, officials said.

More stringent measures are possible if the outbreak worsens, de Blasio said.

“We have the option of going further into the general public,” he said. “That’s something we’re going to assess day to day, hour to hour.”

Three city teachers who traveled to Italy have been tested for the virus, and one came back negative despite experiencing symptoms, de Blasio said. The other two are still pending. No students have experienced symptoms.

New York City’s paid sick days law, requiring employers to offer five paid days off, will apply for people isolating themselves even if they are not sick, de Blasio said. Beyond that, there are no plans for financial assistance.

“Even if it means economic suffering, people cannot take a chance with this disease. If you’re told to stay home, you just have to stay home, for yourself, for your family, for the good of everybody,” de Blasio said.

The mayor is also pressing the federal government to increase the city’s supply of testing kits. The city currently only has enough to test 1,000 people, officials said at the press conference.

"Quick detection is vital to stopping the spread of the virus,” he said in a follow-up statement. “We need the CDC to step up so our experts can do their job and protect New Yorkers. Our single greatest challenge is the lack of fast federal action to increase testing capacity, and without that, we cannot beat this epidemic back.”