This article is more than 6 months old

This article is more than 6 months old

New York’s governor announced on Tuesday he is sending national guard troops into a New York City suburb to help tackle what is now believed to be the nation’s biggest cluster of coronavirus cases – one of the most dramatic actions yet to control the spread of the illness in the US.

Governor Andrew Cuomo announced a “containment” plan for New Rochelle, the city at the center of the coronavirus outbreak in the New York metro area, in what he called a “breathtaking” outbreak that is “a significant issue”.

The news came as Donald Trump said he saw “no reason” to get tested himself, despite coming into close contact with two Republican members of Congress who have put themselves into quarantine after encountering an attendee at a recent conservative conference who tested positive for coronavirus.

“I don’t think it’s a big deal. I would do it. I don’t feel any reason. I feel extremely good. I feel very good, but I guess it’s not a big deal to get tested and it’s something I would do,” Trump told reporters in Washington.

He had just wrapped up a meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, where he reportedly suggested that two options for a coronavirus economic relief plan would be to waive the payroll tax through the end of the year or make the tax cut permanent.

The president floated at a press conference on Monday evening the proposal for a cut in payroll tax, a percentage of employees’ salaries paid to the federal government.

Then referring to his own health, Trump said: “I spoke to the White House doctor – terrific guy, talented guy – he said he sees no reason to do it. There’s no symptoms, no anything.”

The number of people in the US confirmed to be suffering from coronavirus, and the death toll, are being regularly revised and by Tuesday night there were more than 1,000 cases, a number which has more than doubled in the last three days, and the death toll had risen to 29.

Politicians on Capitol Hill rejected the idea of shutting down Congress. “We are the captains of the ship,” the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, told Democratic lawmakers at a meeting, according to a person in the room. “We are the last to leave.”

But in private discussions, top Democrats and Republicans are considering what to do if Congress needs to shut its doors to avoid infecting thousands of visitors, staff and legislators who regularly flock through its hallways.

“There are a lot of people watching us, and I think it’s important for us to act prudently but not panic. That will send a signal to an awful lot of people around the country,” the Republican senator John Cornyn told reporters.

The news from New York came as Washington state in the Pacific north-west, known until Tuesday as the largest cluster of cases in the US, warned that there could be an exponential increase in the numbers catching the virus there without “real action” to stop the spread.

New York state has now reported 173 people with coronavirus and Washington state has so far reported 162 cases. But Washington’s governor, Jay Inslee, said on Tuesday that he was considering mandatory measures to prevent an increase there that he feared could reach 64,000 in the state in the next two months.

Experts believe the number of actual cases in the state is much higher than 162. “Whether it’s 500 today or 1,500 or 2,000, that just goes to a very large number, very quickly.” Inslee said. “The number of people who are infected in an epidemic like this will double in the state of Washington unless we take some real action here.”

“If the numbers are anything close to what I’m talking about, we’re going to have real challenges in our hospitals being able to deal with very sick people,” Inslee said.

Meanwhile the move to create a mandatory containment area in New Rochelle, just north of New York City, partly involved closing schools, houses of worship and large gathering places for two weeks.

Cuomo’s announcement came as health authorities contended with alarming bunches of infections on both sides of the country and scattered cases in between.

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Also on Tuesday, the neighboring state of New Jersey announced its first patient death.

Governor Phil Murphy (@GovMurphy) .@LtGovOliver and I are sad to report the first death in a case of #COVID19 in New Jersey. Our prayers are with the family during this difficult time. We remain vigilant to doing all we can — across all levels of government — to protect the people of New Jersey. pic.twitter.com/NPGH8anMFp

New York officials said at a press conference a containment plan will be put in place in a one-mile radius around the synagogue that is believed to be the center of the outbreak in Westchester county.

About 1,000 members of the community were placed under precautionary quarantine due to the spread of Covid-19.

“That is really breathtaking,” Cuomo said while announcing the new measures. “This is the greatest public health challenge we have in the state right now.”

He added: “It is a dramatic action, but it is the largest cluster in the country, and this is literally a matter of life and death. That is not an overly rhetorical statement.”

As of Tuesday morning, Westchester county had 108 confirmed cases of coronavirus while New York City had 36, making up the bulk of the 173 cases in New York state.

“New Rochelle is a particular problem,” Cuomo said. “New Rochelle has double the cases of New York City, it’s true, it’s a phenomenon.”

Cuomo said the state will deploy troops to deliver food to the homes of people in the containment area and to clean public places.

“The numbers are going up unabated, and we do need a special public health strategy,” he said.

For most people, the virus causes only mild or moderate symptoms such as fever and cough. For some, especially older adults and people with existing health problems, effects can include pneumonia and prove fatal.

The World Health Organization reports about 110,000 coronavirus cases worldwide, most in China though with major outbreaks elsewhere. Nearly 4,000 deaths have been confirmed.

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