Mayor Bill de Blasio | Getty Cuomo downplays De Blasio's 'shelter in place' warning

Almost as soon as Mayor Bill de Blasio warned New Yorkers to prepare for a potential shelter-in-place order in the coming days, Gov. Andrew Cuomo shot down the notion, saying it was causing needless panic.

“New Yorkers should be prepared right now for the possibility of a shelter in place order,” de Blasio told reporters at City Hall, Tuesday afternoon. “It’s gotten to the point where a decision has to be made very soon.”


Within an hour of the mayor's comments, Cuomo urged people not to panic.

"There’s not going to be any quarantines where we contain people in an area or block people from an area," he said in an interview on NY1. "There’s not going to be any 'you must stay in your house' rule, because again that will just cause people to go somewhere else and that would be counterproductive."

Cuomo further insisted the city couldn't act alone.

“It’s the law also," he said. "Westchester can't put in place rules that are going to negatively impact New York City, Nassau can’t put in place rules that are going to negatively impact New York City, and New York City can’t do that to Westchester and Nassau."

The discussion of ordering residents to remain in their homes, as San Francisco did on Monday, comes as the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the five boroughs rose to 814, de Blasio told reporters Tuesday.

The details of what a shelter in place order would look like for a city of 8.5 million, if it happens, are still to be determined. But in California’s Bay Area, which de Blasio cited as a possible model, residents are allowed to leave their homes for work only if they are considered essential workers. They can also go out to buy food or get medical care, or to get fresh air as long as they keep away from other people.

“What is going to happen with folks who have no money? How are they going to get food, how are they going to get medicines?" de Blasio said. "There’s a lot of unanswered questions.”

In the meantime, the city's public hospital system has struck a deal with a private firm, BioReference Laboratories, that will allow it to do 5,000 tests a day for the virus, officials said.

But even with the additional tests, the city is now saying that only people who are hospitalized or in at-risk groups that make the disease more dangerous for them will be prioritized for testing. That is a change in its rules from last week, and may hinder the city’s ability to track the true number of cases and stop transmissions.

“We need now the testing capacity to make treatment decisions for people who are hospitalized and not getting better,” Health Commissioner Oxiris Barbot said at Tuesday's press briefing. “Someone who is at home, not feeling well, honestly it doesn't matter if they get a test, because I want them to stay home. I want them to stay home until they’re better. If they’re not better, then I want them to call their doctors.”

De Blasio also announced the suspension of alternate side parking for at least a week.

He signed an executive order banning shared ride services like Uber pool, and saying that cabs may only carry one person unless the passengers are related or live together.

De Blasio also confirmed the city is considering releasing some prisoners from Rikers Island to rein in the spread of the virus. On a case by case basis, detainees with medical conditions that make coronavirus particularly dangerous for them and those who are at low risk for committing additional crimes may be released.