STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- After two weeks of medical experts imploring social distancing and Gov. Andrew Cuomo implementing restrictions to stop the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19), Borough President Jimmy Oddo is not happy with how some Staten Islanders are handling the crisis.

“I think the overwhelmingly majority of folks are abiding by the warnings and the restrictions, but that leaves a lot of folks who aren’t and that’s a dangerous mix into a fragile situation," said Oddo. "They are making the jobs of the nurses and the front-line healthcare workers that much more difficult. They might feel great, they might feel like they are not going to get sick, but they might be spreading the contagion.”

Oddo said besides the reports he gets from other local elected officials and social media, he has personally seen people “laughing it up as if this is a vacation and they seem to not make the connection between their own behavior and adding stress to a system that is about to break.”

“It’s a combination of ‘it can’t happen to me,’ it’s a combination of ‘I am smarter than them,’ ‘this is all a hoax and all hype,’ ” he said. “This is selfishness. This is ignorance.”

Many experts all over the world have recommended implementing social-distancing practices in order to flatten the curve of the number of positive cases in the country -- which will increase the number of people who recover from the virus and prevent hospitals from becoming overwhelmed.

“You are not invincible, you might not manifest this disease in a serious way, but you have to act like you have been exposed to it already and you have to understand that your actions are impacting people around you,” Oddo said. “If you give a damn about a nurse, or a Navy veteran at Carmel Richmond nursing home, you gotta wake the freak up.”

HOSPITAL EQUIPMENT

Dr. Ginny Mantello, the borough’s health and wellness director, echoed Oddo’s growing concerns about the lack of necessary equipment at all three Staten Island hospitals, adding that “staffing is going to become a huge issue.”

“Those who are sick today were asymptomatic a week ago. If you feel OK today it doesn’t mean you are going to be OK tomorrow," said Mantello. “You have to do your part. It’s not about you. It’s about the people around you.”

The borough president added that he is overall pretty dissatisfied with the help the borough is getting and he and Mantello are in contact with Mayor Bill de Blasio on a regular basis.

“The Borough Hall team and I and the Staten Island elected delegation, we are working now two weeks hand to mouth to try to fill gaps on a day-to-day basis, for our hospitals, our nursing homes, and our grassroots non-for profit,” said Oddo. “And each day I listen to the television and I listen to what’s coming out of Washington and I hear how the cavalry is coming over the hills. Well the cavalry hasn’t gotten to Staten Island University South, it hasn’t gotten to Staten Island University North and it hasn’t gotten to RUMC. This is still hand to mouth.”

Mantello added that she is currently working to get more supplies for the visiting nurses who still have to go to patients’ homes and are currently not at the top of the priority list to get them.

“We are trying to have a very coordinated effort but also thinking two or three steps ahead as of who is going to be impacted,” she said.

But all that work becomes meaningless if Staten Islanders will not start following the social-distancing recommendations and stay at home more.

“This is why this behavior is so idiotic,” he said. “You have to think past yourself. If you cannot think past yourself in the middle of this crisis..my lord. These are all pieces of one God awful puzzle.”

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