ALBANY — Confirmed cases of novel coronavirus in New York have once again doubled, with Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo reporting the case count had climbed to 44 as of late Friday afternoon.

The new cases, all concentrated in or around New York City, were announced at two separate news conferences Friday. A majority of the cases are likely connected to a 50-year-old New Rochelle man, Cuomo said, who appears to have contracted the novel coronavirus and then unwittingly passed it on to friends, family, people at his synagogue and others on his way to a New York City hospital for treatment.

Those people, in turn, may have unwittingly passed it to others.

"He attended functions at the temple," Cuomo said. "He attended a bat mitzvah. There were a large number of people and we are being very exhaustive in the testing follow up."

It's the second day in a row that New York's cases have doubled.

The state's first and only known case connected to travel to a high-risk country was reported Sunday in a New York City health care worker who had recently returned from Iran. On Tuesday, Cuomo announced the New Rochelle man, who commutes into Manhattan for his job as an attorney, had come down with the virus following no known contacts with an infected person, indicating community spread may have well been underway.

The tally rose from there. On Wednesday, it was 11. On Thursday, it was 22. On Friday, the 44 confirmed cases included 34 in Westchester County, four in New York City, four in Nassau County and two in Rockland County.

Five people were being treated in hospitals as of noon Friday, and were showing improvement, Cuomo said. The others are quarantined at home.

New Yorkers should expect to see cases continue to climb, Cuomo said.

"I've said every day the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus will keep going up," he said. "And as we expand our testing capacity we will only see that number continue to rise. We want to keep testing and finding more people who are testing positive because that's how you contain the outbreak — find the person who got infected, quarantine them and reduce the infection rate."

At least three of the new cases reported early Friday are connected to New York-Presbyterian Lawrence Hospital, where the New Rochelle man went for initial treatment. Three are members of the man's synagogue, Young Israel of New Rochelle. Two are Rockland County residents who worked a bat mitzvah at the synagogue. Two are friends. One is a New York City individual, also connected to the New Rochelle attorney.

Cases announced later in the day include people who range in age from 7 years old to 82 years old.

Cuomo said 4,000 people statewide are under precautionary quarantine, including 2,700 in New York City and 1,000 in Westchester County. Precautionary quarantine is advised when a person is not showing symptoms but has recently returned from a high-risk country or has had "proximate but not direct" contact with a person who's tested positive for COVID-19, the respiratory illness caused by the virus.

Forty-four people, meanwhile, are under mandatory quarantine. This means they've either tested positive for COVID-19, been within six feet of someone who's tested positive for COVID-19, or returned from a high-risk country and are now experiencing symptoms. Cuomo said a mandatory quarantine may also be issued if a local health provider or health department believes it should be.

The governor again cautioned New Yorkers against undue anxiety and fear. Roughly 80 percent of all cases will self-resolve, he said.

"I'm not urging calm," he said. "I'm urging reality. I'm urging a factual response as opposed to an emotional response. I'm urging that people understand the information and not the hype. We have more people in this country dying from the flu than we have dying from coronavirus."

New York is trying to ramp up testing as it works to contain the virus. Cuomo said the state currently has capacity to test 500 samples a day, but is working to ramp up to 1,000.

He blasted the federal government for its response so far, saying it waited too long to grant testing authority to states and private labs, and is now sending mixed messages to the public about who can be tested.

Vice President Mike Pence, who has been tasked with managing the U.S. response, said earlier this week that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention would be lifting almost all criteria for COVID-19 testing, allowing anyone to get tested so long as a doctor approves. The CDC, however, said it doesn't have capacity for that much testing.

"You cannot square those two statements," Cuomo said. "Their position is absurd and nonsensical."

Cases by area Westchester County: 34

New York City: 4

Nassau County: 4

Rockland County: 2 See More Collapse

He also said a $35 million federal allocation to New York is insufficient for handling the crisis. The money will come as part of the $8.3 billion emergency aid package Congress pushed through on Thursday to tackle coronavirus across the U.S.

The governor has been providing daily updates on the state's COVID-19 outbreak, sometimes briefing media several times a day. He was unable Friday to say how much New York state has spent on the coronavirus emergency so far or how that figure will be calculated, noting that much of the expenses will be at the local level.

New York's 44 confirmed cases are third nationally in quantity to Washington's 75 cases and California's 66, according to the CDC and data from state and local health departments.

Cuomo also said Friday that he has directed State Police to look into reports of medical equipment and masks being stolen from hospitals after hearing "wild stories" about thefts from hospital administrators. He suspects the supplies are being sold on eBay, he said.

"If you are doing that you will be caught because the devices can be tracked back," he said. "So that is fair warning. Stop stealing. Stop exploiting the scam."

He's also asked the state Attorney General's office to investigate the price-gouging of medical supplies and disinfectants that appears to be occurring worldwide.

Also on Friday, Cuomo announced travel insurance companies and travel agents will offer New York residents and businesses the ability to purchase coverage when making travel plans that would allow them to cancel a trip for any reason, including for reasons related to COVID-19.

Six global and national insurance companies have agreed to offer "cancel for any reason" coverage to travelers, including: Allianz, Nationwide, Starr Indemnity, Berkshire, Crum & Forster, and Zurich.

"We want New Yorkers to go about their daily lives, including planning vacations and other travel, and this action will allow them to do that at a time when there is still uncertainty about the future geographic impact of coronavirus," Cuomo said.

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