NY: Elderly and unemployed are mostly sick COVID-19
New York – The vast majority of people recently hospitalized for coronavirus in New York are retired or unemployed and avoided using public transportation, according to a new state survey, the first to study people who become seriously ill despite six weeks of social distancing.
The survey of 1,269 patients who entered 113 hospitals in the last three days puzzled those who thought that the vast majority of new cases would be essential workers, especially those who use public transport.
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Retirees made up 37% of those hospitalized in the survey period. 46% were unemployed. Almost 75% were over 51 years old.
Only 2% used public transportation in their daily lives, according to the survey.
“This reinforces what we have been saying, that this largely depends on what you do to protect yourself,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his daily conference. “Everything is closed, the government has done everything it could … now it’s up to you. Do you wear a mask, do you wash your hands?”
But the survey also indicated that 18% of those hospitalized with the virus came from homes for the elderly, highlighting the difficulties that these facilities have in controlling the contagion.
On the other hand, just 1% came from prisons, 2% from group homes, and 2% were homeless.
While hospitalization rates have declined in New York, in the past three days 600 people a day have been admitted to state hospitals.
The dead in the state totaled 232 on Tuesday, Cuomo said, and nearly 2,800 people tested positive.
The survey was part of an attempt by health authorities to focus the campaign against the outbreak more precisely.
On the other hand, New York’s subway system, generally open 24 hours a day, was closed early Wednesday morning for clean-up work as a precaution against the spread of the coronavirus.
The famous “subway”, which has already been running with reduced hours since the end of March, will not provide service between 1:00 a.m. and 5:00 a.m. henceforth.
Police officers escorted passengers to Brooklyn’s Coney Island station, the last for multiple lines, warning them they will have to take buses to reach their destinations. Workers with bottles of disinfectant then boarded the wagons.
The total pause will allow a deep cleaning and the eviction of the indigent.
The New York Police Department has dispatched 1,000 officers to protect New York City’s 472 subway stations as fewer than 200 may be physically closed.
Gangs of police and nurses are being dispatched to outlying stations to remove the homeless in order to allow for cleanup, department chief Terence Monahan said.
New York City routinely has the nation’s busiest public transportation system, averaging over 5 million passengers, but with the coronavirus and people’s tendency to stay home, traffic has slowed to 90% .
