NY to use $40M in new funding to fight coronavirus threat

ALBANY — The State Legislature will allocate $40 million in emergency funding to combat the global threat of the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo announced Wednesday.

The funding will pay for breathing masks, other equipment and the hiring of people to confront the virus, first detected in China, should it hit New York, Cuomo said.

“We want to make sure the Department of Health has all the equipment that they would need,” the governor said, describing the action as erring on the side of caution. “Obviously there is an international rush now to get the right equipment, the right masks, gloves ... Turns out that China is one of the main manufacturers of this equipment, which obviously makes it a little more complicated and problematic, so we want to make sure we're ahead of the curve on that.”

Cuomo also said he will seek approval from the legislature to grant the state Health Department and county and city health departments the authority to act faster to control the virus.

Cuomo also asked the federal government to allow the state’s Wadsworth Center, a medical research facility, and the New York City Public Health Lab to test for coronavirus. Currently, only the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is testing and that is resulting in a delay in getting results, state officials said.

The state has developed a way to test for the virus using CDC protocols, but needs federal approval, state officials said.

Dr. Howard Zucker, the state health commissioner, said that because of a fear of shortages of masks worldwide, the public shouldn’t buy masks. He said they should be reserved for health professionals and for people showing symptoms of the disease.

Zucker said the state and city health departments also have stockpiles of millions of masks if a shortage becomes acute.

Cuomo said 27 people in the state were tested during the coronavirus outbreak and did not have the disease. But “it is highly probable that we will have people who test positive,” he said. 

State and local health officials will soon meet to determine when and how to quarantine people who contract the virus in their homes or in hotels if needed.

Zucker said the coronavirus appears to have a 2% mortality rate. By comparison, he said Ebola had a 50% mortality rate and SARS had a 10% mortality rate. The common flu has a mortality rate of 0.1% to 0.2%, Zucker said.

By Michael Gormley

michael.gormley@newsday.com@GormleyAlbany

Michael Gormley has worked for Newsday since 2013, covering state government, politics and issues. He has covered Albany since 2001.