During Tuesday evening's press briefing, the White House Coronavirus Task Force suggested those who live in New York City or recently traveled to the Big Apple should self-quarantine for the next 14 days.
“Everybody who was in New York should be self-quarantining for the next 14 days to ensure the virus doesn’t spread to others no matter where they have gone, whether it’s Florida, North Carolina or out to far reaches of Long Island,” Dr. Deborah Birx said during the press conference. “We’re starting to see new cases across Long Island that suggest people have left the city.”
The uptick in positive cases in Long Island – a new hotspot for the Wuhan coronavirus – suggests that people have already left the city and are unknowingly spreading the virus, Dr. Birx said.
"For anyone in the New York metropolitan area who has traveled, our task force is encouraging you to monitor your temperature, be sensitive to symptoms," Vice President Mike Pence said. "And we are asking anyone who has traveled out of the New York City metropolitan area to anywhere else in the country to self-isolate for 14 days."
Roughly 60 percent of the United States' new cases are coming from the New York City metropolitan area, something both President Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence said needs to be addressed. The Big Apple has an infection rate of one for every 1,000 people, compared to 0.1 or 0.2 percent for every 1,000 people in other places, like Washington State, Fox News reported.
“We have to deal with the New York metropolitan area as a high-risk area,” Pence explained.
According to the vice president, the federal government will continue to send additional resources to NYC as a way to help mitigate the spread of the virus.