Details on virus-related developments across New York:
CHILD DEATHS, ILLNESSES
A 5-year-old boy in New York state has died of an illness possibly linked to COVID-19, and dozens of other children in the state have fallen severely ill with a similar malady that scientists have linked to the coronavirus, Cuomo said Friday.
Cuomo did not provide details about the child, who he said died Thursday. But he added there have been 73 reported cases in the state of children showing symptoms similar to Kawasaki disease — a rare inflammatory condition in children — and toxic shock syndrome.
“So this is every parent’s nightmare, right? That your child may actually be affected by this virus,” the Democratic governor said. “But it’s something we have to consider seriously now.”
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PARK POLICING
Police officers will start limiting access to three New York City parks whose scofflaw visitors have become poster children for bad social distancing, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced Friday.
Users of the parks, two built on Manhattan piers that jut into the Hudson River and one on Brooklyn’s East River waterfront, have been shamed on social media in recent weeks after images appeared showing mostly young people, without masks, sprawled on blankets with little regard for rules barring people from getting within 6 feet of anyone they don’t live with.
To control overcrowding, de Blasio said, police will start limiting how many people can access the parks at a time and warning people they will be allowed to stay only for a limited amount of time.
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Images of the crowded parks, all frequented predominantly by white people, have been used to argue there’s a disparity in enforcement of social distancing rules.
Some people have contrasted the relatively hands-off approach police have taken in those parks to the more aggressive enforcement in gatherings of black people — in addition to the breakup of large public funerals in Brooklyn held by Hasidic Jews.
The Brooklyn district attorney’s office released data late Thursday showing that of the 40 people arrested for social distancing violations in that borough since mid-March, 35 were black, 4 were Hispanic and just one was white. All cases were dropped.
CONTACT TRACING
A “test and trace corps” of 2,500 will be in place by early June to identify people who have the virus, isolate them in hotel rooms if needed and determine whom they’ve had contact with, de Blasio said.
De Blasio said 7,000 people have already applied to join the effort, which will be coordinated with New York state’s contact tracing initiative.
The mayor promised that “you’re going to see the biggest testing and tracing initiative you’ve ever seen in this city, in this country before. It’s going to be fast, it’s going to be intense, it’s going to reach deeply into the city, it’s going to be lifesaving, unquestionably.”
‘Every parent’s nightmare’: Boy’s death may have virus link
