Coronavirus: New York to deploy troops in ‘containment zone’

Containment

By Harrison Arubu

New York, March 10, 2020 (NAN) The U.S. state of New York has announced a one-mile radius “containment zone” in a community as it battled to control the coronavirus spread.

Announcing the move on Tuesday, the State Governor, Andrew Cuomo, identified the affected community as New Rochelle in Westchester County (local government).

Cuomo told newsmen at a briefing that the state would deploy National Guard troops to enforce the two-week shutdown that would run from March 12 to 25.

New York state had 173 active coronavirus cases as of Tuesday afternoon, the second largest in the country after Washington state with 180.

Of the 173 cases in New York, there were 108 in Westchester County where New Rochelle is located.

Describing Westchester as the “most significant cluster” of COVID-19 cases in the United States, the governor announced a two-week action plan in the locality.

The plan included closure of “large gathering facilities”, including schools, churches and temples within the two-week period. 

Cuomo explained that the troops would be brought in to clean public areas and deliver food to residents in the one-mile radius.

“Nobody likes the disruption, but this is not a political position. This is a public health decision.

“It is a dramatic action, but New Rochelle is the largest cluster in the country. It’s a matter of life and death; that is not a rhetorical statement.

“You are not containing people. You’re containing facilities,” the governor said.

He added that a coronavirus testing facility would be set up at a hospital in New Rochelle which had  a population of close to 80,000 people.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the disease has killed 27 people in the U.S., comprising 23 in Washington, two in California and two in Florida. (NAN)

ARU/CHOM/RSA

=============

Edited by Chioma Ugboma/Rabiu Sani Ali