De Blasio downplays CDC travel advisory
Mayor Bill de Blasio is downplaying a federal travel advisory for New York and two other states, emphasizing instead the need for more supplies and equipment to save more lives.
"I don’t think it’s the most central question before us right now because I’m going to be…focused on making sure we have what we need to save lives in New York City," de Blasio said of the travel ban during an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Sunday morning. "The only comment I have on it is we’ve got to be mindful of families that at this crucial moment want to reunite, whether that means families coming back to New York or leaving New York to go to another place where they’re based."
President Donald Trump announced Saturday that he would not quarantine New York City’s metro area after suggesting the idea earlier in the day.
Soon after Trump’s statement, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention issued a travel advisory for residents of New York, Connecticut and New Jersey, instructing them to “refrain from non-essential domestic travel for 14 days effective immediately.” All three states already have issued their own travel restrictions.
The advisory does not apply to employees of critical infrastructure industries, including trucking, public health professionals, food supply and financial services.
The mayor rejected criticism that his response has been behind the curve, adding that if the country had the testing it needed, "this could have been a different reality."
"Other than that concern, a travel advisory isn’t something I’m going to fixate on," de Blasio added. "I want to know when we’re going to get the ventilators, the PPEs [personal protective equipment] and the doctors and the nurses to save lives here in New York that would be lost otherwise, because that’s the standard."
The city has enough supplies until April 5, with the exception of ventilators, he said. De Blasio also requested more doctors, nurses and military personnel by that deadline.
"We’re talking about a sharp escalation ahead,” the mayor said. “We’ve got almost 30,000 cases now, over 500 deaths already. We are over a quarter of the nation’s cases here in New York City.”
