Mayor Bill de Blasio reported 157 cases in Kings County on Tuesday, out of 814 cases citywide, and officials say it’s not long before cases could reach 10,000.
Confirmed cases of COVID-19 cases in Brooklyn continue to climb, as the city grinds to a halt and officials say to expect a shelter in place mandate.
“I think New Yorkers should be prepared for the possibility right now of a shelter in place order,” the mayor said.
De Blasio told New Yorkers to expect a decision on the order within 48 hours. Such an order would be the first of its kind in the history of New York City.
“We’ve never been here before,” de Blasio said.
Similar orders are already in place in California and Italy, with the order in Italy much stricter than what the city is considering, the mayor said. Both Californians and Italians are still able to leave their homes for essential reasons such as food shopping and visits to the pharmacy.
The mayor’s announcement was met with a conflicting message from Governor Andrew Cuomo, who said that he was not considering such options.
“Any blanket quarantine or shelter in place policy would require state action and as the governor has said, there is no consideration of that for any locality at this time,” Secretary to the Governor Melissa DeRosa said in a statement.
