Health Department says no coronavirus in NYC, despite scary NYPD warning
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people wear face masks and walk at a shopping mall in Taipei, Taiwan, Friday, Jan. 31. AP Photo/Chiang Ying-ying
By David Brand
The city’s Health Department says no one in New York City is receiving treatment for coronavirus, despite an internal NYPD email that warned cops to wear face masks when taking suspects to a hospital in Queens.
“There are NO suspected or confirmed cases in NYC,” Health Department spokesperson Michael Lanza told the Eagle.
“As of now, there have been no suspected cases sent to CDC from NYC for further testing,” added spokesperson Patrick Gallahue. “Thus, no confirmed cases either.”
The email to cops, obtained by the Eagle, advised officers to wear face masks when visiting Elmhurst Hospital.
A spokesperson for Elmhurst Hospital also denied that a patient there was receiving treatment for coronavirus. “None has been reported,” the spokesperson said by phone.
An email sent to officers in eight Queens police precincts shortly before 2 a.m. Friday morning advises officers to wear face masks if transporting a “perp” to “EGH” — an acronym for Elmhurst General Hospital, now known as a NYC Health + Hospitals/Elmhurst.
“Just an FYI….. EGH has 1 confirmed case of the Coronavirus, If you send perp to EGH, make sure the officer has proper gear (mask) to protect themselves,” reads the email, with a the subject line “EGH- Coronavirus.”
The city and the hospital both sought to discount the rumor, however. No cases of coronavirus have been confirmed anywhere in the five boroughs, the Health Department said.
The previously unknown coronavirus — or 2019-nCoV — was first detected in December in Wuhan, China. The illness affects the lungs, causing air sacs to fill with water, and can cause death — though most people recover. Symptoms can include coughing, fever and shortness of breath.
The illness has spread to various countries, including Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and South Korea. A handful of cases have been confirmed in United States, though no cases had been confirmed in New York as of Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced.
The state Department of Health had sent samples from 11 individuals to the Centers for Disease Control for coronavirus, with seven coming back negative and four still pending, Cuomo said.
"New York does not have one single confirmed case of the novel coronavirus, but we are taking every necessary precaution to protect against its spread into our state,” Cuomo said. “We have been here before, and I want to remind New Yorkers that it is much more likely that they will be exposed to the influenza virus than to the coronavirus.”
