Curran: State of emergency will help county deal with coronavirus

With 89 coronavirus cases throughout the state, officials say they need access to more resources to help deal with the virus.

News 12 Staff

Mar 7, 2020, 8:08 PM

Updated 1,672 days ago

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With 89 coronavirus cases throughout the state, officials say they need access to more resources to help deal with the virus.
Nassau County Executive Laura Curran says there are still four confirmed cases of coronavirus in the county. There are none confirmed in Suffolk.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency Saturday and Curran says that will help the county get faster access to cleaning and testing supplies, more equipment for health care workers and they will be able to do more testing for coronavirus.
"It will help our health care professionals have access to leasing additional lab space. And it will allow qualified professionals, other than doctors and nurses, to administer the tests. And it will allow our EMS personnel to transport patients to other quarantine locations other than hospitals should the need arise," Curran said.
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Within the next 24 hours, Curran said Northwell Health will also begin local testing, so they will get the results back sooner than if they had to send the tests to Albany or out of state.
Also on Saturday, New York City Mayor Bill De Blasio announced a Queens man who is infected with the coronavirus has been an Uber driver on Long Island.
Uber confirmed that the driver is not licensed to drive in the city and said, "We have a dedicated team working closely with public health authorities and stand ready to help in any way."
Twenty-one people are under mandatory quarantine and 16 more tests in Nassau are pending.
News 12 will host a 30-minute call-in show Monday, March 9 at 7:00 p.m. where experts will answer your questions about the coronavirus. The show will be followed by a special Facebook Live Q&A.
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