Health ‘detectives’ on latest coronavirus case
BY TODD MAISEL
The second coronavirus case in New
York state involves a Manhattan attorney
and New Rochelle resident
who’s listed in serious condition. But no
one’s sure how he got the illness.
Growing concerns about transmission
of the sometimes-fatal illness was the focus
of a special City Hall press conference that
Mayor Bill de Blasio and health officials
convened Tuesday afternoon.
The mayor said health “detectives” were
tracking down anyone that may have been
in close proximity with the attorney, but
he said the disease is “not transmitted by
casual proximity.” This means they do not
believe people on mass transit or those not
working closely for long periods of time
with the man are at high risk. The MTA
has ordered extra cleaning of mass transit
systems to reassure the public.
The attorney is in quarantine at New
York-Presbyterian Columbia University
Medical Center. He was moved to the city
on Monday from Lawrence Hospital in
Bronxville, where he was admitted on
Friday after falling ill on Feb. 22, said
Dr. Demetre Daskalakis, the city’s deputy
health commissioner for disease control.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said coronavirus is an “evolving situation they are monitoring “hour by hour.”
The patient’s wife and two sons, one
a ninth-grader at the Salanter Akiba
Riverdale Academy, better known by the
acronym, SAR Academy, and the other
son attending Yeshiva University, were
quarantined pending outcome of tests. The
older son is said to be showing some light
symptoms, but his brother and mother have
PHOTO BY TODD MAISEL
no symptoms.
De Blasio said the attorney had not
Continued on p. 9
8 March 5, 2020 Schneps Media