This post was originally published on this site
President Trump said he is considering an “enforceable quarantine” in New York, New Jersey and parts of Connecticut and may make a decision as soon as later Saturday, as the nation’s largest city quickly becomes an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic.
Plus: Trump wants his signature to appear on coronavirus stimulus checks
“We might not have to do it, but there’s a possibility that sometime today we’ll do a quarantine,” Mr. Trump told reporters at Joint Base Andrews outside Washington just before he boarded Air Force One for Norfolk, Va., where he plans to see off a Navy hospital ship that is heading to New York. He said the quarantine could last around two weeks.
The president didn’t specify what a quarantine would entail, but said it could include restrictions on travel from New York and New Jersey. New York City alone has more than 23,000 cases, nearly a quarter of all the cases in the country.
The largest number of cases continues to be in the state of New York, where 52,318 people are infected and 728 had died from the virus as of Saturday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a morning briefing.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
Trending at WSJ.com:
Why Dr. Fauci finds himself at the center of coronavirus controversy
Italy’s slow-moving battle against COVID-19 is a warning to the U.S. and others
