February 29, 2020

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?”  ~Matthew 6:25

On the other hand, people in Lombardy in Italy are under quarantine to contain the spread of Covid-19, the novel coronavirus…and they’re worried. Reuters reports that cafés and schools are closed, hotel reservations have been cancelled, and workers idled by the lockdown.

It all happened rather quickly:

“On Feb. 21, Lombardy announced that a 38-year-old Italian man, named only as Mattia, from the town of Codogno, 60 km (40 miles) southeast of Milan, had tested positive for the virus. Within a week, 888 people were confirmed to have caught the disease, of whom 21 had died…

“The lockdown, which started on Feb. 23, affects 10 towns in Lombardy and one in Veneto and isolates some 50,000 people from the outside world. Trucks can get in and out with bare essentials, but police roadblocks keep everyone else in.”

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Closer to home, NY State DoH has some information for us:

Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Recently, a new coronavirus – 2019 Novel (New) Coronavirus – was detected in China that has not been previously found in humans. This coronavirus can lead to fever, cough and shortness of breath. There are thousands of confirmed cases in China, including cases outside of Wuhan and additional cases being identified in a growing number of countries internationally, including the United States. There are ongoing investigations to learn more about this virus. No one has been diagnosed with this new coronavirus in New York State.

Individuals who are experiencing symptoms and may have traveled to areas of concern, or have been in contact with somebody who has traveled to these areas, should call ahead to their health care provider before seeking treatment in person.

The 2019 novel coronavirus is a new virus and shouldn’t be confused with other coronaviruses that have been around for many years causing upper respiratory symptoms, like the common cold. If a routine test ordered by your health care provider and done at a local hospital or lab, is positive for coronavirus, that means that you have one of the common coronaviruses. The only way to test for 2019 novel coronavirus is through specialized testing at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. If you are unsure which kind of virus you are being tested for or what the result means, be sure to ask your health care provider. This is a rapidly changing situation. Please regularly check this site and the CDC’s Novel Coronavirus webpage for updates.

Data last updated February 28, 2020

Test Results	New York State (Outside of NYC)	New York City (NYC)	Total Persons Under Investigation (PUI)
Positive Cases	0	0	28
Negative Results	21	6
Pending Test Results	0	1