Weeks after demanding that the federal government send more coronavirus test kits to New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced the public health system would soon be conducting 5,000 tests a day.
Legions of anxious New Yorkers responded by lining up at hospitals, including about 100 outside the emergency room at Elmhurst Hospital in Queens.
But by late Friday, the city’s Department of Health seemed to reverse course: It moved to curtail widespread testing, saying it was undermining the broader strategy to stop the virus’s spread.
“Outpatient testing must not be encouraged, promoted or advertised,” the Health Department said in an advisory. Facilities were asked to “immediately stop testing non-hospitalized patients” for the virus unless medically necessary.
City officials said they were worried the testing centers were drawing sick people out from isolation in their homes. To perform each test, health care workers must use fresh protective gear, including masks, which are already in short supply.
The Health Department also discouraged hospitals from testing asymptomatic health care workers, alarming some doctors who believe it could lead to increased transmission within hospitals.
Reporting was contributed by Annie Correal, Luis Ferré-Sadurní, Joseph Goldstein, J. David Goodman, Danielle Ivory, Azi Paybarah, Brian Rosenthal, Michael Rothfeld, Edgar Sandoval, Tracey Tully and Neil Vigdor.
Source Article from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/22/nyregion/coronavirus-new-york-update.html
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