Weather: Cloudier as the day goes on, with wind gusts of 30 miles per hour or more and a high in the mid- to upper 50s.
Alternate-side parking: Suspended through April 17. Meters are in effect.
The mayor warned that April would be bad. Now it’s here.
In March, as the number of coronavirus cases in New York City grew and the death toll mounted, Mayor Bill de Blasio warned that April would be worse. He repeatedly invoked April 5 as a “demarcation line” after which the city could expect a huge surge in virus patients.
On Wednesday, with Mr. de Blasio’s crucial date just four days away and city data putting the number of virus-related deaths at 1,374, he went into detail about the supplies the city still needed to contend with the coming wave:
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3.3 million N95 masks, which protect health care workers from exposure to the virus
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2.1 million surgical masks
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100,000 isolation gowns
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400 ventilators
To help ensure that supplies go where they are needed, Mr. de Blasio said that James P. O’Neill, the former police commissioner who is now an executive with Visa, was returning to oversee operations and logistics related to the virus outbreak.
[Get the latest news and updates on the coronavirus in the New York region.]
Nearly 400 New York deaths put the region past 2,000.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said early Wednesday that 391 people in New York State had died of the virus since Tuesday, bringing the state’s total to 1,941 and the total for New York, New Jersey and Connecticut to 2,381.
As the crisis has grown more dire across the country, Mr. Cuomo’s message — delivered at briefings that have become a daily staple of the national news and raised his political profile — has broadened in perspective.
On Wednesday, the governor again emphasized the regional coordination among his state, New Jersey and Connecticut, before noting that the virus was spreading more rapidly in other states, including California, Michigan and Florida.
And he urged Americans even in states that had not yet been hit hard by the virus to take it seriously. He cited projections from a group founded by the Gates Foundation that the death toll would reach 16,000 in New York and 93,000 nationwide.
[Coronavirus in New York: A map and the case count.]
The governor said all city playgrounds would close.
At his briefing, Mr. Cuomo expressed frustration with those who continued to ignore social-distancing guidelines in New York City.
He insisted that the city’s police officers had “to get more aggressive” in enforcing the rules. Mr. Cuomo said that he was prepared to legally require social distancing if necessary, but that it was absurd that he had to consider it.
“How reckless and irresponsible and selfish for people not to do it on their own,” he said. “I mean, what else do you have to know? What else do you have to hear? Who else has to die for you to understand you have a responsibility in this?”
As a start, he said, all of the city’s playgrounds would be shut down.
Mr. Cuomo said that he had spoken to Mr. de Blasio and Corey Johnson, the City Council speaker, about trying to enforce the social-distancing rules with the help of the police, but that the problem had persisted and more drastic action was necessary.
The governor’s announcement came a day after the mayor closed 10 city playgrounds where people had continued to gather in crowds that violated social-distancing rules.
From The Times
Almost Every New Yorker Knows Someone Who Is Sick Now
City Deploys 45 Mobile Morgues to Help Overwhelmed Funeral Homes
Patient Has Virus and Serious Cancer. Should Doctors Withhold Ventilator?
How to Donate Your N95 Masks to New York Doctors
Want more news? Check out our full coverage.
The Mini Crossword: Here is today’s puzzle.
What we’re reading
New York City street signs are reimagined for a socially distant era. [CannonDesign.com]
An ill-timed April Fools’ Day joke promising 12-hour shifts made the rounds among city police officers. [New York Post]
A 35-foot humpback whale washed ashore dead at Jacob Riis Park in Queens. [QNS]
And finally: Farmers’ markets
The Times’s Anne Barnard writes:
The city’s 50 outdoor farmers’ markets have always been a precious commodity for New Yorkers, providing fresh produce for urbanites and supporting the quiet work of local farmers.
But now, during the coronavirus crisis, some shoppers said the greenmarkets were more important than ever. They said they felt safer shopping outdoors than inside grocery stores.
“I’m not going into the supermarket, around people,” said Sioux Nesi, 52, who was shopping at a market in Carroll Gardens in Brooklyn.
The markets are transforming into laboratories for new communal safety habits, a shift from the community-building they were originally designed to do.
Last week, GrowNYC, the organization that operates the markets, issued a set of stricter guidelines to prevent the crowding that alarmed officials at Union Square and other large markets last month.
On Saturday, market staff members twice used movable barriers to close the entrance to the Union Square market, which in the high season can attract tens of thousands of shoppers. As shoppers dispersed, new customers were gradually allowed in.
Among the other rules: Shoppers cannot touch the produce and must stay six feet from one another. Tables must have plastic coverings. Workers must wear protective gear.
Visits to three markets over the weekend found some of the most rigorously distanced public spaces in the city — and evidence of New Yorkers’ ability to adapt to almost anything.
It’s Thursday — be adaptable.
Metropolitan Diary: Her stepladder
Dear Diary:
I was at a discount store on Spring Street when I spotted an item that I needed: a five-foot-tall stepladder.
I bought the ladder and a big bag full of other household items. I was going to take a cab home to the Upper East Side, but it was 4 p.m. and there were no cabs around. I took the subway instead and, thankfully, got a seat on a crowded car.
After getting off at 86th Street, I had to walk home five blocks lugging my purchases. At one point, I heard a woman yell at me from across Lexington Avenue.
“Hey,” she shouted. “I just love your ladder!”
— Amy Miller
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