In the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, New York got another significant assist from Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai.
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said Saturday at his daily press conference that the Chinese government will facilitate a donation from Tsai and wife, Clara Wu Tsai, of 1,000 ventilators.
“The Chinese government is going to facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will come into JFK today. And I want to thank Joe Tsai and Clara Tsai and Jack Ma from Alibaba, and the Nets – but I’m not stating a preference – for their donation,” Cuomo told reporters, being political and not wanting to trigger Knicks fans. “That’s going to be very helpful. And I want to thank (consul General Huang Ping) very much for his help in making all of this happen, because this is a big deal and it’s going to make a significant difference for us.”
As of Saturday morning, more than 278,000 people nationwide had been infected with COVID-19, according to Johns Hopkins. New York had already seen more than 113,000 coronavirus cases and more than 3,000 deaths.
During this crisis, Tsai has not hesitated to reach out and help.
Tsai and Ma, who co-founded the online commerce company Alibaba, previously donated a huge shipment of masks for New York. Tsai also has vowed to keep his Barclays Center hourly and part-time employees on at their normal event rates through May, at a cost of $6 million, sources told The Post.
Clara – a philanthropist who has been heavily involved in prison reform and other concerns in New York – also was involved in a potential life-saving donation that Cuomo called a big deal.
Cuomo said Saturday that New York never received the 17,000 ventilators it ordered, and that the state is not ready to handle the peak in coronavirus cases that may be coming in the coming days.
