New York's governor said Sunday that he was exasperated that people are still ignoring his social distancing orders, saying he spent part of the previous day watching people clustering in groups and acting like it was just another nice spring day.
"There is a density level in New York City that is wholly inappropriate. You would think there is nothing going on. In parts of New York City, it was just a bright, sunny Saturday," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said.
He said city officials must come up with a plan immediately to prevent people from congregating in parks or elsewhere, saying it was a matter of life and death.
Nearly 2,000 people have been hospitalized in the state with the virus and 114 have died, Cuomo said. More than 15,000 have tested positive statewide, including 9,000 in New York City.
"I don't know what they're not understanding," Cuomo said, his voice rising. "This is not life as usual."
New York's new rule banning people from congregating in groups doesn't take effect until 8 p.m. Sunday, but some people were widely flouting the law in spirit Saturday in Brooklyn's 320-acre Prospect Park. Packs of teenagers clustered around benches. Groups of people sprawled out on picnic blankets. A dozen men laughed and smoked in a circle.
Meanwhile, two blocks from the park, a woman wearing a mask staggered into a neighborhood hospital, coughing, wheezing and clutching her chest.
"This is just a mistake! It is a mistake! It is insensitive. It is arrogant. It is self-destructive," Cuomo said. "This is not a joke and I am not kidding."
