Newsbrief: Residents of New York City flee their homes due to COVID-19 outbreak

by Konstandina Martucci

Recent studies proved that the Covid-19 virus which caused New York to be the hardest hit state in America with the most recorded deaths, was due to Europeans entering in early February, said  nytimes.

The corona-virus began to circulate in New York  mid-February, and European tourists were in New York City weeks before the first confirmed case. It was brought to the region mainly by travelers from Europe, not Asia like many people suspected.

A geneticist at Icahn School of Medicine, Harm van Bakel said, “The Majority is clearly European.” The research showed a previously non found spread of the virus that might have been detected. However, only if aggressive testing programs had been put in place. The research did show how many more known cases were derived from Europeans who entered New York over the percentage of tourists from China. 

President Trump did not let in foreign nationals if they had been in China, which was the site of the virus’s first known outbreak. However any military under the U.S were authorized to come out of Europe into the States.

In January, a team of Chinese and Australian researchers published the first genome of the new virus. Since then researchers around the world are finding relations in the discovery.

Corona virus related deaths recorded this past Wednesday, another 779 people had died. That brought the virus death toll to 6,268 in New York State, which Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo noted “was more than twice as many people as the state had lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.”

The toll this virus took on New York brought back tough memories of what this particular state had already gone through. Gov. Cuomo said, “The bad news isn’t just bad” he said, “The bad news is actually terrible.”

New York State now has more confirmed cases than any single country in the world outside of the United States.