New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested Saturday morning that the coronavirus pandemic might be justification enough to begin nationalizing what the Democrat said are “crucial industries.”
It’s up to the federal government to assure that there is a steady supply of hand sanitizer and ventilators for people who’ve contracted the virus, according to de Blasio, who discussed President Donald Trump’s handling of the pandemic with MSNBC’s Joy Reid.
“Here’s reality: This is a war-like situation,” de Blasio said. “We’re in a wartime scenario with a Mar-a-Lago attitude being used by the federal government.” (RELATED: Trump’s Messaging On Coronavirus Is Unpopular — Even On The Right)
De Blasio added: “This is a case for a nationalization of crucial factories and industries that could produce the medical supplies to prepare this country for what we need. People are going crazy trying to get hand sanitizer.”
He clarified his position, telling Reid that industries responsible for providing medical supplies like ventilators should be brought under the yoke of the federal government. New York state officials are taking a similar position to help provide citizens with sanitizer.
“We’ll be providing this to governmental agencies, schools, the MTA, prisons, etc., because you can’t get it on the market, and when you get it it’s very, very expensive,” New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at a March 9 press conference.
New York has 142 cases of coronavirus, or COVID-19, which is the most of any state in the United States. The total number of confirmed cases in the United States surpassed 500 on Sunday.
The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the United States is growing, with more than 1,000 in 39 states as the World Health Organization declared a global pandemic Wednesday. A global pandemic is a virus that spreads across the world such that tens of thousands of people are infected.
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