New York City is offering antibody tests for 140,000 health care workers and first responders, beginning next Monday, Mayor Bill de Blasio said.
Testing identifies a likely past infection of COVID-19 and provides confidence that the individual overcame the virus.
The tests will be offered at hospitals, firehouses, police stations and corrections facilities, the mayor said.
New York City’s tracking indicators are a mix of positive and negative numbers.
Citywide, 22% of people tested on May 3 were positive for the coronavirus — up from 17% on May 2.
There were 75 people admitted to hospitals for suspected COVID-19 on May 3 — down from 88 admissions on May 2.
And 596 people were in New York City ICUs with suspected coronavirus on May 3 — down from 632 on May 2.
The mayor on Tuesday also blasted President Donald Trump, saying the president “seems to enjoy stabbing his hometown in the back, talking about ‘no bailout’ for New York.”
Trump told The New York Post on Monday, “It’s not fair to the Republicans because all the states that need help — they’re run by Democrats in every case. Florida is doing phenomenal, Texas is doing phenomenal, the Midwest is, you know, fantastic — very little debt.”
“You look at Illinois, you look at New York, look at California, you know, those three, there’s tremendous debt there, and many others,” Trump told the Post.
De Blasio said at his Tuesday briefing, “These comments today show me something very cold and very unfair to the people he grew up around, the people who gave him every opportunity.”
The mayor called on Trump to “act like the President of the United States and care … regardless of politics. Care about the people of this city.”
