Coronavirus: The Four Seasons in New York offering housing to medical staff for free

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Medical staff in New York will be offered free housing at the luxury Four Seasons hotel in Manhattan, amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Governor Andrew Cuomo revealed that the five-star hotel would be providing accommodation to medical professionals for free, in a tweet on Wednesday.

“The Four Seasons Hotel on 57th Street will provide FREE lodging to doctors, nurses & medical personnel currently working to respond to the #COVID19 pandemic. Thank you @FourSeasons. The first of many hotels we hope will make their rooms available,” he wrote.

The Four Seasons closed last Friday amid the coronavirus pandemic and is not taking any new bookings until 15 April at the earliest.

Ty Warner, the chairman of Ty Warner Hotels and Resorts, the group who run the hotel, said in a statement that “many of those working in New York City have to travel long distances to and from their homes after putting in 18-hour days.”

“They need a place close to work where they can rest and regenerate. I heard Governor Cuomo’s call to action during one of his press conferences, and there was no other option for us but do whatever we could to help.” Mr Warner said.

Mr Cuomo criticised president Donald Trump’s response to the coronavirus pandemic earlier this week, saying the medical supplies sent to the area were not sufficient.

“FEMA is sending us 400 ventilators. Four hundred ventilators? I need 30,000 ventilators. You want a pat on the back for sending 400 ventilators,” he said. “You pick the 26,000 people who are going to die because you only sent 400 ventilators!”

According to a tracking project hosted by Johns Hopkins University, upwards of 65,174 people have tested positive for coronavirus in the US. The death toll has reached at least 921 with 192 in New York.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has recommended a two-week ban on gatherings of more than 50 people as part of the battle to contain the spread of the contagion.