1 million in NYC likely exposed to coronavirus already and half of New Yorkers could become infected: officials

A medic tests a patient at a drive thru COVID-19 testing sight Saturday, April 11, 2020, in the Flatbush neighborhood of the Brooklyn borough of New York.(Mary Altaffer/AP)

The city believes a million New Yorkers have already been exposed to coronavirus and that as many as half will eventually become infected.

“It wouldn’t surprise me if, at this point in time, we have probably close to a million New Yorkers who have been exposed to COVID-19,” Health Commissioner Dr. Oxiris Barbot said during a briefing Thursday.

There were just 138,435 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the five boroughs as of Tuesday night, but without widespread testing the city is likely vastly undercounting the actual number of people infected.

Health officials have told those with milder symptoms to stay home without seeking care and testing has largely been reserved for people most at risk of serious illness and even death.

“That really I think is the tip of the iceberg,” Barbot said of the confirmed cases. “I don’t think any of us have any misconceptions of how widespread this virus is and how ultimately it will affect … large numbers of New Yorkers overall.”

Mayor de Blasio also stood by his prediction from last month that more than half of all 8.6 million New Yorkers would eventually contract the virus.

“The assumption that still more than half of New Yorkers could get this is a safe place to hold because we can’t tell you the opposite,” de Blasio said.

Hizzoner expressed concern that the deadly virus could be seasonal and that the city could see a resurgence in the fall or next year.

“We still don’t understand the seasonal reality,” he said. “We’re certainly concerned about next year already … it will still be a part of our lives until there’s a vaccine.”

The mayor said the city still doesn’t know when the first person was infected in the five boroughs.

“We are still dealing with the great unknown in the absence of testing,” de Blasio said. ”We don’t even 100% know when the first cases emerged in this city because we didn’t have testing in February … we know it was February but we don’t know when we don’t know how many people who got it back then who went entirely unnoted.”