New York’s scramble to brace for peak crisis a siren for the rest of U.S.

NEW YORK — The Empire State Building blinked red this week as New York became the central terrain in the international battle against the coronavirus — a siren not just for battered Manhattan but for state and local authorities across the country racing to avoid a similar fate.

New cases this week drove the state’s total above 75,000, surpassing China’s Hubei province, where the virus emerged in December. The grim milestone was recorded as Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo acknowledged having underestimated how overwhelming the situation would become. “It’s more dangerous than we expected,” he said.