New York (AFP)

The former Brooklyn shipyards, very used during the Second World War, are at the heart of the New York effort to make up for the lack of medical equipment: two start-ups were already manufacturing protective visors for caregivers, two others have been manufacturing surgical gowns there since Monday.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, looking for good news in the face of a pandemic that has already infected more than 67,000 New Yorkers, the epicenter of the epidemic in the United States, on Monday congratulated the companies concerned, Crye Precision, which manufactures usually protective equipment for the military, and Lafayette 148, fashion designer, who have teamed up in recent days to produce thousands of gowns for hospital staff.

"These two companies have created a product that they have never made - it's motivating to see how quickly people have found a way to help," said the mayor of the American economic capital. a press point in front of the huge hangars of these former shipyards.

For him, this is proof that New York "counter-attacks" against this "invisible, (...) fierce enemy" that is the Covid-19.

"It convinces me that we are going to get by," he added.

"It's not exactly fashion but it is in desperate need and that's what we want to do," said Deirdre Quinn, president and founder of Lafayette 148.

Some 9,200 surgical gowns should leave this new production line on Monday, nearly 19,000 by the end of the week, and 320,000 by the end of April, according to the mayor.

Last week, all the hospitals in this metropolis of 8.6 million inhabitants used 1.8 million gowns, and this week the needs are estimated at 2.5 million, according to Mr. De Blasio.

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