Price-Gouging Amid COVID-19 Fears Should Be Made Illegal: NYC Pol

WEST VILLAGE, MANHATTAN — A Manhattan lawmaker wants to make it illegal for businesses to double or triple the prices for hand sanitizer, face masks and other medical products as New Yorkers hoard supplies during the coronavirus outbreak.

State Sen. Brad Hoylman, whose district stretches from the Village to the Upper West Side, introduced a bill Tuesday that would crackdown on retailers that price-gouge medical supplies during a public health emergency.

The law, which Hoylman said exists in 34 other states, would help stop already-skyrocketing prices on the medical products in Manhattan.

Price-gouging has become a problem both in New York and parts of the world where the coronavirus has become the most prevalent, he said.

“It’s said that after the storm come the vultures – and that’s exactly what could happen here if we don’t act now to stop price gouging in anticipation of the coronavirus outbreak here in New York," Hoylman said.

"Profiting off fear of disease is unconscionable," he continued. "We can’t allow shady businesses to hike prices on the supplies New Yorkers need to stay safe and healthy, like hand sanitizer and face masks."

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Hoylman pointed to reports that surgical masks in Chinatown that once sold for $20 were now going for $75 and news that Upper West Side retailers were struggling to stock up on more Purrell, masks and wipes since distributors were jacking up prices.

His bill would amend New York's existing price-gouging statute to prohibit selling consumer medical supplies at an "unconscionable excessive price," or a price 10 percent higher than before a public emergency began, during an outbreak.

The New York Attorney General could fine businesses that jack up prices up to $25,000 under the law.

The bill comes as New Yorkers are buying up hand sanitizer, face masks and other products from stores in an effort to stay healthy during the outbreak, despite advice from the U.S. Surgeon General that face masks won't help healthy people avoid the COVID-19 coronavirus.

So far, two people in New York City have been diagnosed with the virus and six U.S. residents have died and seven have recovered COVID-19, data show.

As of Tuesday, there are 92,196 confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide and 105 in the U.S., according to Johns Hopkins University data.

New York City Transit has launched a massive scrub-down system in subways, buses and trains and New York City has reserved 1,200 hospital beds dedicated to treating novel coronavirus, officials said.