The coronavirus pandemic is rapidly spreading across the city, and health officials are updating their guidelines in an effort to prioritize patients who are more at risk. 

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If a person has mild symptoms, the inclination may be to panic until they get tested, but the city's health commissioner is urging people to stay home until they feel better. 

"We are preparing for an onslaught and it's coming very, very fast and we have to prioritize, and the testing capacity is going to be taken up pretty quickly, is our prediction,” said Mayor Bill de Blasio. 

 Dr. Jeffrey Lazar says the SBH Health System has seen a handful of positive coronavirus cases. 

"We're also seeing a lot of patients with symptoms of upper respiratory infections which may or may not be COVID, whom we are testing, who are well enough to be sent home,” said Lazar. 

The hospital’s director of emergency medicine says patients who come in with coronavirus symptoms are masked and kept in a separate room. He says more can be done to slow the spread and lessen the impact on the healthcare system.