Cuomo says state has made ‘phenomenal’ progress in fighting Covid-19
WNY expected to move to Phase 2 on Tuesday
Gov. Andrew Cuomo praised the state’s residents for their efforts in helping to drastically reduce the number of daily deaths and confirmed from Covid-19.
On Sunday, the state had 54 confirmed deaths from Covid-19. That is the lowest in more than two months and down from the peak of 799 deaths on April 8.
The state also had just below 1,000 new confirmed cases on Sunday out of about 50,000 people tested.
In early April, the state was routinely topping 10,000 new cases a day, when testing was more limited.
“The progress is just phenomenal,” Cuomo said during a news conference today.
The governor said the five counties of Western New York – Niagara, Erie, Allegany, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus – should advance to Phase 2 of the reopening on Tuesday. Orleans, which is in the Finger Lakes, moved to Phase 2 on Friday afternoon.
Cuomo said it is an amazing turnaround to be moving to reopening the economy when only 50 days ago the state was fighting biggest outbreak of Covid-19 in the world. New York City also is on track to reopen at Phase 1 on June 8, less than two months after its hospitals were being overwhelmed by people seriously sickened with Covid-19.
“What we have done with this Covid virus is really an amazing accomplishment if you take a step back and it was all done by the people of this state,” Cuomo said. “What we’ve done is unlike anything I’ve seen.”
The governor said the mass gatherings in recent days could derail the efforts to reopen and get back on track.
“We went from an internationally terrible situation to where we are talking about reopening today,” Cuomo said.
He urged the state to stay united and be disciplined.
“Don’t snatch defeat from the jaws of victory,” he said.
