Deaths, hospitalizations from Covid-19 continue to fall in NY
Photo by Tom Rivers: The flag is lowered at the Albion Department of Public Works on King Street. The governor has directed flags to be lowered out of respect for the victims of Covid-19. The total confirmed deaths in the state is now at 21,478 due to Covid-19.
The number of deaths and hospitalizations in New York due to Covid-19 continued to fall last week.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the state has made great progress in reducing the Covid-19 infections.
“We can control the beast,” he said.
The state will look to reopen some regions of the state as the New York begins to “unpause” on May 15. Cuomo said the economy will be reopened in four phases, and will move slowly, making sure there isn’t a spike in Covid-19 hospitalizations.
The governor has set seven criteria a region needs to meet before it can proceed to phase 1 of reopening. Orleans County is in the Finger Lakes region, which already had met five of the seven standards on May 4. The region needed more testing and contact tracers as of May 4.
The first phase includes opening construction and manufacturing functions with low risk.
The state is trending in the right direction towards a reopening.
Last week there 1,568 deaths in the state from Covid-19, an average of 224 a day. That compares with 2,176 the previous week, or a daily average of 311 from April 26 to May 2.
The worst week was April 5-11, when New York suffered 5,226 deaths to the virus, an average of 747 each day that week.
Week of May 3-9: (1,568 deaths)
• May 3, 226; May 4, 230; May 5, 232; May 6, 231: May 7, 216; May 8, 226; May 9, 207.
Week of April 26-May 2: (2,176 deaths)
• April 26, 337; April 27, 335; April 28, 330; April 29, 306; April 30, 289; May 1, 299; May 2, 280.
Week of April 19-25: (3,097 deaths)
• April 19, 478; April 20, 481; April 21, 474; April 22, 438; April 23, 422; April 24, 437; April 25, 367.
Week of April 12-18: (4,484 deaths)
• April 12 (Easter), 671; April 13, 778; April 14, 752; April 15, 606; April 16, 630; April 17, 540; April 18, 507.
Week of April 5-11: (5,226 deaths)
• April 5, 599; April 6, 731; April 7, 779; April 8, 799; April 9, 777; April 10, 783; April 11, 758.
In addition to reduced deaths in the state due to Covid-19, the number of intubations and hospitalizations is down.
The number of new hospitalization on Saturday was 521, the same on March 20 when the state did its closedown order, Cuomo said today during a news conference.
“It has been a painful period of time between March 20th and May 9th,” Cuomo said. “The optimist would say yes but it’s only March 20th to May 9th. The pessimist would say but a lot of pain, a high cost, loss of life. The realist would be somewhere in the middle. But all of this work, all of this progress of turning that tide, of reducing the rate of infection, that’s all thanks to New Yorkers and what New Yorkers did.”
The governor praised New Yorkers for taking the virus seriously, for staying home as much as possible, for adhering to social distancing and for wearing masks or face coverings.
“This week is May 15. May 15 the pause order, the closedown order expires,” Cuomo said. “We’re looking region to region across the state as to where would be appropriate to reopen. This state we have a clear uniform set of criteria. It’s the same all across the state, it’s all science-based, it’s all data-based and we’ll look at those numbers. We’ll look at those data points to see where it’s safe to open.”
