NY sees slight drop in deaths from Covid-19
‘The bad news is we continue to lose a tremendous amount of lives and endure great pain as a state.’ – Gov. Andrew Cuomo
New York State suffered 777 deaths from Covid-19 on Thursday, which is down slightly from the record high of 799 on Wednesday and 779 on Tuesday.
The state has now lost 7,844 deaths to the coronavirus, that is nearly three times the number of people – 2,753 – who died during the terrorist attack on the World Trade Center on Sept. 11, 2001.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo, during a news conference today, said the rate of new hospitalizations and intensive care admissions from Covid-19 is dropping from the high points about two weeks. That makes him optimistic the state will see a significant drop in deaths from Covid-19 as the curve is flattened.
“The bad news is we continue to lose a tremendous amount of lives and endure great pain as a state,” Cuomo said.
The actions by the state to close schools and nonessential businesses has made a difference in flattening the curve. He said residents need to continue to stay home as much as possible, practice social distancing and wash their hands frequently.
Pushing the cases down and avoiding a second or third wave depends on people keeping their distance from others so the virus doesn’t spread, Cuomo said.
“There is no natural trajectory,” he said about the projected number of Covid-19 cases. “The trajectory is the trajectory we create by our actions.”
The governor said he wants to see the state reopened for businesses and normal life. But he said there needs to be widespread availability of testing.
He urged President Trump to institute the Defense Production Act to mandate and pay private sector companies to make millions of tests quickly.
“You’re going to need government intervention to make that happen,” Cuomo said. “The federal government is in the best position to do that.”
