NY tops 1,500 deaths from coronavirus, 75,000 confirmed cases

By Tom Rivers, Editor Posted 31 March 2020 at 5:06 pm

‘Everyone is subject to this virus. It is the great equalizer. I don’t care how smart, how rich, how powerful you think you are. I don’t care how young, how old. This virus is the great equalizer.’ – Gov. Andrew Cuomo

Photo by Mike Groll/Office of the Governor: Andrew M. Cuomo provides a coronavirus update during a news conference at Albany today. He also shared his brother Chris Cuomo, a journalist with CNN, tested positive for Covid-19.

New York State today reported its biggest daily jump of confirmed Covid-19 cases with 9,298 new positives. That brings the state-wide total to 75,795 confirmed cases of Covid-19 since the first case was reported a month ago.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo also shared during a news conference today that more than 1,500 people have now died from the virus in the state. The number of deaths increased in one day from 1,218 to 1,550.

The governor said experts predict the apex, the high point of the crisis, to hit in 14 to 30 days, but no one can be sure.

“The number of cases still going up,” Cuomo said at a news conference today. “We’re all in search of the apex and the other side of the mountain. But we are still headed up the mountain.”

The governor announced hospitals state-wide will be working together to respond to the cases so patients get treated without any one hospital or system being overwhelmed.

The state is launching an online portal that will help connect hospitals and healthcare facilities across the state with the nearly 80,000 healthcare workers who have volunteered to work on a temporary basis during the COVID-19 pandemic. The portal will prioritize the deployment of workers to hospitals with the greatest need. Some of the volunteers are expected to be deployed as early as this Thursday.

“We have two missions overall that we are pursuing. One is the front line of this battle is our hospital system,” Cuomo said. “That’s where this is going to come down to.”

“The second is social responsibility. Stay at home. Don’t get infected in the first place. Don’t get infected in the first place because it goes back to your creating a burden on our health care system that our health care system cannot handle.”

The governor said he doesn’t expect life to return to normal anytime soon. He strongly urged people to stay vigilant in practicing social distancing, washing hands frequently and staying home. He knows it’s difficult for many people to stay inside and not be out enjoying their lives.

“It’s not just about you,” the governor said. “It’s not just about your health and your life that you’re playing with here, my friend. You can infect other people. So I’ve been trying to communicate this many different ways for many days.

“We still see people coming out who don’t need to be out. Even for essential workers, people have to be careful. And again, I’ve been trying to communicate that. Everyone, everyone is subject to this virus. It is the great equalizer. I don’t care how smart, how rich, how powerful you think you are. I don’t care how young, how old. This virus is the great equalizer.”

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