NYS sees slight drop in new Covid-19 cases, deaths
‘I guarantee the people of this state that as long as I’m the governor of this state we won’t lose a life if we can prevent it and we’re not going to lose a life because we didn’t share resources among ourselves.’ – Gov. Andrew Cuomo
New York State saw a slight decrease in the number of new confirmed Covid-19 cases and deaths from the disease on Saturday, compared to the previous day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this morning at a news conference.
There were 8,327 new confirmed cases on Saturday, compared to 10,841 on Friday and 10,482 on Thursday. New York now has 122,031 positive cases of coronavirus.
The state also reported 594 deaths from Covid-19 on Saturday, following 630 on Friday and 562 on Thursday. There are now 4,159 New Yorkers who have died in the past month from Covid-19.
The governor also shared that there were 575 new hospitalizations for Covid-19 on Saturday, while 1,709 were discharged. He said the rate of discharge is now at 74 percent.
He is hopeful the state is nearing the apex and will start to see a decline in confirmed cases, but it is too soon to tell.
While some hard-hit areas could be hitting their peak, such as New York City, the wave from the virus could spread across the state, with other parts of the state seeing a different apex at a later date.
The governor said his focus now is on having ventilators and equipment where they are most needed. That is why on Friday he announced that 20 percent of unused ventilators in the state would be redistributed to hospitals where they are most needed.
That has sparked outrage from upstate hospital leaders and state legislators. Cuomo was asked about the executive order today during a news conference. A reporter asked Cuomo if he was leaving upstate hospitals “vulnerable” by redistributing ventilators.
“The concept here that people have to get is nobody can handle this alone, nobody,” Cuomo responded. “The people of New York City can’t handle it alone. The people of Nassau can’t handle it alone, the people of Suffolk can’t handle it alone, the people of Westchester can’t handle it alone, the people of Buffalo can’t handle it alone, the people of Albany can’t handle it alone. Period. That is just a fact.”
The governor said the virus is very effective at devastation, especially for elderly and immune-compromised people. He urged New Yorkers to stay vigilant with social distancing and washing their hands frequently.
He said the state will get through the crisis by working together and sharing resources. He acknowledged there is fear in redistributing ventilators and equipment. So far the state hasn’t taken any hospital’s ventilators or equipment and sent it to another system. Right now the state is making an inventory of the equipment that could be redistributed as part of a Plan B or Plan C, Cuomo said.
“I guarantee the people of this state that as long as I’m the governor of this state we won’t lose a life if we can prevent it and we’re not going to lose a life because we didn’t share resources among ourselves,” Cuomo said at the news conference. “Anything anyone needs in Buffalo when this virus hits Buffalo will be there. If it comes from Montauk Point and I have to get in the truck and drive it from Montauk Point to Buffalo it will be there. That is the way we have governed the state and that’s the way we’ve operated. That was our mentality post 9-11, that is how the state has operated the past 10 years, and that is how it will be going forward. Whatever any community needs we will be there.”
