Post by bot on Apr 10, 2020 17:58:58 GMT -5
New York Gov. Cuomo cautiously optimistic that rate of coronavirus infection is slowing
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday he was cautiously optimistic that the rate of infection by the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is slowing, as the number of deaths in a single day fell for the first time in four days. Cuomo said 777 New Yorkers died on Thursday, below the 799 who died a day earlier. The average number of people being hospitalized is also down over a three-day period, while the number of admissions to intensive-care units was negative for the first time since New York adopted strict measures to contain the spread. Intubations ticked higher on the day but were lower over a three-day period, he said. The patients who are dying of the illness are those who were hospitalized at the height of the crisis and who were being kept alive by ventilators. The New York death rate now stands at 7,844, almost three times the 2,753 lives that were lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. New York is tracking well below the estimates of experts who created models to predict the spread of the virus, which Cuomo said is due to the fact that New Yorkers are obeying restrictions on movement and social-distancing guidelines. "In fairness to experts, nobody has been here before; there was no model to track against," he said. New York now needs millions of tests for antibodies and diagnostics to understand how and when people can go back to work, said the governor, who warned that it will be a gradual and phased process that will rely on mass testing. "If I had a Defense Production Act, I would use it," he said, urging the federal government to intervene. "We need an unprecedented mobilization where the government can produce these tests in the millions."
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday he was cautiously optimistic that the rate of infection by the coronavirus that causes COVID-19 is slowing, as the number of deaths in a single day fell for the first time in four days. Cuomo said 777 New Yorkers died on Thursday, below the 799 who died a day earlier. The average number of people being hospitalized is also down over a three-day period, while the number of admissions to intensive-care units was negative for the first time since New York adopted strict measures to contain the spread. Intubations ticked higher on the day but were lower over a three-day period, he said. The patients who are dying of the illness are those who were hospitalized at the height of the crisis and who were being kept alive by ventilators. The New York death rate now stands at 7,844, almost three times the 2,753 lives that were lost in the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. New York is tracking well below the estimates of experts who created models to predict the spread of the virus, which Cuomo said is due to the fact that New Yorkers are obeying restrictions on movement and social-distancing guidelines. "In fairness to experts, nobody has been here before; there was no model to track against," he said. New York now needs millions of tests for antibodies and diagnostics to understand how and when people can go back to work, said the governor, who warned that it will be a gradual and phased process that will rely on mass testing. "If I had a Defense Production Act, I would use it," he said, urging the federal government to intervene. "We need an unprecedented mobilization where the government can produce these tests in the millions."