scorecardresearch
Friday, March 29, 2024
Support Our Journalism
HomeWorldNew Covid-19 cases in New York fall to lowest since epidemic began

New Covid-19 cases in New York fall to lowest since epidemic began

New York deaths remain high but Governor Cuomo talks of reopening the city as only 53 new Covid-19 cases were admitted to hospital overnight.

Follow Us :
Text Size:

New York: New Yorkers continue to die of Covid-19 at a “terribly high rate,” with 758 more fatalities reported Sunday, but the trend shows that the epidemic is peaking and the state can begin to plan to reopen, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

Sunday marked the sixth straight day of fatalities over 700. The record was 799 on April 9. Total deaths in the state reached 9,385. Cases reached 188,694, a rise of 8,236, the state Department of Health reported, about a tenth of reported cases around the world.

“Can you ever get numb to these numbers?” Cuomo asked at a news conference in Albany. “Everyone is a face and a name and a family that is suffering.”

He noted positive trends that appear to be taking stronger hold. Only 53 new cases were admitted to the hospital overnight, a number Cuomo said was the lowest since the epidemic began. Intensive care admissions and intubations “ticked up” slightly but not significantly, he said.

As head of the state at the center of the coronavirus epidemic in the U.S., Cuomo turned to how best to reopen society and said the key was a coordinated effort with the region, involving schools, government and business.

New Jersey, which has the second-highest Covid-19 rate in the country, reported another 3,733 cases on Sunday, with 168 deaths. The state’s total is 61,850 cases and 2,350 deaths.

Cuomo also said he’d sign executive orders directing employers to provide essential workers with masks or face protection, and expand who can conduct antibody tests.

“We need to be smart in the way we reopen,” he said. “The last thing we want to see is an uptick in the infection rate and an uptick in those numbers we worked so hard to bring down.” New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy made similar comments in two television appearances on Sunday.

“Right now, the house is on fire, and job number one is to put the fire out,” Murphy said on CNN.

The cautious looking-forward was echoed by Dr. Craig R. Smith, surgeon-in-chief at the Department of Surgery at Columbia University.

“It is time to begin cautiously straightening up from a defensive crouch,” he wrote in a note to colleagues. He said that process would be slow but could start at carefully reviewing policies on families visiting loved ones who are sick.


Also read: Conspiracy theories about coronavirus are as dangerous as the outbreak itself


Rift Over Schools

Cuomo continued to express dissatisfaction with the decision by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio the day before to close the city’s public schools for the rest of the academic year. He didn’t, however, say he would overrule the mayor, with whom he’s frequently clashed, though he has said he has legal authority over the city’s schools.

Earlier on Sunday, de Blasio played down any disagreement with Cuomo and repeatedly dodged the issue of who has the ultimate authority over New York City’s public schools, which serve 1.1 million students.

“More important than even the rules and laws, it’s sort of the moral question, what’s the right thing to do for our kids, our families, our parents, our educators to protect their health and well-being and all the people they come into contact with?” the mayor said to reporters. “The right thing to do is to keep the schools closed.”

Easter Visit

Earlier on Easter morning, Cuomo visited the Pathways Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, near Albany.

He returned 35 ventilators the facility donated to the state after the governor warned in the early days of the outbreak that New York might need 140,000 hospital beds and as many as 40,000 intensive care units — figures that have not been reached even with the high strain on the medical system.

Cuomo said he visited because he wanted “to say thank you personally.”

The ventilators’ return highlighted a growing political debate over whether politicians and medical experts overreacted in the early days of the crisis — and whether the lockdowns have been worth the cost to the economy. Apart from fewer hospital beds and equipment needed, estimates of death tolls have also dropped.

Cuomo is among the voices who say they listened to a range of experts, planned for the worst and that shutdowns and social distancing slowed the virus’s spread. As of Sunday, some 22,000 Americans died of the virus, with over half a million infected.

In his briefing, de Blasio called it a “tough week” in New York City. But he said, “We thought it was going to be honestly something much worse.”


Also read: Chinese envoy to US disagrees with Beijing that coronavirus came from American military lab


 

Subscribe to our channels on YouTube, Telegram & WhatsApp

Support Our Journalism

India needs fair, non-hyphenated and questioning journalism, packed with on-ground reporting. ThePrint – with exceptional reporters, columnists and editors – is doing just that.

Sustaining this needs support from wonderful readers like you.

Whether you live in India or overseas, you can take a paid subscription by clicking here.

Support Our Journalism

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Most Popular