In New York, the state hit hardest by the pandemic, the hospitalization rate is down and the change in ICU admissions is the lowest since March 19, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.
Statewide,18,000 people are hospitalized with the coronavirus, far below the worst-case projections, he added.
“We are flattening the curve by what we’re doing,” Cuomo said, adding, “you can’t relax.”
Despite the improvements, 799 lives were lost in New York state on Wednesday — a daily record during the pandemic, Cuomo said.
To put the striking death toll into context, Cuomo said New York state has lost 7,067 lives to the coronavirus, while the state lost 2,753 lives at the World Trade Center on Sept. 11.
New York City, the most hard-hit part of the state, is among the areas seeing some improvement, which Mayor Bill de Blasio says shows sheltering in place and social distancing are working.
“If we continue to make progress,” the mayor said, for the dense city of 8.6 million residents, the month of May “might be easier than what I originally feared it would be.”
“Let’s double down” on social distancing and sheltering in place, he added, stressing that New Yorkers “have to earn our way out of this horrible situation.”
