New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the rate of new hospitalizations for COVID-19 was down to the same place it was 21 days ago.
“21 days of hell, but we’re back to where we were,” Cuomo said of the 1,100 new hospitalizations. He added that the important question now becomes when the hospitalization rates can dwindle to hundreds per day.
Testing for both the virus and antibodies remained the governor’s focus.
Cuomo said that he has authorized independent pharmacies to become collection sites for diagnostic testing. People will be able to get a test at a pharmacy, the pharmacy will then collect a sample and send it to a lab which produces the results, according to Cuomo.
This is expected to add an additional 5,000 collection sites for diagnostic testing, the governor said. Currently, the state of New York is conducting about 20,000 tests per day.
The number of deaths in the state continued on a mostly flattened, but astonishing rate.
There were 437 deaths in the last 24 hours, a figure Cuomo called “terrible, terrible horrific news.” It was also a slight uptick from the 422 number reported yesterday.
A decision on whether the New York On Pause order will be extended is expected in the coming week. Cuomo said that while he is taking a tri-state regional approach, he will also work with certain localities in the state of New York for possible individualized plans.
