Cuomo: Worst of COVID-19 May Be Over if Social Distancing Continues
by Dan Clark • Published on April 13, 2020 • 0 Comments
Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks to reporters Monday April 13, 2020.
Credit: Dan Clark
Health
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic may be over in New York, as long as residents continue to follow federal and social guidelines for social distancing and limit their interactions with others.
If residents begin to change their behavior by ignoring social distancing rules, or making non-essential trips outside their homes, numbers could spike up again, Cuomo said.
The warning came as New York reported, again Monday, that the net number of intubations related to COVID-19 had gone down Sunday, and that the three-day average net number of hospitalizations had continued to decrease.
That means that, while the number of hospitalizations and intubations from the disease has continued to rise over the last week, it’s done so at a slower rate than at the suspected height of the disease.
“The worst is over, if we continue to be smart moving forward,” Cuomo said.
As of Monday morning, the number of people hospitalized due to COVID-19 in New York had reached 18,825, a net increase of 118 over Sunday’s numbers. The net number of people intubated had decreased by 21, bringing the current total to 4,428.
A total of 1,238 people were discharged from the hospital Sunday after being treated for the disease, state data showed Monday.
At the same time, New York reported Monday that an additional 671 people had died of the virus Sunday, bringing the statewide total to 10,056. That’s the lowest day-to-day count in the last week, but it’s unclear if the daily number of deaths will continue to decrease in the coming days.
Cuomo said he’ll be speaking with governors in the tri-state area Monday, and possibly make an announcement on reopening the economy in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut in the afternoon.
