NY May Be Past The Peak Of Its Coronavirus Outbreak, Cuomo Says

NEW YORK, NY — New York State's recent new coronavirus hospitalization, ICU admission and fatality numbers "start to suggest" that the state is coming out of the peak of the outbreak, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a Saturday press briefing.

Key infection metrics have all decreased for three straight days, signaling that fewer people are becoming sick with the deadly virus, Cuomo said. State officials estimate that every one person sickened with coronavirus is infecting about .9 others, down from 1.4 others when New York saw a steep rise in hospitalizations, Cuomo said.

While the rates of infection signal "very good news" for New York, Cuomo provided some "sobering" perspective during his Saturday briefing. In the past 24 hours, more than 2,000 new patients were admitted to the hospital suffering from the coronavirus.

"That is still an overwhelming number every day, 2,000 new," Cuomo said. "If it wasn't for the relative context that we've been in this would be devastating news — 2,000 people coming into the hospital system or testing positive. We're not at the peak, but this is where we were just about in late March."

Massive upscaling of New York's testing capacity will be the "single most important" factor when the state considers when it will relax social distancing measures, Cuomo said Saturday. Social distancing measures such as New York PAUSE — which shuts down schools and nonessential businesses — have contributed to the decrease in New York's infection rate. Without proper testing protocols, the infection rate could shoot back up and New York's hospitals could be hit with another wave of new patients.

In addition to providing private manufacturers with the materials and equipment needed to produce tests at a rapid pace, the state would also need to be able to trace positive tests, Cuomo said. It would take an "army" of thousands of "tracers" to be able to identify every person who may have come into contact with somebody who has tested positive, test them and isolate if needed, the Governor said Saturday.

As of Saturday, 236,732 New Yorkers have tested positive for the new coronavirus, according to the state's coronavirus tracker. Of those cases, 12,192 people have died across the state. The vast majority of new coronavirus cases in the state come from New York City. The latest city data shows that 122,148 residents have tested positive for the virus with 7,890 confirmed deaths and 4,309 probable deaths.

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