GOVERNOR Andrew Cuomo has announced the number of deaths in the New York are dropping "for the first time" with 74 percent of patients discharged as the stat nears the "apex of the pandemic."
Speaking at a press conference on Sunday, Cuomo said 74 percent of the non-vulnerable coronavirus patients hospitalized in New York state have been discharged.
He noted the percentage is "the highest number of people ever being discharged."
The number of ICU admissions and daily intubations have also decreased, he said.
According to Cuomo, the worst news was that the total number of deaths in the state has reached 4,159.
"But the number of deaths over the past few days have been dropping for the first time," he said, adding "it's too early to tell" the significance of this data.
Cuomo – who described COVID-19 as "truly vicious" and an "effective killer" – stressed the importance of "people who are very vulnerable" to stay isolated.
"If a very vulnerable person gets infected with this virus, the probability of a 'cure' is very low," the governor stated.
As 12,187 patients have been discharged as of Sunday, the total number of people hospitalized in the state is 16,479, with 4,376 in intensive care.
Despite the high percentage of patients being discharged, hospitals are still over capacity with supplies and staff.
Cuomo urged a need to "balance the patient load among hospitals.
"We are running short of supplies across the board. We are literally going day to day with supplies and staff."
It's important to "shift and deploy resources to different locations based on the need of that location," said Cuomo.
The number of positive coronavirus cases in NY state have reached 122,031, with 67,551 in NYC alone.
Cuomo explained there is now a shift of rising cases in Long Island as upstate cases remain "flat."
He said: "We’re looking at this seriously now, because by the data we could be either very near the apex, or the apex could be a plateau, and we could be on that plateau right now.
“We won’t know until we see the next few days, does it go up, does it go down, but that is what the statisticians will tell you today.”
On Sundays press conference, Cuomo said: “I think, you see the return for normalcy when we have an approved rapid testing program that can be brought to scale.
“People can go back to work because they know they’re negative.
"I think that is under development, but that is going to be the end and we’re going to get through it because we’re New York tough."
On Saturday, Donald Trump warned that the United States will suffer "a lot of death" as the country entered its "toughest" two weeks in the fight against COVID-19.
Speaking at his daily press briefing at The White House, the president told the country to prepare for a “very deadly period" following an increase of 1,497 deaths over the past 24 hours.
"The next week is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment. It's going to be our 9/11 moment," Vice Admiral Jerome Adams told the nation on NBC's Sunday morning Meet the Press show.
Cuomo confirmed that New York officials recorded 788 deaths in 24 hours – the biggest surge in fatalities in the state since the crisis began, upping the total to 3,565 on Saturday.
Out of the 788 NY deaths, 757 of those were reported to be in New York City alone.
There are now at least 8,503 Americans who have died from COVID-19 as of April 5, with hard-hit NYC accounting for more than a quarter of the country’s COVID-19 related deaths.
Across the US, the number of confirmed cases has topped 312,245.
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