Gov. Andrew Cuomo declared a state of emergency in New York as the number of coronavirus cases in the state shot up.
The Democrat announced 21 new cases in New York on Saturday, which brings the total up to 76, with a majority of the diagnoses found in the southern part of the state. The majority of the confirmed cases are in Westchester County, with nearly a dozen cases in New York City and the rest spread across Nassau, Rockland, and Saratoga counties.
Ten people have been hospitalized.
“We now need the CDC to authorize automatic testing,” Cuomo said during a news conference, adding it would “exponentially increase the number of tests you can do.”
The governor said that he would like to “test as many people as you can” and has commissioned “hundreds” of tests for coronavirus.
New York joins a growing list of states which have declared emergencies over the coronavirus, including Maryland, California, and Utah. There are more than 300 cases across the United States, and 17 people have died. The coronavirus has infected more than 100,000 globally and has led to more than 3,400 deaths, mostly in mainland China.
