Democratic New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that the number of daily deaths due to the coronavirus is stabilizing.
“The number of deaths is 671, not as bad as it has been in the past, but basically flat at a horrific level of pain and grief and sorrow,” Cuomo said during his daily press briefing.
The number of new deaths reported has dropped to its lowest point since April 8, when 799 deaths were reported. Cuomo said the beginning of a plateau was a good sign but added that the total number of deaths on Sunday drove up the state’s death toll to 10,056.
“This is 671 people who passed away on Easter Sunday. For me, I’m Catholic, Easter Sunday is the high holy day … and to have this happen over the weekend is really, really, especially tragic,” Cuomo said.
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The decrease in new deaths in New York coincides with a “flattening” of the number of new hospital admissions, which Cuomo said is “good news.” Hospitalizations are occurring at slower rates than in recent weeks, about 2,000 per day. At the same time, many people who were diagnosed with the coronavirus weeks ago are now deemed healthy enough to leave the hospital.
“The net [hospitalization rate] is what we talk about because we’ve always been worried about lack of capacity in the hospital system where you pour the water into the glass and the glass over-fills,” he said.
As the rate of new hospitalizations decreases in New York, the number of new confirmed cases in the United States overall has steadily declined since Friday, from 35,000 new cases to about 29,000 on Sunday.
