De Blasio says social distancing is making big difference in battle against COVID-19 in NYC
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is urging New Yorkers to not become complacent as hospitalizations begin to stabilize; David Lee Miller reports.
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NEW YORK CITY – The nation's coronavirus outbreak epicenter logged its single deadliest day yet, but New York's governor said Wednesday that dramatic action and social distancing is "making the difference" in the fight against the pandemic.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that the state had its highest single-day death toll due to COVID-19, with 779 reported Tuesday, but the average number of hospitalizations has decreased over the past couple of days.
"It's working, it's flattening the curve and we're seeing that today," the governor told reporters. "The curve is flattening because we are flattening the curve by what we're doing."
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Cuomo said that closing schools and non-essential businesses has helped the state bring down the rate of new COVID-19 infections requiring hospitalization. He added that some hospitals in the state are releasing more patients than taking in new ones.
A patient is wheeled past two medical workers wearing personal protective equipment as the pair study a cell phone outside Elmhurst Hospital Center's emergency room, Tuesday. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
He added that "flattening of the curve" is also adding more capacity to the hospital system.
"If the hospitalization rate continues decreasing, the system should stabilize over the next couple of weeks," the governor said.
While part of the governor's press conference on Wednesday shared the positive news of the curve projections, in regards to hospitalization number he said the bad news of the daily death rate was "breathtaking."
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"The number of deaths will continue to rise as those hospitalized for a longer period of time pass away," Cuomo said, adding that the longer individuals are on a ventilator, the less likely they are to come off. He said that as hospitalizations start to drop, deaths increase because people who have been in the hospital for 11 to 14 days are dying.
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"It is still incredibly difficult to deal with," the governor said.
The 779 deaths on Tuesday were the highest number of new coronavirus deaths in New York for a second straight day
Cuomo, who ordered all flags in New York state flown at half-staff, said that people need to remain vigilant and disciplined about social distancing.
A patient is transferred from Elmhurst Hospital Center to a waiting ambulance during the current coronavirus outbreak, Tuesday, April 7, 2020, in New York. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)
"We are by no means out of the woods. That is a pure product of our actions and behavior. If we behave differently, you will see those numbers change," the governor said.
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New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio made similar remarks earlier in the day, saying that hospitalizations in the nation's largest city are stabilizing, with new demand slowing at some facilities to 100 new patients a day or less.
Cars on the Grand Central Parkway during rush hour Tuesday in Queens, New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
The mayor added that the city also has ventilators in reserve.
"I can say with assurance that we will get through this week in terms of ventilators," de Blasio said at a news conference. "We actually have enough to get through this week free and clear. We are not going to say that we can accurately predict next week yet, it's still too clear this week to say that. But the fact that we have confidence that we can get through this week is definitely a good sign."
De Blasio said Wednesday that the death toll from the coronavirus has been disproportionately high in black and Hispanic communities, and the city is starting an outreach campaign for those residents
“It’s sick. It’s troubling. It’s wrong. And we are going to fight back with everything we’ve got," the mayor said.
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Preliminary data indicates that black people account for 28 percent of the city's COVID-19 death toll, even though they are just 22 percent of the city's population, while Hispanic people are 34 percent of the city's virus death toll and 29 percent of its population.
State health officials reported Tuesday that more than 4,000 people have been killed by the virus in New York City.
De Blasio acknowledged Wednesday that official death tolls are lower than the actual number of deaths because people who have died at home without being tested for the virus are not included. The mayor said the city would start including those deaths in its official tally.
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As of Wednesday, there are 149,316 cases of COVID-19 in New York, with at least 6,268 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
