Coronavirus hospitalizations in New York drop below 1,000 for first time since March 18, Cuomo says
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo shared some good news in the state's coronavirus fight on Thursday morning. "Today NY reached a new milestone," Cuomo tweeted. "Total hospitalizations fell to 996 — dropping below 1K for the first time since March 18th."
He urged residents to remain vigilant. "Together we bent the curve. And we aren't stopping now. Wear a mask. Keep 6 feet apart. Wash hands. Stay smart," he tweeted.
Parts of New York began slowly reopening last month after successfully "flattening the curve," and New York City – once the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic – began reopening several weeks ago after an 80-day lockdown.
The city alone saw 1,719 new hospitalizations in a single day at its peak, on April 6.
In preparations for a spike in hospitalizations, temporary hospitals opened at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, and in Central Park. The U.S. Navy's full-fledged hospital ship, the USNS Comfort, was also transferred to New York to handle the overflow of hospitalizations.
The Comfort departed the city at the end of April, having treated a total of 182 people, CBS New York reported. The pop-up hospital at the Javits Center also closed in early May, after treating more than 1,000 patients in about month.
The total number of cases New York has seen stood at 389,666 as of Thursday, according to the state's COVID-19 tracker. While the number of people being tested has increased, the number of positive test results in the state has rapidly decreased, the data shows.
While cases in New York are on the decline, many other states across the U.S. are seeing an increase in cases. Florida and Texas are setting records for positive tests, and their governors are warning they may need to crack down on people who aren't social distancing.
Now, New York, New Jersey and Connecticut are issuing a travel advisory and requiring visitors from states with high coronavirus infection rates to quarantine for 14 days. Cuomo said Wednesday the advisory is being put in place to protect gains the states has made in beating back COVID-19.
A fifth of new infections globally are in the U.S. and half of all states are now averaging more new cases each day than they have in weeks.
