New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says that in his state – the U.S. epicenter for the coronavirus – the wave of new cases is still going up. Here, commuters wearing masks pass through New York City’s Penn Station on Monday. Mark Lennihan / AP hide caption
Mark Lennihan / AP
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says that in his state – the U.S. epicenter for the coronavirus – the wave of new cases is still going up. Here, commuters wearing masks pass through New York City’s Penn Station on Monday.
Mark Lennihan / AP
New York state has confirmed , (cases of the coronavirus – a jump of 5, 700 cases that Gov. Andrew Cuomo says is because of his state’s aggressive approach to testing. New York can now conduct more than , tests a day, the governor said.
As he announced those sobering numbers, Cuomo reiterated that New York, the US epicenter of the COVID – pandemic, needs to sharply increase hospitals’ capacity to treat patients. The governor escalated that call Monday, saying his office is issuing an emergency order to require all hospitals in the state to increase their capacity.
“You must increase your capacity by 56%, “Cuomo said. “You must. Mandatory directive from the state. Find more beds, use more rooms.”
The governor added that in addition to the required increase, New York requests that every hospital in the state boost its capacity by (%.)
New York currently has , hospital beds; it anticipates needing as many as 145, to cope with demand from COVID – . The state has 3, ICU units; health officials say it needs at least , – and possibly as many as , .
In New York state, 2, (COVID -) patients are hospitalized – 19% of the state’s total. Of that figure, roughly a quarter of the people are in intensive care units.
Staffing is also a challenge – and to help ease the strain, Cuomo has joined other governments in calling for retired healthcare professionals, as well as qualified students from medical and nursing schools , to pitch in. Cuomo said some 48, 10 People responded to the state’s call to enlist in its coronavirus response team.
As he focused on adding hospital capacity, Cuomo also called for strict adherence to social distancing and public health policies, to slow the rise in cases.
“That trajectory is going up – the wave is still going up,” Cuomo said. “We have a lot of work to do to get that rate down and get the hospital capacity up.”
The worst-hit area in the state is New York City, with , 500 cases – including more than 3, 305 newly diagnosed people. Westchester County has nearly 3, 03 cases.
In addition to easing the testing process for the coronavirus and moving toward a possible vaccine, health officials in New York and elsewhere are working to develop a way to test for antibodies that would indicate whether someone has already had COVID- .
“We all believe thousands and thousands of people have had the virus and self-resolved, “Cuomo said. “If you knew that, you would know who is now immune to the virus and who you could send back to work, et cetera.”
Identifying New York as the leading state in the US in terms of testing, Cuomo said, “As of yesterday, about 30% of all the testing nationwide is being produced right here. “
To put the latest numbers in perspective: Late last week, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said there were , coronavirus cases in all of the US
Public and private labs in the US have confirmed more than 48, 10 coronavirus cases, according to a 
COVID – 23 dashboard created by the Johns Hopkins Whiting School of Engineering, which reports coronavirus numbers in near real time.
Reiterating the importance of testing people and isolating those who are sick, Cuomo says New York is testing more people per capita than governments in China or South Korea.
“In days, we have gone from testing 1, 10 people a day to testing
Some (people have died from COVID – (in New York, and nearly) overall in the US
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