Gov. Cuomo winds up briefing series saying ‘COVID isn’t over’

Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo issued a warning during his COVID-19 briefing from Albany today, the last in his daily series of public briefings.

“COVID isn’t over. We still have much more to do. We have to monitor the local infection rate. Local governments must ensure compliance and do tracing. We have to watch out for a second wave. We have to watch out for possible infections coming now from other states, and many people need help to get their lives back to normal,” Cuomo said.

“But with all of that, it’s clear that over the past three months, we have done the impossible. In the beginning, this virus hit us hard because it actually came from Europe after we were told that it was coming from China. When this started, we had more cases per capita than any state in the country or any nation on the globe.”

Cuomo described what New York did to control the spread of COVID-19 as “a full 180, from worst to first. We are controlling the virus better than any state in the country and any nation on the globe. Even more, by reducing the infection rate, we saved over 100,000 people from being hospitalized and possibly dying.”

Cuomo said that as of yesterday there were 1,284 people in New York hospitals with COVID-19, the lowest number the state has seen since the virus flared up.

“We conducted 79,000 tests yesterday, which is a record high for us. And we have the lowest weekly infection rate, less than 1%. And we have the lowest weekly average of lives lost, 25 souls each day, and we’ll remember them in our thoughts and prayers,” Cuomo said. “All regions of the state have lower infection rates, and the state experts have gone over all the data and they will allow New York City to begin phase two on Monday.”

The Hudson Valley region, which includes Westchester, is due to enter the third phase of reopening on Tuesday.

“Today, we are seeing the virus spreading in many places. More people will die, and it doesn’t have to be that way,” Cuomo said. “Forget the politics. Be smart, open the economy intelligently and save lives at the same time. That’s what we showed works in New York.”

Cuomo said that he will provide future briefings if the situation warrants.

According to statistics obtained from the state Department of Health this afternoon, there have been a total of 24,686 COVID-19 deaths in New York.

Deaths in Westchester now total 1,542, with 1,410 Westchester residents falling victim to the virus. The number of Rockland residents who died has not increased from Tuesday”™s 506. The number of Putnam residents killed by the virus remains at 62. A total of 397 Orange County residents have died from the virus. There were 158 deaths recorded in Dutchess County.

New York has had 386,556 people test positive for the virus. There now have been a cumulative total of 34,455 cases identified in Westchester, 13,486 in Rockland, 1,299 in Putnam, 10,620 in Orange and 4,110 in Dutchess.