Governor Andrew Cuomo says New York appears to have passed its peak in coronavirus fatalities as the death toll across the state dropped for a second consecutive day.  

Cuomo on Sunday announced that 507 people died from COVID-19 on Saturday, down 43 from the day before. 

The total number of hospitalizations also continued its steady decline, falling from 16,967 to 16,213 from midnight Saturday to midnight Sunday.  

‘If the data holds, and if this trend holds, we are past the high point,’ Cuomo said at a press briefing at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, Long Island.

‘The recent news is good, that we are on the other side of the plateau and the numbers are coming down. 

‘But that’s good news only compared to the terrible news that we were living with, which is that constant increase.’  

New York has borne the brunt of the nation’s COVID-19 outbreak, with more than 226,000 infections and at least 13,000 deaths to date.  

Cuomo cautioned that while emerging daily figures are promising, the fight is far from over.  

‘It’s no time to get cocky and it’s no time to get arrogant,’ he said. 

‘We have a long way to go and a lot of work to do. This virus has been ahead of us every step of the way. We still have to make sure that we keep that beast under control.’

The governor credited strict social distancing policies for the decline in new deaths, cases and hospitalizations as he urged residents to stay vigilant in their efforts to curb the spread of the virus. 

‘We showed that we can control the beast and when you close down, you can actually slow that infection rate, but this is only halftime,’ he said. 

‘We still have to make sure that we keep that beast under control, we keep that infection rate down, we keep that hospitalization rate down as we all get very eager to get on with life and move on.’ 

Cuomo said officials are preparing to launch a state-wide antibody testing survey to help determine the true scale of the outbreak before they can begin lifting lockdowns, which will remain in place at least through May 15.  

‘Any plan that is going to start to reopen the economy has to be based on data and that means it has to be based on testing,’ Cuomo said. 

‘This is a new world for all of us, testing, how do you get testing up to scale, how do you get it up to scale quickly and how do you find out where we really are right now in terms of this virus.

‘You have all of the scientists and all the experts who are basically trying to extrapolate from the data – but we don’t really know how many people were infected, how many people had coronavirus but self-resolved.’

Cuomo said the Food and Drug Administration has approved the state’s antibody test – which is designed to detect whether a person has developed antibodies to fight COVID-19 and indicates that they may be immune against the virus. 

He said the New York state Department of Health is now preparing to roll out the nation’s most aggressive antibody testing survey within the next week.  

By sampling thousands of people across the state, experts will be able to form a clearer picture of the outbreak that includes individuals who didn’t previously get tested either because there were no kits available or because they didn’t show symptoms.  

‘That will tell us for the first time what percent of the population actually has had the coronavirus and is now at least short-term immune to the virus,’ Cuomo explained. 

‘This will be the first true snapshot of what we are really dealing with.’

The governor went on to say that New York and other states will need significant help from the federal government to carry out such extensive testing efforts and the mammoth task of reopening. 

He said he spoke to CDC Director Robert Redfield about the process on Saturday and is hopeful that financial support is on the way.  

‘I spoke to the head of the CDC yesterday and he was very smart and very informed and we talked about how we can do this together,’ Cuomo said. 

‘Talk about being smart, the federal government is talking about passing another piece of legislation which would help in the reopening and they want to help small businesses and that’s great. 

‘They also have to help state governments and local governments which have not been supported in the previous legislation.’ 

He warned that New York’s school system could see a 50 percent reduction in funding unless the federal government provides more aid.  

‘If you starve state and local government, all that means is we have to turn around and reduce funding to the people who we are funding,’ Cuomo stated.  

‘If we don’t get federal assistance, you’re looking at education cuts of close to 50-percent in the state of New York, where school districts would only get half of the aid they got from the state last year.’

He added that the cuts could extend well beyond schools, affecting the same hospitals battling coronavirus.  

‘You’re talking about cut to hospitals from the state,’ he said. ‘I mean, how ludicrous would it be for the state to now cut funding?’ 

The governor’s warning came hours after New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio slammed President Trump for failing to provide more federal funding to the hard-hit city.  

The Big Apple has already made a stunning $6billion in cuts from its next proposed budget as a report released last week indicated that the city could lose nearly $10billion in tax revenue alone by summer 2021.   

Cuomo noted that a bipartisan group of governors are lobbying the Trump administration for a $500billion aid package to support state governments. 

He said that without that aid, efforts to re-launch state economies could die before they even begin.  

‘Everyone is saying, well, it’s up to the states to come up with a re-opening plan,’ he said. ‘But the governors and the states have to have resources.’

Cuomo’s briefing came just as he and the governors of six other states – New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island and Massachusetts – announced that they have formed a task force to reopen the economy as soon as the coronavirus threat is controlled.  

In a joint press release from all seven governors in the alliance, Cuomo stated: ‘We have been collaborating closely with our neighboring states to combat this pandemic through a uniform approach to social distancing and density reduction and it has been working well. 

‘Now it is time to start opening the valve slowly and carefully while watching the infection rate meter so we don’t trigger a second wave of new infections. 

‘This is not a light switch that we can just flick on and everything goes back to normal – we have to come up with a smart, consistent strategy to restart the systems we shut down and get people back to work, and to the extent possible we want to do that through a regional approach because we are a regional economy. 

‘New York is partnering with these five states to create a multi-state council that will come up with a framework based on science and data to gradually ease the stay at home restrictions and get our economy back up and running.’ 

He explained the importance of the task force in more detail during the briefing. 

‘The weather is getting warmer. The numbers are coming down. Cabin fever is getting worse. I believe that’s going to be a documented disease when this is over. Cabin fever. But we have to stay smart and we have to stay coordinated,’ he said.

‘We have been working with the New Jersey and Connecticut because whatever one state does affects other states, right? You live in Nassau, you live in Suffolk, New York City, you can be in Connecticut in a matter of minutes. It’s very important to plan accordingly.’ 

‘Not that we can be on the same page on everything but at least let’s know what each other is doing, so, for example, on state parks we are coordinating what our policies are because people go from one state to another.’ 

Mayor Bill de Blasio slams President Trump for ‘betraying his fellow New Yorkers’ by failing to push for $7.5billion in bailout aid 

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio blasted Donald Trump on Sunday, saying the president is betraying his fellow New Yorkers by failing to push for billions of dollars in additional federal aid needed to help the Big Apple deal with the coronavirus economic crisis. 

De Blasio referenced an infamous tabloid headline – ‘FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD’ – from 1975 when then-President Gerald Ford denied assistance to spare New York from bankruptcy. 

‘I remember famously in the 1970s, when one of your predecessors, Gerald Ford, didn’t care to help New York City during the fiscal crisis,’ he said.

‘There was that famous Daily News cover that said, “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.”‘ 

‘Mr President, are you going to save New York City or are you telling New York City to drop dead?’ de Blasio asked.  

‘You have to speak up now or the Senate will not act and we will not get the help we need. It’s as simple as that.’ 

The mayor’s comments came as he continues to ask Trump to push for a $7.5billion federal bailout for New York City, which has taken a multi-billion dollar blow to its bottom line due to the coronavirus.  

De Blasio made the case for the $7.5billion last week, which is the amount of tax revenue that the city projects it will lose because of the pandemic.

‘That lost revenue should be replaced dollar for dollar by the federal government. The federal government can do it,’ he said.

‘No New Yorker is responsible for this horrible crisis, but New York has borne the brunt, we have been the epicenter. When you look at the impact here, anybody with a heart would recognize that the federal government has to come to the rescue,’ de Blasio said.

He said that the $2.3trillion CARES Act stimulus package contained just $1.4 billion in ‘indirect aid’ to New York City.

‘I remind you the federal government was very quick to bail out the banks a decade ago, no questions asked, federal government was very quick to bail out the auto industry. How about bailing out the nation’s largest city? How about bailing out the epicenter of this crisis where people have been suffering?’ de Blasio said.

He continued: ‘That is what our federal government should do for every reason morally, practically as any question of fairness, as any question of how we move forward and we’re still waiting.’

The coronavirus death toll in New York dropped again, a sign that Gov Andrew Cuomo said means the state is ‘on the other side of the plateau’ and that ongoing social distancing practices are working to stem the spread of the virus.

Cuomo said 507 people died on Saturday, down 43 from the previous day. Hospitalizations and other medical indicators are also trending downward.

But Cuomo and de Blasio maintained their warnings that people in New York City and the rest of the state need to stay vigilant.