Pandemic deaths declined in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said in his daily briefing. But he cautioned, “Happy days are not here again.”
The governor reported 540 deaths in the last 24 hours at his daily press briefing in Albany. “That is still an overwhelming number every day.” Still, the tally is down 110 deaths from a day earlier, and represents the lowest total since April 1.
Of the deaths, 36 came from people confined to nursing homes, which are a major source of at-risk people dying from coronavirus complications. “It is the feeding frenzy for this virus,” Cuomo said.
The statewide toll now stands at 236,732 cases, with 7,090 reported in the last day. In that, 2,000 new hospitalizations were initiated on Friday. “We’re not at a plateau anymore, but we’re not at a good position,” Cuomo said.
The governor also addressed opening the state back up for business, and put a damper on expectations. Several states have started loosening the reins, and protests have erupted in places where restrictions have citizens at a boiling point.
“Everybody wants to reopen,” Cuomo said. “The tension on reopening is: How fast can you reopen and what can you reopen without raising that infection rate?”
Testing is the key to reopening, Cuomo said.
“The trick with testing is not that we don’t know how to do it … it’s bringing this up to scale,” Cuomo said.
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