New York State set a one-day record of 731 deaths from COVID-19 on Monday even as a drop in new hospitalizations suggested that the rate of infections could be slowing down, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday.
New York remains the state hardest hit, with 5,489 deaths, Cuomo said. New Jersey follows with 1,232 deaths; Michigan with 727; Louisiana, 512; and California, 395, according to officials and data reporting. Nationwide, nearly 12,000 people have died.
At the same time, New York's overwhelmed hospital emergency rooms have started to see a drop in new coronavirus patients, with the three-day average falling from a peak of 1,294 late last week to 529, according to Cuomo's office. Admissions to intensive care units decreased more dramatically, from a three-day average of 395 last week to 89 on Monday, Cuomo said.
Cuomo, who has vowed stricter enforcement of stay-at-home orders to keep restless New Yorkers from venturing outdoors to enjoy the warmer spring weather, said the slowdown in hospitalizations showed social distancing was working.
"I know it's hard, but we have to keep doing it," Cuomo said, warning that any letup risks a new spike in casualties.
"This is not an act of God that we're looking at; it's an act of what society actually does," Cuomo said.
More than 17,000 coronavirus patients were being treated Tuesday in New York's hospitals. Cuomo said he spoke twice with President Donald Trump on Monday about having the Navy hospital ship Comfort treat COVID-19 patients, rather than just people suffering from other ailments. Trump agreed to do that, he said.
"The president, to his credit, moved expeditiously," Cuomo said.
Cuomo also said he'd begun talks with the governors of New Jersey and Connecticut about starting to plan a gradual regional return to normal business, so that the entire region coordinates the reopening of schools and businesses once it's deemed safe.
"We're not there yet, but this is not a light switch that we can just flick one day and everything goes back to normal," he said.
As that planning begins, though, many New Yorkers are grieving.
"We talk about numbers, but that 731 people who we lost, behind every one of those numbers is an individual, is a family, is a mother, is a father, is a sister, is a brother, so a lot of pain again today for many New Yorkers," he said.
New Jersey also hit a record of deaths in one day, losing 232 people on Monday, Gov. Phil Murphy announced.
"It's almost unfathomable, folks, when you look at that _ 1,232 lost lives," Murphy said.
Murphy ordered all state and county parks closed on Tuesday, saying far too many people were gathering in ways showing that they think "social distancing doesn't matter."
"Nothing could be further from the truth," Murphy said.
