The death toll from coronavirus in New York climbed to 9,385, Gov. Cuomo said at a news conference Sunday.

Another 758 people died in the state in 24 hours.

"It has been flattening, but flattening at a terribly high level," the governor said of daily deaths in the state. 

But he noted that hospitalization rates continue to move in a positive direction.

The governor said he is signing an executive order that directs employers to provide cloth face coverings at no cost to workers who have to interact with the public. He noted that New Jersey rolled out a similar order.

Cuomo is also signing an executive order to expand who can conduct antibody testing to determine who has already had the virus. 

 

BRIEFING NOTES:

-Cuomo said hospitalization rates continue to trend in a positive direction. He says the total hospitalizations, while still high, appear to have hit an apex and are now at a plateau.

-The governor said there was a tick-up in intubations, which is "not great news."

-The "terrible news" this Sunday is that an additional 758 lives were lost in New York since yesterday, Cuomo says. "Every one is a face, and a name, and a family which is suffering on this weekend."

-The New York death toll is at 9,385, Cuomo says.

-Daily death totals have been flattening, "but flattening at a terribly high rate."  Deaths in the state each day have been in the 700s for the past several days.

-Cuomo acknowledges that everyone wants this "nightmare" to be over and for everything to reopen. "We want to reopen as soon as possible. The caveat is we need to be smart in the way we reopen," with a safe, regional, methodical approach.

-"We need a public health strategy that is safe, that is consistent with an economic strategy," Cuomo says. "The last thing we want to see is an uptick in those numbers that we worked so hard to bring down."

-Gov. Cuomo says we need "more testing, faster testing" than we now have, along with federal help.

-He says states with the worst outbreaks need a "fair federal stimulus bill." "You did an injustice to a places that actually have a need," he says of previous aid passed by Congress. "Not everything has to be an opportunity for pork barrel."

-He called on Congress to "write the wrong" it did by repealing the SALT tax cap on property tax deductions. 

-Cuomo is signing an executive order that directs employers to provide cloth face coverings at no cost to workers who have to interact with the public. He noted that New Jersey rolled out a similar order.

-Cuomo is also signing an executive order to expand who can conduct antibody testing to determine who has already had the virus. 

-"We will come back to life, and we will have a rebirth," he said, wishing New Yorkers who celebrate a happy Easter.

-On the question of reopening schools, Gov. Cuomo underscored that it would be done with a regional approach. "All the schools are closed... We're not going to open any school until it is safe from a public health point of view. It has to work in a coordinated plan with businesses." He added that he's not prepared to say what will be happening in June.

EARLIER SUNDAY: Gov. Andrew Cuomo gave a brief update Sunday morning on the COVID-19 outbreak from upstate New York. 

 

 

BRIEFING NOTES:

-The governor wished New Yorkers a happy Easter holiday.

-He said again last night that hundreds of lives were lost from COVID-19 in New York.

-He said the situation has been disorienting. But he said it is also bringing out the best in people.

-"Sometimes just when you need it, people can really show you how great they can be," Cuomo said.

-The governor thanked an upstate nursing home for donating its ventilators to downstate hospitals in their our of need, saying it was uplifting and inspiring and just what New York needs.