'Cautiously optimistic.' Gov. Cuomo says 'we are slowing the infection rate' in New York

He says the three-day average of hospitalization saw a “dramatic decline.”

News 12 Staff

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Apr 10, 2020, 3:03 PM

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Updated 1,686 days ago

'Cautiously optimistic.' Gov. Cuomo says 'we are slowing the infection rate' in New York

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo said that he was “cautiously optimistic” that the COVID-19 infection rate in New York is slowing.

For the first time, the governor says daily ICU admissions were a net negative on Thursday for the first time – meaning there were fewer ICU patients statewide than on the previous day. He says the three-day average of hospitalization saw a “dramatic decline.”

“That’s obviously very good news,” said Gov. Cuomo.

Then, the governor delivered the bad news – 777 New York residents died from the virus on Thursday, raising the state’s death toll to 7,844.

"These people came in during the height hospitalization period, and we are losing them," said the governor.

MORE: LIVE BLOG - Coronavirus updates from the tri-state area and beyond
TRACKER: New York, New Jersey, Connecticut coronavirus cases and deaths

Gov. Cuomo said that the actual curve is “much lower” than the projections due to compliance with policies, such as social distancing, which he urged must continue to reduce the possibility of a second wave of infections.

He reiterated that to open New York and the country back up, there must be massive rapid testing and a “significant partnership” with the federal government to make it happen. He says the Defense Production Act could help acquire the tools needed to produce testing to scale.

Notes on the governor’s news conference are below:

Gov. Cuomo: "We are cautiously optimistic that we are slowing the infection rate. That's what the numbers say."
"The three day average on the hospitalizations - you see a dramatic decline in those numbers and that's obviously very good news."
ICU patients are down as well.
777 New York residents died on Thursday due to COVID-19.
"These people came in during the height hospitalization period and we are losing them." 7,844 New Yorkers have died since the outbreak began.
Gov. Cuomo says infections in suburban areas around New York City are stabilizing, though there are hot spots in Suffolk County.
Gov. Cuomo says the actual curve is much lower than the projections. He says that compliance with policies have helped flattened the curve. "But we have to keep doing it."
Gov. Cuomo says Airbnb is contributing $2 million to help provide rooms in 1199 SEIU union hotels at no cost to front-line workers.
Gov. Cuomo: "We think the federal government should set up a COVID-19 Heroes Compensation Fund" to support health care and other front-line workers who contracted COVID-19 and their families."
"The key to reopening [the economy] is going to be testing." He says it's not as easy as it sounds. Gov. Cuomo says the federal government should use the Defense Production Act to ramp up production of tests.
"Before we take a step forward, let's make sure we know what we are stepping in to."
Important questions: How did this happen? Where were the international experts? Is there going to be a second wave? The United States has 474,194 cases, China had 84,138. "Let's make sure we are not repeating the same mistakes we made."
"What we do will literally effect life and death for hundreds of people."

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