New York's Coronavirus Deaths, Hospitalizations Decline As State Looks Toward Reopening Some Regions

The number of novel coronavirus deaths and hospitalizations has continued to decline in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said during a press briefing Monday.

Over the weekend, the number of patients who were hospitalized in the state after contracting the virus was below 10,000 for the first time since March 29. As of Sunday, 9,647 patients were hospitalized, Cuomo said. Hospitalizations throughout the state have been steadily declining since the New York Department of Health recorded its highest number of hospitalized COVID-19 patients on April 12, at which time 18,825 people who tested positive were receiving care in hospitals.

"What we've done in this state has literally saved lives. We reduced all the projected hospitalization rates dramatically, by about 100,000 New Yorkers," Cuomo said during the press briefing. "Our hospital system would have collapsed if those projections were true."

Cuomo and the New York Department of Health also announced 226 new COVID-19 deaths and 2,538 new cases on Monday. While the infection rate has fluctuated since its single-day record high of 10,553 new cases on April 24, the state's death rate has begun to decline. In mid-April, the state recorded upward of 700 deaths each day for several consecutive days while simultaneously reporting thousands of new infections. To date, more than 318,000 people in New York had tested positive for COVID-19, with more than 19,000 people succumbing to the virus.

The slow decline in deaths and hospitalizations comes at a time when the state is less than two weeks away from the expiration of "New York State on PAUSE," the governor's executive order that temporarily closed all non-essential businesses on March 22. Though the order is set to expire on May 15, Cuomo said no region in the state was ready to reopen just yet.

"We've done great work at a tremendous cost and tremendous hardship," Cuomo said. "Nobody wants to go through all of this just to start and stop again."

Instead of reopening the state all at once, Cuomo said each region would be assessed individually and must meet four qualifications in order for the state to grant permission to reopen. In addition to showing a steady 14-day decline in new cases, hospitalizations and deaths, a region's hospitals must have the ability to accommodate sudden spikes in patients and have at least 90 days' worth of personal protective equipment stockpiled, Cuomo said. Requirements for testing and contract tracing must also be met at the local level before reopening can be considered, the governor said.

When areas are approved to begin reopening, Cuomo said they will do so using a phased approach. Construction and manufacturing businesses will reopen first, with select retail stores that offer curbside pickup able to resume operations around the same time. Other retail stores will join businesses like administrative support and professional services in the second phase of reopening, and restaurants and food services will follow during the third phase. Businesses and activities involving entertainment, recreation and education will be last to reopen since they often involve settings in which social distancing is more difficult, Cuomo said.

While Americans in New York and across the country have grown increasingly anxious to reopen local economies, Cuomo said the reopening of his state would be "more difficult" than its closing and advised New Yorkers patience and caution.

"'New York tough' means we're tough, but we're smart, we're disciplined, we're unified and we are loving," he said. "It's the love of community and love of each other and respect for each other which has gotten us through this."