Corona statistics – New York shows the way

Monique Ryser / 19. Apr 2020 –

Daily adjusted figures from hospitals, age structure and underlying illnesses: Governor Cuomo provides all available data.

He always wants to hear the facts first, repeats New York Governor Andrew Cuomo at his daily media conferences on the corona virus. Up until now, facts about the CoV-2 pandemic have mainly been numbers. Research is in full swing, but there is still far too little verified about the new coronavirus for solutions to be on the table. So Cuomo, known to be aggressive and demanding, has all available data collected. And presents them daily. Since March 22nd, the state on the east coast has had a regime similar to that in Switzerland. “If I want 19 million New Yorkers to stay at home, I have to say everything I know – only then will I be believed. I can’t have 19 million people arrested, ”he explains. He divides his presentations into “facts” and “opinion”. Cuomo is proud to be in New York State already 500,000 people have been tested are (tested for symptoms and especially in hospitals and on exposed people by emergency services and the health system). But in contrast to the authorities and the media in Europe, he rarely mentions numbers about those who tested positive – “because they don’t say much.” Rather, the most European of the US states relies primarily on the number of hospitalizations, regional differences, and demographic and health data of the deceased. Thus, the course of the epidemic is followed and lessons are learned.

Burden on hospitals

In recent weeks, many journalists have asked the Swiss authorities in vain about the number of hospitalizations and intensive care places occupied. The Federal Office of Public Health decided that these would change daily, if not hourly, which is why they did not make sense.

New York sees it differently and publishes the adjusted number of hospital admissions and departures daily. The admissions are still around 2000 per day. Adjusted, however, these figures show that the number of Covid-19 patients has been falling steadily since April 3. In the last few days, there were even more exits than entries.

The adjusted numbers of hospital admissions and departures.

Cuomo uses these figures to show the population every day that the strict measures are working. It is always clear throughout the state how many hospital spaces are occupied and, with the regional breakdown in a different list, where they are. However, since he does not trust daily numbers, there are always statistics that show the three-day course and thus provide more security.

Another point of reference are the places occupied in the intensive care units:

Here too, daily adjusted net numbers of entries and exits are shown. The authorities in Switzerland and Germany do not provide these statistics.

Since ventilators are essential for the treatment of the seriously ill, there is also a daily overview:

New York also had to buy ventilators and borrow them from other countries. Now they are being made available to the cities and states that need them.

New York State has set up a logistics system that transports ventilators from hospital to hospital if necessary, depending on the needs of the individual hospitals and districts. The Javis emergency hospital built by the military served as a reserve. To date, 800 patients have been admitted there.

The departed

Over 12,000 people died of Covid-2 in New York last month. Governor Cuomo repeats over and over again that he is unwilling to offset dollar bills against life. The task of the state is to save lives and to protect them through appropriate measures. The exact data collection on the deaths gave terrifying results: So he had to communicate that under African Americans have a higher death rate than other population groups. Afro-Americans make up only nine percent of the population in New York State, but are massively overrepresented with a share of 18 percent among the dead. The reverse is true for the white population: they make up 74 percent of the population, but their share of deaths is “only” 60 percent. “This difference is terrible and unacceptable. We have to find out quickly what it is because of the greater poverty of the black population because they live closer together? Because they don’t have health insurance? What is it – our job is to prevent it. And quickly. “

Over 12,000 people have died since the crisis began. The statistics show who is particularly at risk.

The exact data series also show who is excessively at risk of dying from the coronavirus: Men with high blood pressure, diabetes and over the age of 60 have the greatest risk. The statistics (as of April 17, 2020) of the basic illnesses clearly show that previous exposure to high blood pressure (6944 deaths / thereof 6200 over 60 years of age) and diabetes (4571 deaths / 3900 over 60 years of age) are the greatest risk factors. Almost 90 percent of the deceased suffered from a fundamental disease, almost 85 percent were over 60 years of age. Overall, almost 60 percent of the deceased were men.

A third of the deceased lived in Retirement homes or home institutions for adults. These statistics have been available for a few days and Cuomo apologized to the media for not collecting these numbers sooner.

According to Cuomo, the younger deceased are mainly people who work in the health sector and in services who come into intensive contact with the sick.

A new normal

For Cuomo it is clear: Until an effective vaccination is available, there will be no return to normalcy. «There will be a new normal. We will only find an exit by testing for antibodies, for the virus, searching for contact persons, isolating and quarantining those affected, ”he explains again and again. This requires many early tests for the virus and an “army of trackers”, i.e. people who, after a person has been infected, can quickly find and isolate their contact persons. New York is now starting 2000 antibody tests. The goal must be to offer 100,000 such tests per day. First, all of these capacities would have to be created so that if the lockdown was lifted, the contagions would not accelerate again. “After a month of strict rules, one person infects 0.9 people on average. But even at a value of 1.4 (a person infects 1.4 people on average) there is again the risk of an exponential infection rate. The margin is small, we don’t have a lot of leeway, ”says Cuomo.

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