The State of New York crossed the milestone of 10,000 deaths from COVID-19 on Monday, said Governor Andrew Cuomo, who nevertheless estimated that “the worst” of the crisis had “passed”.
“The worst is over, if we continue to be smart” and to follow the containment measures, he nevertheless qualified. “If we do something stupid, you will see those numbers go up again tomorrow.”
By far the worst-affected region in the United States, New York State has recorded 10,056 deaths from the coronavirus since the start of the pandemic.
New York State, and New York City alone have recorded more coronavirus-related deaths than most countries in the world, except Italy, Spain, France, United Kingdom United and United States.
However, the net number of hospitalizations (difference between admissions and discharges) is clearly slowing down.
It was 118 over the last 24 hours compared to more than 1,000 on April 3 and the previous days.
If it is still considerable, with 671 deaths, the toll of the last 24 hours is the lowest for a week (April 5).
“We are controlling the spread” of the virus, said the governor.
Asked about the risk that the announcement of control of the pandemic in the New York region will lead to a relaxation in compliance with containment, Andrew Cuomo has taken refuge behind the figures.
“I’m not going to lie to people,” he explained. “The facts are the facts. The numbers are the numbers. I need people to think that what we are doing is credible ”.
Andrew Cuomo met with the governors of several states in the region on Monday to discuss a gradual lifting of the lockdown.
Following this meeting with his counterparts in New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania and Delaware, he announced the formation of a coordination group that will include three representatives from each state.
“We can now take the path back to normal,” said Andrew Cuomo, “and have a plan that involves restarting certain activities, with a delicate balance in hand.”
Asked about a timetable, the governor of New York State declined to give a date, but said the start of the phase-out of the lockdown was a matter of “weeks.”
On Monday, US President Donald Trump said restarting all or part of non-essential activities was his decision, not the governors’.
Asked about these statements, Andrew Cuomo delivered, in hollow, a criticism of the management of the crisis by the Trump administration and the lack of coordination at the national level.
“Do you want to change the business model? You can do it as president, but what is the model? ”Declared the Democrat, stressing that Donald Trump had so far largely left the States free of their decisions to face the pandemic.
“And let’s learn from the past,” he added, “because so far navigation has not been mastered, let’s be honest.”
The governor said he was “open” to the federal government taking control of crisis management, “but explain to me what I’m doing and what they’re doing. (…) I just want clarity. “
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