When it rains, it pours. For the third straight day, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo announced that the state had reached a new single-day record of 799 for the number of COVID-19-related deaths. The total number of deaths has gone down only once in the past six-day period, with the daily totals working out to be as such: April 2 (562), April 3 (630), April 4 (594), April 5 (599), April 6 (731), April 7 (779) and now, April 8 (799). Cuomo also noted that the state has had to bring in additional funeral directors to help deal with the surge in COVID-19-related deaths.
The reason behind the recent spike in deaths, noted Cuomo, is that the people who were admitted to hospitals weeks ago, who have been on ventilators since then, are only now beginning to succumb to the virus.
Despite the grim news, Governor Cuomo did continue to report positive numbers in the realm of hospitalizations, which are continuing to trend downward, as well as ICU admissions and daily intubations.
Cuomo also noted that it appeared that New York State was “flattening the curve,” but “so far,” he emphasized, saying that this is not the time for New Yorkers to stop social distancing or staying at home. “Our efforts [to contain the virus] are working; they’re working better than anyone projected that they’d work, because people are complying with them,” said Cuomo.
New York still has the most COVID-19 cases of any state in the union, with more than 150,000 cases confirmed and more than 7,000 total deaths reported.