Cuomo: New York deaths stabilizing at ‘horrific rate’

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Saturday that the death toll from the coronavirus outbreak in his state is stabilizing, but at a “horrific rate,” while the hospitalization rate is down.

Another 783 people have died from the virus in the past day, Cuomo said during a press briefing, noting that deaths have ranged between 777 and 799 each of the previous three days.

“That is not an all-time high, and you can see that the number is somewhat stabilizing, but it is stabilizing at a horrific rate,” Cuomo said. “These are just incredible numbers depicting incredible loss and pain.”

New York, the epicenter of the outbreak in the U.S., has grappled with over 174,000 cases of the virus – representing more than a third of all confirmed cases in the country. New York City alone has had over 94,000 confirmed cases and nearly 6,000 deaths.

Cuomo said Saturday that despite the high death toll, hospitalizations and the number of people admitted to intensive car has dropped. He noted that he does not have a timeline for when the pandemic in the state will end.

“Everybody wants to hear that it ends in two weeks or three weeks or four weeks or here’s a date that I can tell you that it’s over,” Cuomo said. “I also said from day one and when I raised my hand to take the oath originally, I would never tell you anything but the truth even if the truth is inconvenient or painful.”

Cuomo maintained he will not lift social distancing orders that he has issued, noting that projections of the death toll in the state increase without such measures.

To further combat the illness, Cuomo said the Empire State will make testing more available and called on Congress to send additional funds to states in a federal stimulus bill.

“That legislation, in my opinion, has to be better than the past legislation. It has to be less political, less pork barrel and more targeted to the actual purpose. You want to help the places that were impacted.” 

Some governors have criticized the most recent relief package passed by Congress, saying it did not adequately appropriate funds for states with the biggest outbreak. 

An analysis from Kaiser Health found that states like Minnesota, Nebraska and Montana are getting more than $300,000 per reported COVID-19 case, while New York, the hardest-hit state, is receiving roughly $12,000 per case. Florida, which is also grappling with a serious outbreak, is getting $132,000 per case.