Cuomo: If trend holds, we are past the high point on coronavirus hospitalizations

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) on Sunday said the state’s infection rate has slowed and that if current hospitalization trends persist, the Empire State’s coronavirus outbreak has peaked and begun to descend.

“We’ve been watching this 24 hours a day… the total hospitalization rate is down again in the state of New York, we’re down to 16,000,” Cuomo said during his daily briefing. “It turned out the high point wasn’t a point, but the high point was a plateau, and we got up to the high point and then we just stayed at that level for a while.”

“If the data hold and if this trend holds, we are past the high point and all indications at this point are that we are on the descent,” Cuomo added. “Whether or not the descent continues depends on what we do, but right now are on the descent.”

NEW: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says hospitalization rate drops again, adding that the “high point wasn’t a point,” but was a “plateau.”

“If this trend holds, we are passed the high point and all indications at this point—that we are on the descent.” https://t.co/LxoZeHV6a7 pic.twitter.com/cUNOQqtvqO

— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) April 19, 2020

The governor said the infection rate also appeared to be slowing, saying it has reached the point where every 10 people infect approximately nine people. Cuomo emphasized that while the new data was good news, it was imperative to reopen the economy gradually enough that the progress is not undone.

Cuomo had struck a similar note of cautious optimism in his briefing Saturday, noting the descent of both hospitalizations and intubation rates.

“We’re not at the peak, but [these numbers reflect] where we were around late March,” he said Saturday morning, adding “[t]he probability is about 80 percent that you won’t come off a ventilator after you [are] put on one.”

Cuomo has joined with several other governors in the northeast, including New Jersey’s Phil Murphy (D), Connecticut’s Ned Lamont (D) and Rhode Island’s Gina Raimondo (D), to develop plans for reopening the region’s economy. Governors in the Midwest and on the West Coast have entered similar compacts.