New York Virus Daily Death Toll Rises to 783: Governor Cuomo
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New York’s fatalities remained at high plateau, with another 783 deaths reported Saturday, although hospitalizations and admissions to intensive care continued to slow, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.
New York’s number of fatalities – now a total of 8,627 — pushed the U.S. above Italy for the highest number deaths from Covid-19 globally.
“The number is somewhat stabilizing but it is stabilizing at a horrific rate,” Cuomo told reporters in Albany. “These are just incredible numbers depicting incredible loss and pain.”
New York hit the highest daily number of deaths on April 9 at 799. Saturday marks the fifth day of deaths exceeding 700.
Still he called now the “end of the beginning phase” of the disease’s spread, and he devoted much of his daily briefing to how the state would slowly and carefully begin to think about re-opening. But he cautioned against moving too quickly, in a way that could set off a new wave of infection.
“You can’t choose between lives lost and dollars gained,” he said. “No one is going to make that quid pro quo.”
Earlier Saturday, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that New York City’s schools would be closed through the end of the academic year.
The decision was difficult and “painful,” de Blasio said. He said the schools would make sure as many eligible seniors as possible will graduate and remote learning will be expanded. All students should have internet-enabled digital devices by the end of April.
“It’s the right thing to do,” he said. “It clearly will help us save lives.”
As of April 10, the city had 94,409 cases and 5,429 deaths, the most in the nation.
Cuomo said that no decision had been made about extending school closings around the state. He said he wanted to coordinate with counties outside of New York City and possibly with New Jersey and Connecticut.
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