NYC Sees Virus Deaths Leveling Off, Governor Cautiously Optimistic

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Amid weeks of bad news and shocking coronavirus statistics, the city of New York finally received some hopeful news on Sunday. The daily death toll of the coronavirus appeared to be leveling off, at about 600 per day, after weeks of continual rise. Health officials were cautiously optimistic that the city was at, or nearing the apex of the crisis, and numbers would begin to fall in the next week.

Another measure, the increase in patients hospitalized, also appeared to slow, even though the absolute numbers of hospitalizations from the coronavirus continued to rise.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, while acknowleding that the numbers were good news, urged New Yorkers to continue to adhere to strict stay-at-home and social distancing rules. Although the crisis was coming to a peak he said, the healthcare system was strained to near collapse.

In recent days, some 25 thousand doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers from outside the region streamed into New York to bolster exhausted local workers, and help get the city and state through the worst of the coronavirus pandemic.

As of Monday, New York led all states in the number of coronavirus cases at 130 thousand, with 72 thousand of those in New York City. Hospitalizations stood at almost 17 thousand, but that number was growing by only the single digits after rising by 20 to 30 percent a day for weeks.