The death toll in New York, the state hardest hit by COVID-19, was “effectively flat” for the second day in a row, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his daily news conference on Monday, but the U.S. as a whole saw the death toll from the pandemic climb to over 10,000.
The death toll in New York, the state hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic, was “effectively flat” for the second day in a row, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in his daily news conference on Monday.
The overall death toll climbed by 599 to 4,758, while Cuomo expressed cautious optimism in the daily increase of new hospitalizations (358) and new admissions into intensive care (128).
Cuomo said there were some signs that the spread of the virus in New York has slowed, but cautioned: “It could still go any way.”
The current strain on the state’s blend of public and private hospitals in New York City, he said, was “unsustainable at this rate.”
Not long after Cuomo spoke, the United States as a whole had reached a death toll of over 10,000, according to the coronavirus resource centre at Johns Hopkins University in Maryland. The U.S. has seen 10,335 die from COVID-19 causes, according to the tally, with national confirmed cases at over 347,000.
It represents unwelcome exponential growth in mortality, with the U.S. having climbed over 1,000 deaths on March 26, 11 days ago.
‘Peak death week,’ admiral predicts
The Trump administration itself is girding for a tough week in the coronavirus battle, with hopes that the physical distancing measures and stay-at-home orders seen around the country will help the number of cases and fatalities level off next week.
“It’s going to be the peak hospitalization, peak ICU week and, unfortunately, peak death week,” Adm. Brett Giroir, a physician and member of the White House coronavirus task force, told ABC’s Good Morning America on Monday.
Giroir raised particular alarm for the states of New York, New Jersey, Connecticut and the city of Detroit.
A report from the Office of the Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) released Monday indicates three of four U.S. hospitals s