Governor Cuomo Announces New York State Has Completed 6 Million Diagnostic Covid-19 Tests
Hospitalizations Drop to 556—New Low Since March 17
3 COVID-19 Deaths in New York State Yesterday; Lowest Three-day Average for Deaths—4—Since Mid-March
No Deaths Reported in NYC Yesterday
SLA and State Police Task Force Observes Violations of State Requirements at 36 Establishments; Task Force Has Observed More Than 13,000 Establishments in Total
0.9 Percent of Yesterday’s COVID-19 Tests were Positive
Confirms 531 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State – Bringing Statewide Total to 416,298; New Cases in 42 Counties
Governor Cuomo: “We did 58,961 tests yesterday, that brings us to over 6 million diagnostic tests since March, which is really good news. The 531 tested positive, that’s 0.9 percent yesterday, so that’s really good news. 3 New Yorkers passed away yesterday, they’re in our thoughts and prayers. 556 hospitalized, that’s the lowest number we’ve had hospitalized since we began, so that’s great. The ICU numbers are down to 143. The number of intubated down slightly to 71. So, all very good news.”
Cuomo: “The context is important; it’s all very good news. The numbers are just about where we want them to be, but – I always add the but – we have to stay diligentif you look at the facts, you look at the data, you look at history, you look at the other experiences, it all says the same thing: we have to be careful.”
Earlier today, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced that New York State has completed 6 million diagnostic COVID-19 tests. Yesterday, the number of people hospitalized for COVID-19 dropped to 556, the lowest number since March 17, there were three deaths and the three-day rolling average for deaths dropped to four, the lowest number since mid-March. No deaths were reported in New York City yesterday. The governor also updated New Yorkers on the state’s progress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. The number of new cases, percentage of tests that were positive and many other helpful data points are always available at forward.ny.gov.
AUDIO of today’s remarks is available here.
A rush transcript of the Governor’s remarks is available below:
Morning guys, Andrew Cuomo. I have Melissa DeRosa, Robert Mujica, Jim Malatras and Gareth Rhodes on the phone with me. Happy Sunday. Today is day 155. We did 58,961 tests yesterday, that brings us to over 6 million diagnostic tests since March, which is really good news. The 531 tested positive, that’s 0.9 percent yesterday, so that’s really good news. 3 New Yorkers passed away yesterday, they’re in our thoughts and prayers. 556 hospitalized, that’s the lowest number we’ve had hospitalized since we began, so that’s great. The ICU numbers are down to 143. The number of intubated down slightly to 71. So, all very good news. All very good news.
The context is important; it’s all very good news. The numbers are just about where we want them to be, but – I always add the but – we have to stay diligent. What this says is our plan is working, which means stay with the plan. When the plan is working, it doesn’t mean you deviate from the plan or you throw the plan out, right? Silly metaphor: we had to lose weight, we had to get the numbers down. The diet is working. “Well then let’s get off the diet.” No, no, no. The diet is working and we need to get the weight down, we need to get the numbers down. So, it’s working, but you have to stay on it.
We also have threats that we’re worried about: lack of compliance and the situation across the country. Last night the SLA State Police Task Force did 36 violations. They visited about 1,000 establishments. Since we’ve started, the Task Force has visited 13,000 establishments, which is an extraordinary amount of work. On the national threat, the outlook is not good. The New York Times has a story today that says no patch of America is safe. New York is in America last time I checked, and we see increases across the country. We see increases across the world, right? Japan is up 50 percent in July. Australia now has a second wave in Melbourne. Israel is fighting a second wave after they opened schools. Hong Kong, Spain. So, if you look at the facts, you look at the data, you look at history, you look at the other experiences, it all says the same thing: we have to be careful.
We also have a possible hurricane that’s moving up the coast. We’re concerned about it here in New York. We’re getting ready for it, we don’t think we’ll have hurricane force winds, but we could have significant winds and significant downfall. Right now the models project that it will hit the New York City area, Long Island, especially the South Shore of Long Island. We have to watch in the Hudson Valley. They’re talking about a possible 3 inches of rain – 3 inches of rain is a lot of rain in the Mid-Hudson. 50 miles per hour gusts. So, we’ll see where that goes, but we’re preparing. Local governments should be preparing. It’s Monday night, Tuesday primarily it’s supposed to be over by Wednesday morning, but people should start to take note. We’ll have more information tomorrow, but it is a storm that would hit at this point the typical areas for a storm coming up the coast. But again, these models are just that, they’re models and they’re projections so we’re having state assets moved as we speak: generators, pumps, largescale vehicles that can handle high water, and we put out a notice to local governments that they should be getting ready also. Homeowners who are in flood prone areas should also start to get ready.
