New York Governor, Andrew Cuomo (D) speaking at a press Conference at the State Capitol.
Michael Brochstein | Barcroft Media | Getty Images
The death toll from the coronavirus in New York state has topped 10,000, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday, calling that tally a “horrific level of pain and grief and sorrow.”
There were 671 new deaths recorded in the state on Easter Sunday, bringing the total fatalities across the state to 10,056, Cuomo said.
“For me, I’m Catholic, Easter Sundays is the high holy day in many ways … and to have this happen over this weekend is really really especially tragic and they’re all in our thoughts and prayers.”
However, Cuomo noted that the daily number of new deaths has dropped a bit from some recent days, when new fatalities had topped 750 people each day.
He also revealed that the net number of hospitalizations overall remained relatively flat, and there has been a decrease in the number of patients on ventilators.
“We’re controlling the spread,” Cuomo said.
“The curve continues to flatten,” Cuomo said, referring to the rate of spread of Covid-19 in the Empire State.
Still, there continue to be “about 2,000 people per day are walking in [to hospitals] or being diagnosed with covid, so you’re still increasing the hospital population,” the governor said.
Those increases are being largely offset by hospital discharges, he added.
“The net is what we talk about because we’ve always been worried about lack of capacity in the hospital system,” he said.
But Cuomo said that the death toll is “terrible news is, as terrible as it gets, and the worst news I’ve had to deliver to the people of this state as governor of New York, and the worst news I’ve had to live with on a personal level.”
He compared the total number of fatalities so far from the virus to the 2,753 deaths recorded from the 9/11 terror attacks in New York City.
New York state is the epicenter of the Covid-19 outbreak in the United States.
This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.