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Cuomo called the drop in hospitalizations “dramatic” over the past three days, and the number of ICU patients was down for the first time, he reported at a news briefing on Friday, April 10 in Albany. (See first three images above.)
There were 777 deaths reported overnight, bringing the total to 7,844 New Yorkers since the COVID-19 outbreak began, Cuomo announced. (See fourth image above.)
There have now been more than 160,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in New York.
“I believed that 9/11 would be the worst situation I was going to deal with in my lifetime,” he said. “But to put it in perspective, we lost 2,753 people that day, and we’re already at 7,844 from this virus. So in terms of lives lost, that this situation would exceed 9/11 is just beyond my capacity.”
Despite the positive trend, Cuomo said that it is important that New York doesn't reopen too soon, and that mass COVID testing will be the key to gradually getting people back to work and restarting the economy.
“There’s not a light switch to turn the economy back on. It’s not going to be a case of everyone goes back to work next Thursday,” Cuomo said. “It’s going to be gradual and reliant on testing. New York State has been aggressive on testing, and I’m proud of how New York has advanced on testing, but we need millions of tests to get people back to work.”
Cuomo said that it’s important that New York continues to study the COVID-19 outbreak to help prevent a potential second or third wave of the virus, similar to the 1918 Spanish Flu.
“None of us have been here before, these are totally uncharted waters,” Cuomo said. “None of this is predetermined, and it’s all a function of our actions what happens going forward. We are in total control of our destiny, and what we do here will literals affect the life and death for hundreds of people.”
Cuomo made note that New York has managed to “flatten the curve” by practicing social distancing and staying at home, and the state is currently far exceeding any of the projection models that had been presented.
The state produced a video with photos from New Yorkers showing how they have been spending time at home during the pandemic. You can watch it here.
“None of these projections were comforting, but the actual curve is much lower than what the experts predicted,” he said. “The big variable was, ‘what policies do you put in place,’ and ‘does anyone actually listen to those policies?’
“The statisticians, when they did their curve, they did not know how New Yorkers would respond or if they would comply.
"They didn’t know how unified New Yorkers can be and how responsible and caring they are, and how they rally for one another. That’s what they couldn’t count in those models. They couldn’t count the love and spirit of New Yorkers to step up and do the right thing. That’s what they couldn’t figure out on their computers.”
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