N.Y. Deaths Top 20,000 With Recovery Proving Stubbornly Slow

(Bloomberg) -- New York deaths from the new coronavirus topped 20,000 as the toll continues to climb by more than 200 a day.

A month ago, the state was reporting more than 700 fatalities a day. On Wednesday, 231 people died, marking a week of that number hovering between 200 and 300. New hospitalizations are flat, while intubations are down. The decline of the spread is not as steep as the incline, Governor Andrew Cuomo said.

New Jersey, which trails only New York in terms of the states hardest-hit by Covid-19, is seeing a similarly stubborn recovery. The state reported 254 additional deaths, for a total of 8,801. Hospitalizations have dropped 40% from their peak, Governor Phil Murphy said, but “we still have far too many of our fellow New Jerseyans in the hospital.”

“The great news is 460 people got out of the hospital,” Murphy said of the latest discharges over 24 hours. But 325 patients were admitted, evidence that it’s crucial to continue social distancing. “We cannot lull ourselves into thinking all is well,” he said.

Without Warning

New York received no warning the virus that experts were watching spread in China had already traveled to Europe, Governor Andrew Cuomo said Thursday at a press briefing. Two million people came to the U.S. via New York from Europe in February and March, and “nobody was stopping European travel,” he said. “That’s why the number of cases in New York are so high.”

“It had nothing to do with New York,” Cuomo said. “Any place of density is where the virus takes off.”

New York reported an additional 3,491 cases on May 6, for a total of 327,469. New Jersey added 1,827 positive results, for a total of 133,635.

New Yale University research indicates that a large number of infections across the U.S. originated in New York City, according to a report by the New York Times. Outbreaks in Louisiana, Texas, Arizona and even some on the West Coast have been traced back to Gotham, where cases began swelling in March, researchers said.

Cuomo on March 2, while discussing the state’s first case of Covid-19, said he wasn’t surprised to see it come to New York City, which he described as “a gateway to the world.” He closed school districts statewide on March 18 and shuttered all non-essential businesses on March 22.

The governor pointed to good news from state antibody testing, which showed that health-care workers got infected at lower rates than the general population. The state tested more than 27,000 employees at 25 downstate health facilities; 12.2% in New York City tested positive, compared to 19.9% in the general population.

The results show not only “how important the masks and gloves and sanitizer are,” Cuomo said, but “that they work.”

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