N.Y. ‘Ahead of the Virus,’ Cuomo Says; N.J. Inches Toward Reopen

(Bloomberg) -- New York is “finally ahead of the virus,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said, with less-hit regions of the state preparing to reopen as soon as next week. In neighboring New Jersey, Governor Phil Murphy appointed advisers to guide a restart, but held off on naming a date to end the seven-week lockdown.

Total hospitalizations in New York are down to 8,196, from more than 18,000 at the peak. The state’s daily death toll is at about 200, down from a high of nearly 800. New York “would have hoped to see a steady, sharp decline” in new hospitalizations, which are still around 600 a day, Cuomo said Friday at a press briefing in Poughkeepsie.

“We haven’t killed the beast, but we’re ahead of it,” he said. “We are ahead of it, and we are in control of our own destiny.”

New Jersey, the second hardest-hit state after New York, also is seeing improvements. Ventilator use, and the number of patients in critical or intensive care, continue to decline. Hospitalizations have declined by 1,000 in the past week.

In both states, cases and deaths continue to increase, though at about 1% a day, a smaller rate than last month. Latest numbers show increases of 3% or more in several other states, including California,Texas and Maryland.

European Travelers

New York became the epicenter of the outbreak as 3 million travelers from Europe came to U.S. through airports in the region from December to March, the governor said. While a China travel ban came in early February, one from Europe didn’t come until mid-March, and John F. Kennedy Airport in Queens was still open in April, he said.

“The virus wasn’t going to stay in China and wait for us,” Cuomo said about the spread to the U.S. from Europe.

New York is now seeing virus data improve as other U.S. states are watching theirs worsen. It reported 2,938 additional cases May 7, for a total of 330,407. At the height of the outbreak, New York was reporting more than 10,000 additional cases a day.

The entire state remains “on pause” through May 15, and then data will guide phased-in reopenings, Cuomo said. Upstate is in a much better position than downstate, the governor said, and he doesn’t anticipate that changing over the next week.

Murphy also has said data will dictate the state’s reopening, though he has given no date and has faced growing grumbles over the lockdown. New Jersey reported an additional 1,985 cases on Friday, for a total of 135,454; and 162 deaths, for a total of 8,952.

“There are still families and communities that are coping with the absolute worst news,” Murphy said at a press briefing in Trenton. Among them was a 4-year-old -- New Jersey’s first fatality under 18 -- who had had a health condition.

One new cause of concern, Cuomo said, are 73 cases of severe illness in children in New York, challenging previously held assumptions that they were largely immune. A 5-year-old died in New York City from Covid-related complications, and the state is investigating other deaths, Cuomo said.

“This would be really painful news and would open up an entirely different chapter,” he said.

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