New York Hospitalizations for COVID-19 Continue to Drop, Cuomo Says

Jim Malatras, president of SUNY Empire State College (L) listens as New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo takes one final question while leaving his daily coronavirus press briefing at SUNY Upstate Medical University in Syracuse, N.Y., on April 28, 2020. (Stefani Reynolds/Getty Images)

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said there has been a significant decline in CCP virus hospitalizations statewide.

“Eighty-six hundred total hospitalizations; that number is down. That is good news, and that is a fairly significant drop,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing on May 7, noting the net change in hospitalization rates. Intubations were also down across New York.

Testing revealed 6.8 percent of health care workers in Westchester County, 12.2 percent of staff in New York City, and 11.1 percent of workers in Long Island tested positive for CCP virus antibodies, Cuomo said, adding that it’s lower than the general population for those areas.

“It also shows everybody how important the masks, the gloves, and the sanitizer are, and that they work,” he added. “It’s not that the frontline workers get anything especially more sophisticated than the masks that people wear, the N95 masks. They wear a gown, they wear a mask, they wear gloves, but they follow protocol.”

Those protective measures suggest they are also effective for the general public, Cuomo said.

MTA officials work on trains for the disinfecting operations at the Coney Island Stillwell Avenue Terminal in Brooklyn on May 6, 2020. (Frank Franklin II/AP)

During the briefing, Cuomo also announced that he was extending the ban on evictions for those facing COVID-related hardship from residential and commercial buildings for another 60 days, and he also banned late fees for missed payments. He said the state is working with banks on landlord relief.

“There is no doubt a trade-off between the tenant and the landlord,” the governor said. “We are helping the landlords also, but on a human level, I don’t want to see people and their children being evicted at this time through no fault of their own.”

The moratorium on evictions for people facing virus-related hardships will end on Aug. 20, Cuomo wrote on Twitter.

It comes as the federal government reported that another 3.2 million people filed for unemployment claims on May 7, bringing the total to 33 million in about two months.

Cuomo also announced another 231 deaths in the state due to COVID-19 over the past 24 hours.

People wearing protective face masks wait in line to receive free food at a curbside pantry for needy residents in New York City, on April 24, 2020. (Reuters/Mike Segar)

NY Survey

The great majority of people being newly hospitalized with the CCP virus in New York are either retired or unemployed, and had been avoiding the use of public transit, according to a new state survey, in the first such look at people still becoming seriously ill even after six weeks of severe social distancing.

The survey of 1,269 patients admitted to 113 hospitals over three recent days confounded expectations that new cases would be dominated by essential workers, especially those traveling on public transportation.

Retirees accounted for 37 percent of hospitalizations during the survey period. Another 46 percent were unemployed. Almost three-quarters were 51 years or older.

Only 4 percent used public transportation in their daily life, according to the survey.

“It reinforces what we’ve been saying, which is much of this comes down to what you do to protect yourself,” Cuomo said May 6. “Everything is closed down, the government has done everything it could ... now it’s up to you. Are you wearing a mask, are you doing the hand sanitizer?”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.