Governor Cuomo said as the city approaches the height of the curve in the number of cases, he's extending the order for non-essential workers to work from home until April 15th.
In his press conference Sunday afternoon, Cuomo said he's giving Mayor de Blasio and Comptroller Scott Stringer 14 days to come up with a plan to improve the public hospital system and that local hospitals need to work together to break down an "artificial wall" that separates public and private hospitals.
He said he expects New York City to soon face the height of the APEX curve, followed by Westchester and Long Island and that the state’s role is to ensure health systems need to anticipate this.
To date, 76,019 healthcare workers have volunteered in hospitals to assist during the coronavirus pandemic, Cuomo said.
Cuomo said hospitalizations are doubling every six days. 8,503 people remain hospitalized, with 2,037 in the ICU.
The governor confirmed 7,195 new coronavirus cases statewide, bringing the total to 59,513 cases. As of 12 p.m. Sunday, there were 33,768 confirmed coronavirus cases in New York City.
The number of deaths has climbed to 965 statewide, up from 728 as of Saturday.
Dr. Howard Zucker said New York state deaths could approach a number into the thousands.
Following the news on Saturday from Police Commissioner Dermot Shea announcing that three NYPD employees had died in a little more than 48 hours from the virus, Cuomo offered his condolences and shared Franklin Roosevelt’s iconic message, that “courage is not the absence of fear.”
With plans to open the Javits Center on Monday, Cuomo said the makeshift hospital will be utilized when necessary but that there were no immediate plans to transfer patients there. The USNS Comfort, which is to be used as a backfill hospital is also expected to arrive Monday.
On the travel advisory issued by the CDC, Cuomo said this just reinforces what New York State is already doing. “People should stay home,” he said.
Governor Cuomo threatened legal action against Rhode Island after learning the National Guard was telling any arriving New Yorkers they must quarantine for two weeks. Rhode Island has since repealed that executive order.
Cuomo blamed Senator Schumer and New York’s congressional delegation for writing the first coronavirus response bill in a way that leaves $6 billion earmarked for New York State on the table. Cuomo said he’s trying to make changes to the Medicaid funding formula in this year’s state budget, but a state is rendered ineligible for that aid if such changes go through.