New York continues to record highest number of daily deaths from COVID19

New York State, the epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic in the US, has recorded a staggering 630 deaths due to COVID19 in a 24-hour period, the highest number of fatalities in a single day as the total number of deaths the state crossed over 3,500.

Governor Andrew Cuomo, in his daily COVID19 briefing on Saturday, said deaths in the state saw an “all time increase” to 3,565 as on April 4 from 2,935 on April 3. The daily death toll in New York continues to grow at record numbers daily as the state remains the most impacted in the US from coronavirus.

Coronavirus cases in New York State now stand at 113,704, out of the country’s total of 2,87,216. New Jersey, the second most impacted state in the US, has about 30,000 COVID19 cases. New York City alone has 63,306 coronavirus patients and 2,624 deaths.

Cuomo said the apex in the state, the point where the number of infections on a daily basis hits at the high point, is still about 4-8 days away.

“We have been talking about hitting that apex, the high point of the curve. I call it the battle of the mountaintop. That’s going to be the number one point of engagement of the enemy,” he said, adding that New York is not yet at the apex but is getting closer and based on the projections, it could be in the 4-8 day range.

"We are not yet at the apex. Part of me would like to be at the apex and just let's do it. But there's part of me that says it's good that we're not at the apex because we're not yet ready for the apex either, still working on the capacity of the (healthcare) system,” the governor said.

The Governor has expressed anger over the short supply of essential medical equipment for healthcare professionals to help them deal with the surge in coronavirus cases across the state and the country.

He said personal protective equipment (PPE) such as masks, gowns and face shields are in short supply in New York as they are across the country and there is need for companies to make these materials.

“It is unbelievable to me that in New York State, in the United States of America, we can't make these materials and that we are all shopping China to try to get these materials and we're all competing against each other,” he had said earlier.

Cuomo said Saturday that the state has 85,000 volunteers, including 22,000 from out of state and he will also be signing an executive order to allow medical students who were slated to graduate to begin practicing, supplementing the state’s healthcare professional capacity.

On ventilators, he said the state had ordered 17,000 but there was not enough supply in the federal stockpile to meet this growing demand across the state. “China is remarkably the repository for all of these orders - ventilators, PPE, it all goes back to China, which long term we have to figure out why we wound up in this situation where we don’t have the manufacturing capacity in this country,” he said adding that “New York has been shopping in China.”

The Chinese government helped facilitate a donation of 1,000 ventilators that will arrive at the JFK Airport in the city, he said as he thanked the Chinese government, Alibaba head Jack Ma, the Jack Ma Foundation and China’s Consul General Huang Ping.

In addition, the state of Oregon would deliver 140 ventilators to New York.

Cuomo has signed an executive order allowing the state to redistribute ventilators and personal protective equipment from hospitals, private sector companies and institutions that don't currently need them and redeploy the equipment to other hospitals with the highest need.

Those institutions will either get their ventilator back or they will be reimbursed and paid for their ventilator so they can buy a new ventilator.

(Photo: AP)