Gov. Andrew Cuomo at press conference March 21
March 21, 2020 By Christian Murray
New York State has conducted more coronavirus tests than any other state, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this morning.
He said the state has performed 45,000 tests to date, much higher than the states of California and Washington–each having performed 23,000 tests. He said on a per capita basis the number is higher than South Korea and China.
The number of positive cases in the state was 10,356, with 6,211 in New York City, he announced this morning. He noted that 15 percent of cases resulted in hospitalization.
He said the rise was in part due to increased testing and that they were just identifying people who had already contracted the virus.
He said that he will be sending 1 million N95 masks to New York City. Additionally more than 6,000 ventilators will be coming to the state in upcoming weeks from around the world.
Cuomo said that he is working on setting up four field hospitals, which would be used to test and possibly treat cases of COVID-19 infections.
Cuomo said he hopes to bring a field hospital to the Javits Center that would have four 250-bed units with a total capacity of 1,000.
He has three other locations in mind in the region—including SUNY Stony Brook and SUNY Westbury as well as the Westchester Convention Center. Each would have 250 beds.
Most people will be infected—projected to be between 40 percent and 80 percent of the state’s population—and he said his goal is to manage the rate of infection so the hospital system is not overwhelming.
Cuomo warned people to be weary of false rumors.
“There will be no roadblocks saying you can’t leave an area,” he said. Society, he added, will continue to function, with pharmacies open and food available.
“I haven’t hidden anything from you,” Cuomo said. “I haven’t tilted the facts.”
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