Cuomo: Number Of Cases Increased Across NY As Expected

NEW YORK — The number of confirmed coronavirus cases continue to go up as expected in New York as officials are testing more and more people daily, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced in a press conference on Saturday. According to Cuomo, New York currently has conducted more tests than any other state in the United States after adding massive testing sites in areas such as Jones Beach and SUNY Stony Brook. A total of 45,437 tests have been conducted so far.

As of Saturday afternoon, the total number of cases in New York have reached 10,356, the highest in the country. Here is the breakdown by area:

• New York City - 6,211
• Westchester - 1,385
• Nassau County - 1,234
• Suffolk County - 662
• Rockland County - 262
• Albany - 163

However, Cuomo, who is predicting that this virus won't slow down for months, is saying that New York officials are "working at every level" to help slow this down. He says that 40 to 80 percent of the population in the state, or 7.8 million to 15.6 million New Yorkers, are expected to be infected by the coronavirus. But the state is working to slow down the rate of the spread and working to increase hospital capacity through some recent mandates.

So far, 100 percent of all non-essential employees are asked to stay at home and put out new rules on "personal conduct" by asking people to practice social distancing as well as implementing "Matilda's Law" for senior citizens and other vulnerable people.

In order to increase hospital capacity to reach a goal of 75,000, all elective surgeries have been canceled and officials are working to reconfigure hospital spaces to add more beds. Cuomo will also be visiting and considering several sites across New York to hold more hospital beds including the Javits Center, SUNY Old Westbury, SUNY Stony Brook and the Westchester Convention Center.

Officials are also working to deliver more supplies to hospitals including 2 million N95 masks, which are being created by apparel companies that are now working to manufacture more masks. Over 1 million will be delivered to New York City and 500,000 to Long Island on Saturday. Cuomo also stated that officials are working to gather ventilators for hospitals.