NY Coronavirus: Peak Hitting Long Island, Hudson Valley

NEW YORK — As New York broke its daily coronavirus death toll record for the third day in a row with 799 lives lost, officials are concerned about the spreading outbreak on Long Island and in the Hudson Valley, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said at his Thursday briefing.

"We're watching Rockland, Nassau and Suffolk," Cuomo said. "Westchester we've had problems already, one of the first hot spots in the nation was New Rochelle."

He said additional equipment was sent Wednesday night to Long Island hospitals.

The statewide death toll from COVID-19 rose to 7,067, more than double the lives lost on 9/11.

"That is so shocking and painful and breathtaking," Cuomo said. "It was a silent explosion that ripples through society with the same randomness and the same evil as 9/11."

As of Wednesday evening, 159,937 people have tested positive out of the 391,549, state health department data shows.

Cuomo cushioned the blow of the painful news by noting state health department data shows hospitalization and ICU admittance rates have continued to drop.

COVID-19 hospitalizations dropped to 200 Wednesday, the lowest number since March 18, days after reaching a peak of 1,427. ICU admissions dropped to 84, down from a peak of 395 and intubations dropped to 88, down from 351, the data show.

But Dr. Craig Spencer — the Columbia University doctor who famously survived Ebola — warned New Yorkers those numbers might be a sign of a grimmer truth.

"It may also mean that hospitals are near capacity, so ERs are discharging patients we would've absolutely admitted a week or two ago," Spencer tweeted Tuesday. "Which is what I'm seeing & hearing from my frontline colleagues throughout the city."

Cuomo talked about the scenarios offered at the end of March, when the White House task force was talking about 200,000 to a million deaths nationwide.

Cuomo said social distancing rules have worked.

Cuomo cautioned it's dangerous to assume the outbreak is nearing its end.

"We're on the first wave," Cuomo said. "If you don't want to stay home for yourself, stay home for someone you love."

By Kathleen Culliton, Patch staff. Lanning Taliaferro, Patch staff, contributed to this report.

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