In Governor Cuomo’s press conference this morning, he said that data showed the coronavirus curve is potentially flattening right now.
He started off explaining that the number of NYC deaths has been effectively flat for two days.
“While none of this is good news,” he said. “The possible flattening of the curve is better than the increases that we have seen.”
He then shared that the total numbers of hospitalizations are down, the ICU admissions are down, and the daily intubations (breathing tube placements) are down.
“Those are all good signs, and again would suggest a possible flattening of the curve,” he said.
He said the question now is what the overall curve will look like. Different models show a slight pause at the top before it goes down, others show a longer pause at the apex, a “plateau effectively,” and a third suggests a high peak and then downfall. Right now, he said even with studying other countries, no one knows what will occur here.
Early projections (in orange & blue) showed we would need 55K to 110K hospital beds.
The purple line shows where we are.
We are tracking better than the initial models, which is good news.
Social distancing appears to be working.
We must keep it up. pic.twitter.com/voCNzVv8do
— Archive: Governor Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) April 6, 2020
The decrease in hospitalizations, etc., is likely because the rate of infection is going down, and that means social distancing has been working. To make sure it continues to work, all New York schools and non-essential businesses will stay closed through April 29.
Still, since we could be “plateauing at a very high level” and have to “sustain that pace” of healthcare, they are trying to focus on hospital relief. The Javits Center will now be used for COVID-19 patients, and they are also requesting the federal government allow them to use the USNS Comfort Ship for COVID-19 patients as well.
Though those spaces were originally meant to help hospitals by caring for non-COVID patients, they said there are actually not many of them; since everything has shut down, crime, car accidents and other cases of trauma have gone down.
“There’s a real danger in becoming overconfident too quickly,” he said, putting things in perspective. “This is an enemy that we have underestimated since day one, and we have paid the price dearly.”
featured image source: Twitter / @NYGovCuomo