ALBANY, N.Y. — New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says the number of coronvirus (COVID-19) cases continues to increase.
Cuomo said on Friday that he is ordering schools to remain closed for another two weeks, through April 15. However, most WNY school districts have closed schools through April 20.
The governor also stressed the need to increase hospital capacity. He says he will ask President Trump for permission to build four more temporary hospitals, including one in each of boroughs downstate. The state hopes to have the Javits Convention Center and the USS Comfort up and running by next week.
They are also looking at dormitories and hotels for locations that can be used as temporary hospitals in case they have overflow capacity. They hope to have those ready to go by the week of April 6 for phase 1 and open the week of April 20.
New York State currently has 44,635 confirmed cases of COVID-19. There have been 519 deaths, up from 385 on Thursday. "That is going to continue to go up. That is the worst news I can tell the people in the state of New York," said Cuomo. There are currently 1,583 people in ICU. More than 2,000 have already been discharged from the hospital.
The governor has said the reason NYS has so many cases compared to the rest of the county is because they have a denser population. The state is also doing more testing than any other state right now.
The governor says residents need to continue to slow the numbers (flatten the curve) so as not to overwhelm hospitals.
Gov. Cuomo said on Wednesday experts estimate NYS will hit its apex in about two-three weeks.
Cuomo said again on Thursday the state has all of the protective equipment the hospitals will need for staff for the immediate future during this crisis after Tuesday's purchase of protection equipment. However, they will continue to shop for more.
The state still needs ventilators. They currently have 4,000 in the system and have purchased 7,000 more. They are working with the federal government looking for more ventilators. The state is also experimenting with splitting ventilators to put two people on one ventilator.
Cuomo said some COVID-19 patients are averaging 20-30 days on ventilators.
Cuomo is also called on the federal government Thursday, and other states in the country to help New York State, as there are more people infected there and will need ventilators now. He says the state's apex will hit first, and once it starts going down, he would send those resources back to other states in need.
Gov. Cuomo says 40,000 healthcare workers have come forward to say they will help in hospitals during the crisis. More than 10,000 mental health providers, including some from outside NYS, have volunteered to provide support on a NYS hotline 1-844-863-9314.
Governor Cuomo also discussed the budget, which needs to be approved by April 1. Based on numbers, the state anticipates they will lost $10-15 billion in revenue due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuomo says the state will received $5 billion from the federal government stimulus package, but that money can only be used on COVID-19 related expenses.