Coronavirus: New York flattening the curve despite jump in death toll, Cuomo says

Governor Andrew Cuomo says 779 New Yorkers died from the novel virus on Tuesday

New York state has actively flattened its curve with social distancing regulations, the governor said, but the death toll has continued its steady rise with largest single-day increase on Tuesday.

Governor Andrew Cuomo balanced the good news with the bad news during his daily press briefing on Wednesday.

First, he announced the social distancing measures were working to stop the spread of the coronavirus and flatten the curve. "Social distancing is working so far," he said. "That curve is flattening because we are flattening the curve by what we are doing."

New York state, among the majority of the US, has strict rules and regulations that order all non-essential workers to stay home and people to follow social distancing rules when leaving their homes.

These regulations have helped decrease the number of hospitalisations in the state in the last couple of days.

Although the curve was flattening, Mr Cuomo said this was not the time for residents to get "complacent" about the regulations put in place.

"It is not a time to get complacent, it is not a time to do anything different than we are doing," he added. "We have to remain diligent, we have to remain disciplined."

Mr Cuomo announced he ordered fines to double for anyone disobeying social distancing rules across the state.

"Be responsible because the life you risk might not be your own," the governor said.

The good news of the curve flattening across the state was then balanced with the bad news: New York posted another record day in its death toll.

"The bad news isn't just bad. The bad news is actually terrible," Mr Cuomo said, before telling the public 779 New Yorkers died on Tuesday from Covid-19.

"When you look at numbers on the death toll it is going steadily up," he added. "It reached a new height yesterday."

On Monday, New York saw 731 people die from the novel virus. But this number then increased again with 779 people dying on Tuesday alone. The total death toll in the state of New York reached 6,268, which makes up nearly half of the death toll for the entire country.

The governor warned the death toll would continue to increase the next couple of days as "those hospitalised for a longer period of time pass away."

"This virus attacked the vulnerable and attacked the weak," he said. "It is our job as a society to protect those vulnerable."

For the first time during the press briefing, Mr Cuomo provided a racial breakdown of who was most impacted by the virus in the state. The data suggested coronavirus infection rates were higher in Hispanic and black residents.

In New York City, 34 per cent of deaths from the novel virus were Hispanic residents while 28 per cent were black. This comes as the New York City population is made up of 29 per cent Hispanic and 22 per cent black residents.

In New York state, comparatively, 14 per cent of deaths were Hispanic and 18 per cent of deaths were black.

"Why is it that the poorest people always pay the highest price? But let's figure it out. Let's do the work. Let's do the research. Let's learn from this moment and let's learn these lessons and let's do it now,” he said.

The governor said the state would combat the discrepancy in race by immediately increasing testing in minority communities.