New York's Coronavirus Outbreak Won’t Peak for 45 Days, Governor Says

The pandemic is in New York for the long haul.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday morning that the coronavirus outbreak won’t peak in his state for another 45 days — which only means that new cases will level off by then. It's going to get worse before it gets better, he stressed, and the virus will be with the state for the next several months.

As of Tuesday morning, 1,374 people in New York had tested positive, up from 950 on Monday in the new epicenter of the U.S. outbreak. The numbers will continue to tick up especially as more testing sites open up, and with little sign the curve is flattening out, Cuomo warns that the state’s running low on intensive care beds to treat patients who become seriously ill from the virus.

There are about 53,000 hospital beds and 3,000 intensive-care beds in the state, the governor said. At the peak of the outbreak the state will need 55,000 to 110,000 hospital beds and 18,600 to 37,000 intensive care beds.

“The curve is going to turn into a wave, and the wave is going to crash on the hospital system,” Cuomo said, sitting several feet away from his staff as he made the announcement.

Shortly after the presser, Cuomo announced that New York State would pause debt collection. No one will owe any payments to New York for either medical or student debt for at least the next month.

The governor emphasized at the press conference that combatting the spread of the virus means putting into place more stringent social-distancing measures. “How do you do the spread? You close down more interaction among people,” Cuomo said. “It is possible we will do more dramatic closings.”

To try to monitor the spread of the virus, more drive-thru testing sites will open up across the state, he added.

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Still, the governor won’t heed calls to issue a shelter in place order in New York City, which Mayor Bill De Blasio and others in the city government suggested earlier in the day that the city was considering.

“We are making incremental solutions when we should be ripping the Band-Aid off,” New York City Council Speaker Corey Johnson said on local station WNYC Tuesday morning.

“We hear New York City is going to quarantine itself. That is not true. That cannot happen,” Cuomo said. “No city in the state without state approval. I have no interest whatsoever — and no plan whatsoever — to quarantine any city.”

The governor said, too, that of all of the measures already in place, he’d gotten the most complaints about his call to shut down bars. But he’s owning the decision to do so.

“If you are upset by what we have done, be upset at me,” Cuomo said. “I made these decisions.”

“I made them because I think they are in the best interest of the state. I know they cause disruption. I know people are upset,” Cuomo added. “The buck stops on my desk.”

Cover: New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo speaks during a news conference at a COVID-19 coronavirus infection testing facility at Glen Island Park, Friday, March 13, 2020, in New Rochelle, N.Y. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)