NEW YORK — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the 367 deaths from the coronavirus he reported Sunday were “horrific,” but the number was less than half the nearly 800 deaths that occurred in a single day during the pandemic’s peak in New York.
It is the first time this month that the statewide daily death toll has been below 400.
He reported the number of hospitalizations, which still topped 1,000, and the number of individuals put on a ventilator dropped as well.
The deaths recorded Saturday and reported Sunday included 349 patients who died in hospitals and 18 individuals who died in nursing homes, the Democratic governor said.
On Saturday, Cuomo said there were 437 deaths on Friday.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said Sunday he hopes to have a roadmap by June 1 on how to rebuild the city after the coronavirus threat subsides.
The mayor, a Democrat, said at a news conference city leaders he’s invited to help plan the city’s recovery should give him the roadmap by then. He said a full rebuild will take about 20 months.
He also said the latest statistics on people being treated for covid-19 continued to be stable or decline.
The number of people in the city’s hospital intensive care units dropped from 785 to 768. De Blasio said the city can’t begin reopening until decreases continue for 10 to 14 days. He said such a fall would signal it is time for the first steps in opening up.
“The health indicators have to give us the all clear,” de Blasio said. “We restart when we have evidence. There’s no on-off switch here. It’s a series of careful, smart moves.”
