The coronavirus epidemic in New York State, the epicenter of the disease in the United States, has started to de-escalate for the first time.
“All indications tend to show that we are in a downward phase,” said Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic governor of this state during his daily press briefing. This is not the euphoria, however.
“Stay smart and coordinated”
“The continuation of this decline will depend on what we do,” said the governor, who recently extended the containment measures until May 15. “We must remain smart and coordinated”, “not to compromise” the progress made, he insisted, while demonstrations have multiplied across the United States to demand the end of containment measures and the revival of economical activities.
This state of some 20 million inhabitants has already recorded some 236,000 confirmed cases of the virus, nearly a third of all American cases, and more than 13,000 deaths, according to the latest figures available. In the United States, more than 40,000 people have died since the start of the epidemic.
Massive tests planned
In the past 24 hours, the state has further deplored 507 deaths. This figure is nevertheless the lowest since April 2. On April 9, a daily death record was reached with 799 deaths.
The governor also announced massive serology tests across the state next week to determine “exactly how many people have been infected with the virus.”
Deconfinement with five other northeastern states
This measure should help determine the deconfinement strategy to be adopted, a strategy that the governor emphasized coordinating with five other states in the northeast of the United States: New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Rhode Island.
In a message that seemed to implicitly target President Donald Trump, accused of stirring up opposition to containment measures and pushing for a quick recovery in the economy, he stressed the importance of leaders “sending the right one. message ”.
“Now is not the time to send different messages,” he said. “If people don’t trust their government, if they think it’s chaos, or confusion in our policies, that would be a terrible message to send.”
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