April 9, 2020 / By Jennifer Millman
What to Know
- New York and New Jersey saw record single-day death tolls for a second straight day but there are signs the curve is flattening; NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio said for the first time Thursday May not be as difficult as he feared
- Hospitalization rates are stabilizing and fewer new patients are needing breathing tubes in New York; Gov. Andrew Cuomo warns the death toll could keep rising, though, describing it as a “lagging indicator”
- More than 200,000 in the tri-state area have now tested positive for COVID-19; 8,100-plus have died, including first responders and children
Four days ago, the nation’s top doctor, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams, warned America this would be the “saddest week” of the pandemic. He was right.
New York and New Jersey both saw their daily death tolls spike to new records Wednesday for the second day in a row, while New York City’s coronavirus toll surged well past 4,500 — more than the number killed on 9/11. The widely cited Gates Foundation-funded IHME model projects New York deaths to peak Thursday, though it has lowered its ultimate projections for fatalities in the state. 
Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned the death toll could very well continue to rise dramatically day over day, even as the state sees an encouraging plateau in hospitalization rates. The death toll itself is a “lagging indicator,” reflecting people who had been hospitalized before this week, he said. The fatalities have overwhelmingly been the most vulnerable patients, the ones on ventilators.