Metro

Coronavirus curve ‘flattening’ but death tolls remain ‘terribly high’: Cuomo

New York state is seeing a “flattening” of the rate of new coronavirus cases and fatalities, but the death toll is still “at a terribly high level” — with another 758 dying overnight, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Sunday.

It was the sixth straight day that the state’s death toll remained in the 700s — and the governor warned that the virus is on the move to the suburbs and rural areas of the state.

“I think you will see more growth in less populated places,” Cuomo said.

As for the general current figures, “You’re not seeing a great decline in the numbers, but you’re seeing a flattening,” the governor said at a press conference.

Cuomo said of the new deaths, “you’re seeing a recurrence of the terrible news, which is the lives lost.”

The new figure was slightly down from the 783 coronavirus deaths recorded overnight Friday into Saturday.

A total of 9,385 people have now died from the contagion in the state — or more than three times the number of victims, 2,735, on 9/11, the governor added.

Another 8,236 people tested positive for the contagion, leaving the new state total at 188,694. New York City made up the bulk of that number, or 103,208, with 4,900 overnight.

Still, Cuomo said the number of additional beds needed for coronavirus patients in the past 24 hours was 53, “which is the lowest number since we started doing these charts.

“The change in total number of hospitalizations is down again. This is the number that we have been watching because the great fear for us was always overwhelming the hospital system,” he said.

There are now 18,700 people hospitalized with the virus, Cuomo said.

The number of people on ventilators “ticked up” by 110 — and “most people who are intubated will not come off a ventilator,” Cuomo said, “so that’s not good.”

Asked by a reporter at the presser what he would do if he came down with the virus, Cuomo responded, “My plan is to do this from home.”

-Additional reporting by Bernadette Hogan