Gov. Andrew Cuomo Warns New York ‘Not Yet Ready’ For Coming Coronavirus Peak

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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo issued a warning Saturday, saying the state has about seven days to prepare for the “apex” of the coronavirus outbreak.

“Our reading of the projections is, we are somewhere in the seven-day range — four, five, six, seven, eight-day range,” Cuomo said at his daily briefing on the COVID-19 crisis.

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He cautioned that the state is not yet ready for the coming surge in cases.

“Part of me would like to beat the apex, and just let’s do it,” he said. “But there’s part of me that says it’s good that we’re not at the apex because we’re not yet ready for the apex, either.”

Cuomo said like many other parts of the country, New York faces critical shortages of medical equipment, including masks and ventilators.

“The more time we have to improve the capacity of the city, the better,” he stated.

Despite his concerns, there was some good news. In a Saturday press release, Cuomo announced that 1,000 ventilators from China were scheduled to arrive today at Kennedy Airport.

The donation was made possible by the Joseph and Clara Tsai Foundation, and facilitated by the Chinese Government and China’s Consul General in New York, Huang Ping. Along with the ventilators, the Joseph and Clara Tsai Foundation donated one million surgical masks, a million N95 Masks and more than 100,000 pairs of goggles.

Among other donations announced by Cuomo’s office in the release — the NBA contributed one million surgical masks in collaboration with the New York Knicks and the Brooklyn Nets. Additionally, Oregon Gov. Kate Brown offered New York 140 ventilators. Cuomo promised to repay the favor to Oregon.

“We are so grateful to @OregonGovBrown and the people of Oregon,” he tweeted. “On behalf of the people of NY, I thank you and rest assured that NY will repay the favor when Oregon needs it.”

Saturday figures showed the number of people infected with COVID-19 in the United States has topped 300,000, with the death toll at more than 8,400. In New York state, 3,565 deaths have been reported, including more than 1,900 in New York City.

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