US: Governor says New York 'finally ahead' of outbreak

WASHINGTON

After experiencing the worst coronavirus outbreak in the US, New York is "finally ahead of" the virus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.

"We haven't killed the beast, but we are ahead of it," Cuomo said during his daily news briefing, cautioning that while strides have been made against the pandemic, the effort is far from over. "We have showed that you can control the beast, look at those numbers coming down, remember our numbers are coming down in New York; most states, you still see the numbers are going up."

"You take New York out of the national numbers, and you see the cases are on the incline, we have it on the decline, so we have the beast on the run."

The governor pointed to decreases in both the number of people who are admitted to hospitals across the state daily, as well as the state's death rate.

The state saw just 607 new virus cases at hospitals on Thursday while 226 people lost their lives.

Still, Cuomo cautioned that a resurgence of the virus in New York is seemingly likely, cautioning "we have to start getting ready now."

"There's a good chance this virus comes back. They talk about a second wave, they talk about a mutation, and if it's not this virus, another public health issue," he said. "We have to start getting ready now."

New York has tested nearly 1.1 million people for the virus since the outbreak began, with close to 330,000 people confirmed to have it. Over 26,000 people have died, according to a running tally by Johns Hopkins University in Maryland.