New York's coronavirus cases top 100,000
NEW YORK - New York state now has more than 100,000 coronavirus cases, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Friday.
During his daily update from Albany, the governor said 10,482 newly reported cases have pushed the state's tally to 102,863. The number of confirmed deaths is now 2,935, up from 2,373 reported a day earlier.
Cuomo said he is concerned about the increase in cases on Long Island, which does not have the elaborate health system that New York City has.
The governor said President Trump has approved converting the mobile hopsital at the Jacob Javits Center in Manhattan to treat COVID patients instead on non-coronavirus patients. Cuomo said that FEMA was, frankly, not eager to make the change.
Cuomo said hospitals that are not dealing with COVID are seeing very little activity because the stay-at-home order means fewer people are outside and fewer cars are on the road. That in turn means crime and accidents have plummeted, so traumas are down. Also, hospitals canceled elective procedures, too.
To address the ongoing shortage of ventilators, the governor signed an executive order giving the state the power to take ventilators from one hospital and deliver them to hospitals that need them for COVID patients. Cuomo said the hospitals giving up ventilators would either get them back or will be compensated.