By Meg Wagner and Elise Hammond, CNN
From CNN's Elizabeth Joseph
The approximate 15,500 coronavirus deaths across the state of New York is not an accurate reflection of the overall death toll, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday.
The state’s death toll only accounts for lives lost in hospitals and nursing homes, and doesn’t account for lives lost at home.
“We still have to compile all that data,” Cuomo said.
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo reiterated that nursing homes are a top priority for the state to prevent the spread of coronavirus. The state will perform an investigation into nursing homes to make sure they are following additional rules during the coronavirus pandemic, he said.
"We're going to undertake an investigation of nursing homes now to make sure they're following the rules. It's going to be a joint Department of Health and attorney general investigation. ... They get paid to take care of a resident and they have to do it in accordance with state rules, and if they don't, we will take appropriate action," he said.
Cuomo said nursing home visitors and workers...
Cuomo said if nursing homes do not follow the rules, they will be subject to a fine or may lose their license.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said preliminary results of an antibody testing study showed 13.9% of people tested positive for antibodies.
The survey included 3,000 people in 19 counties and 40 localities. The tests came from people in grocery and big box stores. Cuomo said this was important because it came from people who were out — not people isolating at home.
"They were not people who were in their home, they were not people who were quarantined," Cuomo said.
From CNN's Elise Hammond
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said a possible second wave of the coronavirus in the fall could overwhelm the testing and health care system.
He said a resurgence of the virus at the same time as flu season would be "problematic" because then health professionals will be testing for the flu at the same time they are testing for Covid-19.
"That could be a possible overwhelming of the testing system," he said at a news conference Thursday.
"If people could have the flu or could have Covid in the fall and they don't know which it is, they could get nervous and start going into the health care system, which could then bring back a capacity issue in the health care system. That's something we have to worry about and watch," he added.
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From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
The number of deaths from coronavirus on Wednesday was at least 438, which is "still breathtakingly tragic," according to New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo.
"That number is not coming down as fast as we would like to see that number come down," Cuomo said.
The number of people who died in the state on Tuesday was 474.
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New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said the hospitalization rate continues to fall across the state.
"The hospitalization rate is down again, so that is good news," he said at a news conference.
The number of intubations is also "clearly down," although the day-to-day numbers vary slightly, he said.
Cuomo added that the number of new cases remains flat.
"That is not great news, we'd like to see that going down, but it's not going down either," the governor said.
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From CNN's Alex Rogers
President Trump’s remarks yesterday that Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp acted “too soon” in allowing some businesses to reopen has put the states’ two Republican senators running for reelection — Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue — in the uncomfortable position between their top party allies at home and in Washington.
Both senators have said they support Kemp’s order even though Trump “strongly” disagrees with the decision.
Loeffler today tried to minimize any disagreement between the federal and state governments, saying she supports both Trump and Kemp, who appointed her to the Senate in December.
She said this in a statement:
“My focus is on protecting lives and livelihoods—I’m not going to play politics ... Of course I support President Trump and I’m proud to serve on his Task Force to re-open America. And obviously, I support Governor Kemp and his efforts to begin to get Georgians back to work safely. We have to continue following the guidelines to stay safe. Both President Trump and Governor Kemp are showing strong leadership during these unprecedented times—and I’m honored to be working with them to reopen our economy based on a measured, data-driven approach.”
On Fox News this morning, Rep. Doug Collins, Loeffler’s Republican opponent, sided with Trump, noting that his district is seeing an increase in coronavirus cases.
Collins claimed that the governor's plan to reopen the economy has “made people nervous.” He said Kemp was “not communicating clearly” in keeping a stay at home order in place while allowing certain businesses to open.
"The President wants the country open. I want the country open. The governor wants the country open. The problem is, how do you do it? And I think that's the problem with leadership," Collins told "Fox & Friends."
Perdue recently told NPR’s Atlanta affiliate that governments need to find a “measured way” to reopen businesses. “There’s a human cost to shutting down the economy, just like there’s a human cost to the disease,” said Perdue.
When asked if he’d be going to a barbershop or a restaurant in the coming days, Perdue joked, “If you could see my hair, you’d know the answer to that.”
“At the end of the day, we have responsibility for ourselves,” he added. “We need to be responsible for how we affect people around us and how they might affect us.”
Meanwhile Democrat Jon Ossoff, who is running for Senate in Georgia against Perdue, said Kemp’s actions violate the US Centers for Disease Control’s guidelines.
“If Governor Kemp continues down this path, he risks accelerating the outbreak in Georgia, further delaying the day we can safely re-open without loss of life and economic devastation,” said Jon Ossoff. “I call on Senator David Perdue to reject Kemp’s incompetent policy and join me, the CDC, and President Trump in demanding a responsible re-opening of our state."
From CNN's Adrienne Vogt
Emergency room physician Dr. Arabia Mollette teared up while speaking about the number of deaths from coronavirus at her hospital, which she says has been simply overwhelming for doctors and nurses.
“When they look into your eyes and they give that last breath, what makes you think that I'm going to be OK after this, or any health care workers that are on front line? Their eyes pierce your soul,” said Mollette, who works at Brookdale University Hospital Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York.
“This has been a very traumatizing experience for many of us. You don't understand how many times we take breaks and we cry,” she added.
Mollette also addressed the impact of the coronavirus on her community, which is largely black and Latino.
“This is hard. This epidemic has revealed the ugliness of our health care system. It revealed the ugliness of our socioeconomic system, it also revealed the social inequalities, especially against the communities that are underserved,” she said.
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From CNN’s Anneken Tappe
Sales of newly built single-family homes plummeted 15.4% in March, totaling just 627,000 last month, according to data from the Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The revised rate for home sales in February was 741,000.
Year-over-year sales for March fell 9.5%. The last time that figure was so low was in May 2019.
The coronavirus pandemic is forcing people to shelter in place, and a stalling economy with tens of millions of job losses is leading consumers to avoid big-ticket purchases.
And it's likely to get worse.
"Given the widespread nature of the shutdown during April, it is probable that new home sales activity will drop much further when the April figure is reported," said Ben Ayers, senior economist at Nationwide, in emailed comments.
