New York state has confirmed 10,842 cases of the novel coronavirus since Friday, the highest single-day increase in reported cases the state has seen, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.

The novel coronavirus causes COVID-19, a respiratory disease that has infected over a million people and killed over 62,000 worldwide. New York has now confirmed 113,704 cases of the virus, and 3,565 people have died, Cuomo said.

“We are not yet at the apex, we are getting closer,” Cuomo said in a press briefing. “There’s part of me that says it’s good that we are not yet at the apex because we are not yet ready either. The more time we have to improve the capacity of the (healthcare) system, the better.”

The state administered 23,101 COVID-19 tests Friday, the highest number of tests conducted in the state so far, the governor said.

Cuomo said he will be signing an executive order allowing medical students who were set to graduate to begin practicing immediately and help treat the virus. There are currently 85,000 volunteers working in hospitals across the state, he said.

“When we first started, the main concern was having enough beds,” Cuomo said. “It has now shifted to equipment and staff.”

The Chinese government will donate 1,000 ventilators to New York state, and the state of Oregon will donate an additional 140, Cuomo said.

The governor also announced Friday that he would issue an executive order allowing the National Guard to redistribute unused supplies to hospitals at the frontlines of the pandemic.

“We are still in the stage where we have the luxury of gathering as much (supplies) as we can,” Cuomo said. “Then when you hit the apex, you have what you have. You go to war with what you have.”

While the coronavirus pandemic causes stress at every level of society, it affects people on an emotional level the most, Cuomo said. No one can quantify the burden the outbreak is having on each individual, he said.

“This day will end and we will get through it and we will get to the other side of the (apex),” Cuomo said. “But, we have to do what we have to do between now and then.”

Published on April 4, 2020 at 2:00 pm

Contact Maggie: mehicks@syr.edu | @maggie_hickss