By: Rusty Brooks
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Sunday a fifth coronavirus-related death in New York State. According to a NY Post report, the newly deceased were identified as a 78-year-old man, a 56-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman. That’s in addition to an 82-year-old woman who died late Friday and a 79-year-old woman who succumbed early Sunday, according to the Post report.
The victim passed away early Sunday in a still unnamed hospital according to the NY Post. Thus far 2 of the 3 NY COVID-19 deaths have occurred in NYC.
“You will not be able to flatten the curve to avoid the wave, you will be short thousands of ICU beds, thousands of ventilators,” said Cuomo during a press conference.
“The only way to prevent that today, given the time constraint, is to deploy the Army Corps of Engineers and use that capacity to retrofit existing facilities to free up hospital beds. A decision is easy when you have no options, and here this nation has no option,” he said.
The first City death was reported Saturday afternoon, by the media after the unnamed woman died Friday night at Wyckoff Medical Center in Brooklyn after first checking in to the hospital on March 3. The NY Times reported that the victim was one of the first to test positive for the virus.
Mayor de Blasio issued the following statement after the death.
“Today, we are confirming our first death due to severe complications from COVID-19. The patient, an elderly woman with advanced emphysema, was admitted to the hospital last week as one of our first cases and had been in critical condition ever since. We’ve known from the outset that these people are the most at risk in this pandemic, and today’s news is a sad confirmation of that reality. I want to thank the staff of Wyckoff Medical Center for their efforts to save this woman’s life, and all the medical professionals on the front lines protecting our most vulnerable”
The second COVID-19 victim was a 64-year-old man from Suffern, who had “other significant health problems which were likely contributory” to his death, Rockland county’s Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Laura Carbone said Saturday, according to the Daily News.
Cuomo said the state has tested 5,272 people, finding positive results for COVID-19 infection in 729 cases. Of those, 137 resulted in hospitalizations.
Cuomo also announced that 2 politicians have tested positive for Coronavirus.
Two of the newest confirmations include New York State assemblyman Charles Barron and Assemblywoman Helene Weinstein of Brooklyn. Governor Cuomo announcing both have been diagnosed with COVID-19, CBS reported.
A second member of the FDNY tested positive on Saturday, CBS reported.
The FDNY tweeted: “This Firefighter was not exposed to COVID-19 through patient contact and contracted the illness off-duty through community exposure.”
