New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced Monday that he is extending closures of schools and non-essential businesses until April 29 in an effort to combat the spread of the Chinese coronavirus.
The move comes after Cuomo recently extended school closures until April 15.
The governor told reporters at his daily press briefing that new deaths in the state appear to be flattening and the number of new hospitalizations has dropped over the past week.
“If that curve is turning, it’s turning because the rate of infection is going down,” he stated. “One of the reasons… is because social distancing is working.”
Cuomo also said that New York presently doesn’t need additional ventilators as the state continues to lead the nation in coronavirus cases with 122,911 reported infections and 4,161 deaths.
China and Oregon have both promised to send ventilators to New York to help the state fight an outbreak of the novel coronavirus as the number of cases and deaths in the state climbed upward, Cuomo said Saturday.
Cuomo and Oregon Gov. Kate Brown both tweeted Saturday morning that Oregon has promised to send 140 ventilators to New York, which has more than 100,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19.
China also has promised New York 1,000 ventilators, Cuomo added. While he praised the donation — which was facilitated by Chinese Ambassador Huang Ping, Brooklyn Nets owner Joe Tsai and Jack Ma, who owns the Chinese technology company Alibaba — he also said a previous order to China for 17,000 ventilators never materialized.
The UPI contributed to this report.
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