Coronavirus deaths down in NY, but officials urge vigilance

New York's daily toll of coronavirus deaths has hit its lowest point in more than two weeks, but officials still warn that New York City and the rest of the state aren't ready to ease up on shutdowns of schools, businesses and gatherings.

As of Saturday, the number of coronavirus deaths in New York state dropped under 550 for the first time in over two weeks as hospitalizations continue to decline.

But the crisis is far from over: Hospitals are still reporting nearly 2,000 new COVID-19 patients per day, and nursing homes remain a feeding frenzy for this virus, Cuomo said.

While the crush of patients has eased somewhat in emergency rooms, that doesn't mean happy days are here again, the Democrat said at a news briefing.

We are not at a point when we are going to be reopening anything immediately.

The state logged 540 deaths Friday from COVID-19, the lowest number since April 1.

Nearly 13,000 New Yorkers have died since the state's first coronavirus case was reported March 1, the governor said.

The state total doesn't include more than 4,000 New York City deaths that were blamed on the virus on death certificates but weren't confirmed by a lab test.

More than 2,700 people in New York nursing homes have died, by far more than in any other state.

For most people, the new coronavirus causes mild or moderate symptoms, such as fever and cough that clear up in two to three weeks. For some, especially older adults and people with underlying health problems, it can cause more severe illness, including pneumonia, and death.

The number of New York Police Department officers calling out sick is declining.

The nation's largest police department reported that 5,324 uniformed members about 15% of the force were out sick on Saturday.

That's down from a high of 7,155 officers nearly 20% of the force on April 9.

So far, more than 2,000 members of the NYPD have returned to work full duty after recovering from a positive test for the coronavirus, police officials said.