Today’s coronavirus update: NY has record day, distancing appears lax
New York State reported its largest single-day increase in coronavirus deaths on Friday as confirmed cases soared past 100,000 and nearly 3,000 New Yorkers have perished.
NYC also saw its biggest spike in a 24-hour period with 6,582 people testing positive since Thursday evening and another 305 deaths.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced he’ll sign an executive order allowing the state to take ventilators from hospitals and redistribute them where they’re most needed.
“I’m not going to be in a situation where people are dying and there are several hundred ventilators somewhere else,” Cuomo said during his daily coronavirus press briefing in Albany.
“I’m not going to let people die because we didn’t redistribute ventilators,” Cuomo added.
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Here’s what else we learned today:
Face masks
- The CDC is now recommending that Americans wear a face covering when out in public, President Trump announced during the daily briefing by the Coronavirus Task Force. “It’s voluntary, you don’t have to do it. I don’t think I’m going to be doing it,” he added.
- Earlier in the day, Trump and manufacturing giant 3M sparred after the president demanded it produce more masks.
- Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his health officials questioned the effectiveness of City Hall’s call for New Yorkers to cover their faces outside with masks.
- The New England Patriots delivered 300,000 face masks to the Javits Center field hospital.
COVIDIOTS
- American Airlines on Tuesday reportedly jammed a flight’s total 11 passengers into three rows of seating.
- Google data shows New Yorkers doing less social distancing than people in Italy or Spain.
- Need a visual? Just watch this video of hundreds on motorbikes outside a Queens funeral home.
Tragic deaths
- A 32-year-old California woman died a day after her coronavirus diagnosis.
- A British man killed himself after being “pushed over the edge” by coronavirus isolation.
Meanwhile…
- Coronavirus-related lawsuits are piling up from workers against companies, and businesses against insurers.
- AOC wants coronavirus “reparations” for minority communities.
- Scientists say the bug can spread through “aerosolized feces,” and recommend closing the toilet lid when flushing.