Gov. Cuomo: 75,000 confirmed coronavirus cases and ‘we’re still going up the mountain’

Governor Andrew Cuomo(Darren McGee- Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)

Gov. Cuomo offered grim numbers at his daily presser in Albany on Tuesday as an additional 272 New Yorkers died of coronavirus in the past day as the pandemic keeps ravaging NYC and its suburbs.

The number of positive cases soared over 75,000 and the total death toll rose to 1,550 in the state.


“We’re still going up the mountain,” Cuomo said. “The main battle is on the top of the mountain at the apex. That’s what we are planning for now.”

The governor said New Yorkers need to gird for a war on two fronts, coping with the crisis and also respecting the rules to limit the spread.

The city and state are still anywhere from one to three weeks away from the peak of the crisis.

He preached the gospel of social distancing, calling it a basic responsibility to stay indoors and away from others.

“One is the front line of this battle, in our hospitals,” he said. “Another is social responsibility: don’t be a burden on everyone else.”

“It’s not just about you and your health,” Cuomo said. “Everyone is subject to this virus. It’s the great equalizer.”

New York City continues to be the epicenter of the pandemic, although the daily number of new positive cases dipped a bit to below 6,000 in the five boroughs in the past 24 hours.

Among the latest victims of the pandemic is Gov. Cuomo’s own younger brother, CNN host Christ Cuomo.

The governor paid tribute to New York’s health care workers and their relentless efforts to offer care and treatment to those suffering from the virus. “They are physically and emotionally exhausted,” he said. “This is different.”

He called the crisis a clarion call for hospitals in the city and state to work together, across lines that have divided public and private institutions, and between the city, suburbs and upstate.

“The health care system is a chain. If it breaks anywhere, it breaks everywhere,” he said. “That has to be our mentality.”

Cuomo lashed out at the federal government for bungling the supply chain for ventilators and other desperately needed medical equipment.

But he sought to strike a note of political unity amid as the crisis that is fast spreading across the country.

“There are no red states or blue states. The virus does not attack and kill red Americans or blue Americans, it attacks all Americans,” Cuomo said. “Keep in mind because there is a unifying wisdom in that.”