A patient on oxygen is wheeled out to an ambulance by medical workers wearing personal protective equipment due to Covid-19 concerns outside Langone Medical Center in New York. Photo / AP
A patient on oxygen is wheeled out to an ambulance by medical workers wearing personal protective equipment due to Covid-19 concerns outside Langone Medical Center in New York. Photo / AP
The official death toll from the coronavirus soared in New York City today after officials began including people who probably had Covid-19, but died without ever being tested.
City officials reported 3778 "probable" deaths, where doctors were certain enough of the cause of death to list it on the death certificate, and 6589 confirmed by a lab test.
Combined, that would put the total fatalities in the city over 10,000.
The change in the city's accounting of fatalities came after officials acknowledged that statistics based only on laboratory-confirmed tests were failing to account for many people dying at home before they ever reached a hospital.
"Behind every death is a friend, a family member, a loved one. We are focused on ensuring that every New Yorker who died because of Covid-19 gets counted," said Health Commissioner Dr Oxiris Barbot.
U.S. positive test ratio might be trending downward. That would be consistent with the idea that our outbreak peaked last week. Italy's positive test rate began trending downward when their outbreak peaked, too.
"While these data reflect the tragic impact that the virus has had on our city, they will also help us to determine the scale and scope of the epidemic and guide us in our decisions."
New Yorkers with Covid-19 continue to die at an unnerving pace even as the number of patients in hospitals level off.
The 778 deaths recorded statewide yesterday bring the total to 10,834 in about a month.
The total number of people hospitalised yesterday was down slightly to 18,697, the first decrease since mid-March. Total hospitalisations have been flat recently, and Governor Andrew Cuomo believes the state could be at a peak, or a plateau.
Still, more than 1600 new Covid-19 patients were hospitalised yesterday and the state has 200,000 cases.
New York City's once-overwhelmed emergency system is now seeing a more normal volume of medical calls, another sign the crisis could be ebbing and that people are heeding messages to call only in a life-threatening emergency.
New York City will move toward coronavirus self-sufficiency by starting production of virus test kits, face shields and surgical gowns, Mayor Bill de Blasio said today.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has called on FEMA to grant Disaster Funeral Assistance to help families in lower-income communities across New York pay for funeral costs due to Covid-19. Photo / AP
"Starting in a few weeks we will be producing here in New York City 50,000 test kits per week with components put together right here, with companies, universities, New York City workers right here building a brand new supply chain to feed this industry that will now develop in New York City," de Blasio said, adding, "if we can go further, we're going to build it up rapidly."
State and city officials have stressed the need to greatly expand coronavirus testing before any relaxation of social distancing guidelines can be contemplated, and healthcare workers have complained throughout the virus pandemic of shortages of personal protective equipment like gowns and face shields.
De Blasio said eight city companies are now making 240,000 face shields a week and will ramp up to 465,000 by April 24 and to 620,000 soon after.
He said five companies are making 30,000 surgical gowns a week and the goal is more than 250,000 weekly. The city will purchase 50,000 test kits a week from Indiana-based Aria-Diagnostics and additionally will start producing its own test kits.
