NEW YORK — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Wednesday said 391 New Yorkers died in the past day of coronavirus — and presented a model that predicts 16,000 will die in the state before the pandemic is over.
He gave the grim update, including cases soaring to 83,000, while warning that officials have yet to see a sign of the elusive “flattening of the curve” in cases or deaths.
“We’re still looking for the curve to straighten, we’re still looking at where we see a plateau,” Cuomo said. “The line is still going up.”
Cuomo also ordered all New York City playgrounds closed after he said many young people continued to flout rules designed to prevent the spread of the deadly virus. Parks will stay open for now.
“That’s social distancing,” he said. “How reckless and irresponsible and selfish for people not to do it on their own. You have a responsibility.”
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has resisted closing all playgrounds, and there was no immediate comment from City Hall about the governor’s edict.
New York state has now had 1,981 deaths from coronavirus.
Cuomo said that the model predicting 16,000 New Yorkers will perish amounts to a wake-up call to the rest of the nation.
That’s because New York has suffered about half the national death total up to now, but will be just 1 in 6 by the end of the pandemic.
“It’s a New York problem today,” he said. “Tomorrow, it’s a Kansas problem. It’s a Texas problem. It’s a New Mexico problem.”
In New York City, 43 people died overnight, raising the toll to 1,139 from Tuesday evening. The city has tended to report far more deaths in the afternoon update, possibly due to issues with hospital reporting.
The five boroughs now have 44,915 positive cases, including 3,144 new ones overnight. Queens still has the most positive cases with 14,966, followed by Brooklyn with about 12,000. The Bronx has had 8,398, Manhattan has 6,960, and Staten Island has 2,480.
“Facts are facts. They’re just the best information we have,” Cuomo said.
“We’re never going to be the same again,” he said. “We’re not going to forget what happened here.”
He urged people to choose positive lessons of the pandemic like resiliency and to reject negative ones like shunning community or human contact.
“The question is: ‘How do you get up?’” he said. “Do you get up smarter? Do you get up wiser? Or do you get up bitter and you get up angry?”
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