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WPCNR GOVERNOR ANDREW M. CUOMO FRIDAY CORONAVIRUS BRIEFING. By John F. Bailey, May 8, 2020 UPDATES IN BLACK BOLD TYPEFACE :
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced a “Toxic-Shock” like disease killed a 5 year old child Thursday in New York, who had been suffering from the corona virus. The Governor listed the symptoms above. The Governor said the State Health Department is investigating.
The Governor commented that though coronavirus infection statistics were going down they were going down much slower than they went up. He attributed that to a continuing new hospitalizations rate of approximately 600 a day, he commented on earlier this week.
“We would have liked to see a steady sharp decline in these numbers, (the decline) is more of a flattening out as numbers continue to drop,” the governor said. He said Thursday saw 216 New Yorkers die from coronavirus, which has been the trend this week.
He said “We are in control. There is a science to this, contrary to politics and emotion. You can pull up the records of countries who reopened, and now have had to do a 180 degree turnaround. I don’t want to see 100,000 more people die. Facts make the decision. If we make a wrong move, more people will die. Let’s get through it without any further loss of life.”
The Governor is now concentrating on how to lower the vast proportion of infections in black and Latino neighborhoods. He said, from his address: “When you look at the new cases and where they’re coming from in the state, it’s clear that a majority of the new cases and a disproportionate number are coming from minority communities. 21 zip codes with the highest rate of hospitalization – 20 have greater than average black and/or Latino populations. So, this is something that we’re focused on and we’re going to address and we will address immediately. We will have more information on this in the next couple of days. “
In the “Q. & A,” the governor said upstate regions would likely be allowed to reopen for construction and manufacturing, but felt the numbers for the downstate region were not going to be there..
The “Q. & A.” brought reporter questions on the unemployment checks situation.
Melissa DeRosa, Secretary to the Governer said the state was “trying to build a plane while trying to fly it,” because the automatic telephone system crashed due to 1.6 million unemployment claims in 3 weeks. Last year the state only processed 300,000 in twelve months. She repeated for about the umpteenth time to the reporters, who always raise this question, that 3,000 people had been hired to get through the backlog. She said 1.6 Million million claims had been processed in 7 weeks.
The governor with a huge grin, remarked to reporters in a few weeks reporters would be asking about persons who received checks who were not entitled to them, the state should take the time to check them.
There were no questions on nursing homes. There were questions on the new illness being investigated.
The Governor confirmed 2,938 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 330,407 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 330,407 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows (DOWNSTATE REGIONS IN BOLD FACE. WESTCHESTER HAS TOPPED 30,995 CASES, ROCKLAND IS NOW AT 12,349 CASES, NASSAU, 37,812; SUFFOLK, 36,223; NYC, 18,713:
| County | Total Positive | New Positive |
| Albany | 1,384 | 36 |
| Allegany | 35 | 0 |
| Broome | 364 | 4 |
| Cattaraugus | 59 | 0 |
| Cayuga | 52 | 0 |
| Chautauqua | 40 | 0 |
| Chemung | 130 | 1 |
| Chenango | 105 | 0 |
| Clinton | 74 | 5 |
| Columbia | 304 | 2 |
| Cortland | 29 | 0 |
| Delaware | 63 | 0 |
| Dutchess | 3,277 | 44 |
| Erie | 4,255 | 119 |
| Essex | 31 | 1 |
| Franklin | 17 | 1 |
| Fulton | 103 | 2 |
| Genesee | 169 | 1 |
| Greene | 199 | 1 |
| Hamilton | 5 | 0 |
| Herkimer | 76 | 2 |
| Jefferson | 66 | 2 |
| Lewis | 10 | 0 |
| Livingston | 100 | 5 |
| Madison | 249 | 3 |
| Monroe | 1,735 | 47 |
| Montgomery | 64 | 1 |
| Nassau | 37,812 | 219 |
| Niagara | 605 | 17 |
| NYC | 181,783 | 1,567 |
| Oneida | 620 | 11 |
| Onondaga | 1169 | 54 |
| Ontario | 104 | 3 |
| Orange | 9,402 | 74 |
| Orleans | 121 | 13 |
| Oswego | 72 | 2 |
| Otsego | 67 | 0 |
| Putnam | 1,074 | 8 |
| Rensselaer | 380 | 13 |
| Rockland | 12,349 | 69 |
| Saratoga | 388 | 14 |
| Schenectady | 558 | 7 |
| Schoharie | 45 | 0 |
| Schuyler | 7 | 0 |
| Seneca | 46 | 0 |
| St. Lawrence | 187 | 6 |
| Steuben | 225 | 1 |
| Suffolk | 36,223 | 331 |
| Sullivan | 1,039 | 18 |
| Tioga | 99 | 2 |
| Tompkins | 131 | 1 |
| Ulster | 1,429 | 13 |
| Warren | 199 | 6 |
| Washington | 201 | 11 |
| Wayne | 79 | 1 |
| Westchester | 30,905 | 197 |
| Wyoming | 73 | 2 |
| Yates | 20 | 1 |