Governor says COVID-19 death rate in New York estimated as low as 0.5 percent
By Amanda Fries, Albany Times-Union – April 23, 2020
ALBANY – As the state nears 20,000 deaths from the coronavirus, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo on Thursday revealed preliminary results of statewide antibody testing that began this week that indicates 13.9 percent of the 3,000 who gave blood samples had antibodies associated with COVID-19.
The governor said the latest data indicates 2.7 million people have been infected statewide — an infection rate of about 13.9 percent — which means the rate of fatalities from the infectious disease is about 0.5 percent.
“If the infection rate is 13.9 percent, then it changes the theories of what the death rate is if you get infected,” Cuomo said.
Cuomo cautioned the data doesn’t include individuals who may have died at home and were not initially counted as having contracted the illness.
“It also supports the decision that we talked about in having a regional analysis,”
New York City accounted for the highest percentage of those tested with the antibodies at 21.2 percent, according to statistics compiled by the governor’s office. Long Island is the second highest at 16.7 percent. Across upstate, the study indicated that 3.6 percent of the population are carrying the antibodies that may help prevent a person from being reinfected.
New York has been the epicenter for COVID-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus, accounting for roughly half of all the deaths in the United States. However, in the last week the state crossed its apex and hospitalizations have trended downward, giving hope that a slow reopening of the economy is in sight. Cuomo’s current statewide shutdown order is scheduled to last through May 15.
While the governor initially insisted upon a statewide approach to reopening the economy, he is now amenable to the process being done on a regional basis. Elected officials and residents across upstate have called for communities that have not been hit as hard by the virus to reopen.
Cuomo also announced Thursday that the state is collaborating with Attorney General Letitia James to ensure nursing homes are following all state and federal guidelines for handling cases.
“The state has very strict guidelines on privately run facilities. They get paid to take care of a resident. That resident, that patient, must have a state-directed level of care,” Cuomo said. “If they can’t provide that, they can’t have that resident in their facility.”
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