New York City's death toll was revised to over 10,000 on Tuesday to include 3,700 deaths that are presumed to be due to the novel coronavirus but never tested, the city health department said.
"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.
The 10,000 figure includes all coronavirus deaths since March 11. The state of New York has become an epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic with more than 200,000 confirmed cases.
New Yorkers with COVID-19 continue to die at an unnerving pace even as the number of patients in hospitals levels off. The 778 deaths recorded statewide Monday bring the total to 10,834 in about a month.
The total number of people hospitalized Monday was down slightly to 18,697, the first decrease since mid-March. Total hospitalizations have been flat recently, and Cuomo believes the state could be at a peak or a plateau.
Still, more than 1,600 new COVID-19 patients were hospitalized Monday.
Meanwhile, New York City’s once-overwhelmed 911 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.
The fire department, which runs the city’s EMS system, said it received 3,932 calls requesting ambulances Sunday, down from a record high of 6,527 on March 30.
The average volume last March and April was just over 4,000 calls. Sunday was the sixth straight day that the city’s medical call volume was lower than the previous day. The fire department said it’s too early to know exactly why volume has dropped. At the peak, operators were answering four new calls a minute.
