Cuomo: Social Distancing Measures Appear to Be Working

A member of the NYC Medical Examiner's Office at the site as workers build a makeshift morgue outside of Bellevue Hospital to handle an expected surge in CCP virus victims in New York City on March 25, 2020. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

Social distancing measures like forcing the closure of non-essential businesses and ordering people to stay home with some exceptions appear to be working in combating the spread of the CCP virus, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday, as officials reported another surge of over 5,000 infections.

Projections on Sunday showed hospitalizations from the new illness, which causes the COVID-19 disease, doubling every two days. Projections on Monday showed them doubling every 3.4 days and projections on Tuesday showed them doubling every 4.7 days, Cuomo told reporters in Albany.

“That is almost too good to be true. But, the theory is: given the density that we’re dealing with, it spreads very quickly, but if you reduce the density you can reduce the spread very quickly,” Cuomo said.

The governor said he’s watched as projections bounce around but called the apparent slow of the spread a positive sign.

“I’m not 100 percent sure it holds or it’s accurate but the arrows are headed in the right direction and that is always better than the arrows heading in the wrong direction,” he said, attributing the projections to social distancing measures like forcing non-essential workers to stay home.

Workers build a makeshift morgue outside of Bellevue Hospital to handle an expected surge in coronavirus victims in New York City on March 25, 2020. Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo speaks to the media and members of the National Guard at the Javits Convention Center which is being turned into a hospital to help fight coronavirus cases in New York City on March 23, 2020. Spencer Platt/Getty Images

New York still projects a need for up to 140,000 hospital beds with a current capacity of 53,000 beds. Additional beds are coming from an array of efforts: hospitals in the state boosting existing capacity; opening new facilities with the help of FEMA and other federal agencies; converting college dormitories to makeshift hospitals; and a U.S. Navy Ship, Comfort, which is en route to the state.

New York also projects a need for 30,000 ventilators. The state has 4,000 in its system currently and purchased another 7,000. The federal government sent 4,000. Officials are shopping for more and are asking the government to send additional ventilators.

They’re also exploring “splitting” each ventilator to serve two patients each, a method used in Italy.

New York reported another 5,146 new infections, including 2,952 more in New York City. The state has a total of 30,811 confirmed cases, including 17,856 in the city.

Cuomo said cases in Westchester County, just outside the city, have slowed down, after initially being “the hottest cluster in the United States of America.”

The percentage of patients requiring hospital care decreased down to 12 percent of the overall cases, with 3 percent of those in intensive care units.