New York City is the epicenter of the US's coronavirus outbreak - here's how its death and hospitalization rates compare to the rest of the country

Tyler SonnemakerMar 31, 2020, 04:58 IST

New York City has become the epicenter of the US's coronavirus pandemic with more than 36,000 cases and nearly 800 deaths as of Monday.
The daily number of new confirmed cases there continues to rise, with more than 2,700 new cases reported on Monday. The city's hospitals are being pushed to the brink.
Although the numbers are early and far from conclusive, here's what we know so far about how the virus has affected New Yorkers of different ages and genders as compared to patients in the rest of the country.
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New York City has reported more than 36,200 cases and 790 deaths as of Monday - making it the center of the US's coronavirus outbreak.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday that he anticipates the "apex" of the crisis - the point of highest need for hospital beds and medical supplies - to be about 21 days out. But already, hospitals are facing bed shortages and a lack of personal protective equipment for staff and patients.

New York City recorded its first coronavirus case on March 1: a Manhattan woman in her 30s who contracted the virus while traveling in Iran. Since then, the daily number of new confirmed cases has increased rapidly, and experts expect that number to keep rising as more people are tested - a process that was initially slow and limited.

The lack of testing means there's a lot we still don't know about how widespread the virus is or how exactly it has impacted different parts of the US population. New York City's Department of Health and Mental Hygiene website urges residents who think they have mild COVID-19 cases to stay home and not seek care, meaning many cases are going untested there.

Still, early figures about COVID-19 cases in New York City and across the US offer some initial insights. Here's how they compare.

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People in New York City across all age groups who have been diagnosed with coronavirus are dying at a similar rate to those elsewhere in the US.

Around 42% of coronavirus patients hospitalized in New York City so far are 65 or older. That's similar to the nationwide portion: 45% of US hospitalizations are in the same age group.

The age brackets that the CDC uses on a national level don't align perfectly with the ones New York City uses, but they paint a similar picture: the elderly face a higher risk.

But significant numbers of young people are also ending up in the hospital.

New York City has become the epicenter of the coronavirus outbreak in the US.

The city's case total continues to rise, but limited testing has made it hard to tell just how many people have been infected. Testing efforts are ramping up, however.

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