New York's governor says that social distancing is working to slow the coronavirus' spread - even though the state's case numbers are still jumping

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New York's governor says that social distancing is working to slow the coronavirus' spread - even though the state's case numbers are still jumping
New York Coronavirus

REUTERS/Mike Segar

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A man crosses a nearly empty 5th Avenue in midtown Manhattan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New York City, New York, U.S., March 25, 2020.

  • New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo defended social distancing measures to fight the coronavirus outbreak in the state in a press conference Wednesday.
  • The rate of hospitalizations has slowed already, he said.
  • The number of patients being hospitalized was doubling every two days on Sunday, but on Tuesday, it was only doubling every 4.8 days.
  • He said that the measures are already working in the state's suburbs - but will still take time to see the results of 'flattening the curve' in the city.
  • Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo took aim at residents not following the state's stay at home order and asserted the need for social distancing measures to lower COVID-19 cases and ease the burden on hospitals during a press conference Wednesday.

"The evidence suggests that the density control measures may be working" already, he said.

On Sunday, the rate of hospitalizations was doubling every two days. On Monday, hospitalizations slowed, and the rate meant that critical cases were doubling every 3.4 days. On Tuesday, the hospitalizations doubling every 4.7 days, Cuomo said.

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Still, he warned that the virus was still spreading and that New Yorkers needed to follow the stay at home order to slow it.

Social distancing refers to actions that prevent the spread of disease by keeping people apart - behaviors like avoiding crowds and staying at home. The goal is to "flatten the curve," or balance out the exponential spread of the coronavirus so that hospitals can handle the influx of patients they'll need to treat.

Cuomo issued a statewide stay at home order on Sunday.

It's part of the strategy to have the virus spread at a slower rate - necessary in a place like New York City, where density is high, and hospital bed numbers are low. The state is experiencing an outbreak, as well - it has 25,665 cases as of Wednesday, according to the COVID Tracking Project. These high numbers are in part because the state has ramped up its testing capacity to 10,000 a day, after the US' delays in rolling out widespread testing.

New York's projection of hospital beds that it will need at the peak of the outbreak from 110,000 to 140,000. Currently, the state has 53,000.

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"New York has 25,000 cases. It has 10 times the problem that California has, 10 times the problem that Washington state has … In New York you are looking at a problem that is of a totally different magnitude and dimension," Cuomo said in his press conference yesterday about the state's response.

Social distancing in the city

The density of the city also makes social distancing harder - keeping six feet between people who are already on top of each other is difficult. That's also why it's needed, Cuomo said.

"You may think you are a superhero," Cuomo said. "You're really not. You can catch it, and you can transfer it."

Of the measures, he noted that they could feel heavy-handed - a reason why he delayed issuing the stay at home order until this weekend, even as cases in the city skyrocketed.

"Yes, they are burdensome," he said. "By the way, they're effective and they're necessary."

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New york coronavirus testing

Sgt. Amouris Coss/U.S. Army National Guard/Handout/Reuters

Doctors at a drive through testing site for COVID-19 in New York.

Social distancing in the suburbs

Cuomo pointed to the social distancing measures issued in the surrounding suburbs, such as Westchester County, where cases had grown exponentially a few weeks prior.

"Can you slow the rate of infection? Yes - look at Westchester," Cuomo said. "That was the hottest cluster in the US. We closed the schools, we closed gatherings, we brought in testing."

In the city of New Rochelle in surrounding Westchester County, a cluster of cases was discovered after a man in his 50s became critically ill. Many in the surrounding community, from his family and synagogue, also tested positive.

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Officials put up a one-mile containment zone where schools were closed, religious services postponed, and gatherings banned.

The state also has been increasing testing capacity - a crucial measure in suppressing the coronavirus. Cuomo said last week that the state has been testing 10,000 people per day.

There are about 4,000 cases in the county as of Wednesday.

"Relatively, we have dramatically slowed what was an exponential increase," Cuomo said.

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