New York has reported its first death from the coronavirus— an 82-year-old woman with a history of lung disease died in Brooklyn on Friday evening.
“It’s tragic—we are going to lose some people.” Mr. Bill de Blasio said on MSNBC Saturday morning. “There are some, I am certain, that could had been saved if the testing were here from the beginning.”
As of Saturday, New York had 524 reported cases; more than 100 have been hospitalized.
While most coronavirus cases will not require hospitalization, officials worry that the nation’s capacity—about 50,000 hospital beds and 3,000 intensive care units—can not handle the influx of patients in the weeks to come.
Hospital systems are preparing by canceling elective operations, following guidance released Friday by the American College of Surgeons. New York City’s Health and Hospitals Corporation, which operates the largest hospital system in the country, plans to cancel nonemergency surgeries; on Saturday, NewYork Presbyterian, one of the largest hospital systems in New York City, announced similar plans.
Meanwhile, Gov. Cuomo reported Friday that 150 cars came through the state’s new drive-through testing site in New Rochelle, a New York City suburb at the center of the city’s outbreak.
