New York virus deaths rise fast, but hospitalizations slow

NEW YORK (AP) — New York COVID-19-related deaths jumped yet again by more than 700 in a day, while hospitals battling the outbreak reported encouraging news. On the economic front, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said testing would have to be ramped up dramatically to put New York back in business and the state tried to improve its overwhelmed unemployment insurance website.

New York developments in the coronavirus outbreak:

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THE NUMBERS

Coronavirus deaths in New York jumped by 777 in one day, as the number of people hospitalized stayed relatively flat.

The mix of encouraging and grim news from Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday has become familiar this week as people hospitalized in previous weeks die. More than 3,000 deaths have been recorded since Monday to bring the statewide count to 7,844.

The number of hospitalizations increased by 290, compared to daily increases of more than 1,000 last week. The number of intensive care patients was actually down slightly for the first time since mid-March.

There were 18,569 people hospitalized.

Cuomo said that if the hospitalization rate stays flat, New York might not need the overflow field hospitals they have been scrambling to construct recently.

New York state has about 170,000 confirmed cases, a number that only counts infected people who have been tested.

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TENNIS CENTER HOSPITAL

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio celebrated the opening of the National Tennis Center in Queens as a hospital Friday and said the facility may be used to quarantine recovering patients to prevent a resurgence of the coronavirus once the city is past the acute crisis phase of the pandemic.

“You need a lot of capacity to quarantine people and isolate people to make that work,” de Blasio said. “Facilities like these, if they’re not needed for...