Latest coronavirus updates in New York: Sunday, April 12, 2020

NEW YORK — Below you will find the most up-to-date information on coronavirus news impacting New York. You can find additional resources and coverage on our coronavirus page.

11:30 a.m.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo is holding his daily coronavirus briefing. Watch the news conference below.

• The number of daily hospitalizations has dropped to the lowest since state health officials began tracking the outbreak.
• The peak of the outbreak is clearly a plateau, Cuomo said, pointing to several consecutive days of similar total hospitalization numbers.
• “You’re not seeing a great decline in the numbers but you are seeing a flattening,” the governor said.
• An additional 758 people have died of coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 9,385.
• There’s been a flattening of the daily death toll, though it’s a “terribly high” number, Cuomo said.
• The federl CARES Act, a stimulus package passed by Congress to help Americans during the pandemic, did not include any funding to help state governments struggling to stop the spread of coronavirus, the governor said.
• “We need a fair federal stimulus bill,” Cuomo demanded.
• Cuomo will be speaking Sunday with New jersey Gov. Phil Murphy and Connecticut Gov. Ned Lamont about a tri-state area approach to reopening businesses and schools.
• A new executive order directs employers to provide essential workers cloth or surgical face masks for workers to wear when they directly interact with the public, at no cost to the employees.
• A new executive order expands on who can conduct antibody tests to help ensure as many New Yorkers as possible have access as the state works to bring testing to scale.
• Schools and businesses need to reopen at the same time, Cuomo said, countering an announcement by Mayor Bill de Blasio that New York City schools woud remain closed for the rest of the year. Read more.

9:30 a.m.
Mayor Bill de Blasio gave an update on New York City’s coronavirus fight. Watch below.

• The mayor started the news conference by wishing people a Happy Easter and Happy Passover.
• De Blasio noted that while more people are getting sick, it’s fewer than earlier feared. “Still way too many, still more each day, but still fewer.”
• There is an average of 70 more intubations daily, down from 200-300 people.
• “We will have enough ventilators for the coming week,” de Blasio said, staving off earlier fears that there would be an immediate shortage.
• Testing, however, is still “not anywhere we need” it to be, the mayor said.
• The mayor called on the federal government to get the city 110,000 individualized tests, including 25,000 for NYC Health + Hospitals. He also announced five community testing sites will open by the end of next week. Read more here.
• Acknowledging different messages the mayor and Gov. Cuomo gave on NYC public schools on Saturday, de Blasio said, “the best way to protect people is to keep schools closed.” On Saturday, the mayor announced public schools would remain closed through the remainder of the school year, but just hours later, the governor said de Blasio does not have the authority to make such a decision. Read more here.

9 a.m.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo spoke outside of an upstate nursing home that donated ventilators. Watch the news conference below.

• New York lost “hundreds more” people to COVID-19 overnight, Cuomo said.
• The governor lauded Pathways Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, a nursing home in Niskayuna, for donating 35 ventilators to use in the metropolitan area to fight the COVID-19 outbreak.
• “What a beautiful, generous thing to do,” Cuomo said.

COVID-19 timeline: How novel coronavirus spread

Tips to protect yourself and others amid coronavirus outbreaks

The New York state coronavirus hotline is 1-888-364-3065; information is also being posted here