Coronavirus News: Governor Cuomo warns of 2nd COVID-19 wave, calls for intense testing

NEW YORK (WABC) -- There are more than 160,000 confirmed cases in the state of New York. Governor Andrew Cuomo appeared on "Good Morning America" on Friday morning. He was asked by Michael Strahan if the state was at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. "That's the big question," Cuomo said. "We think we're at the plateau, and the hospitalization rate is coming down."

The terrible news, Cuomo added, is that the death toll is going up. He says many of the deaths are people who were put on ventilators and did not come back off.

"We'll see the death toll going down hopefully over the next few days, nobody really knows," Cuomo said.

The governor urged residents to continue social distancing, especially through the Easter weekend. "The numbers aren't doing anything on their own, this is all a function of what people are doing," Cuomo said.

Strahan asked the governor how we can get back to the economy and start to move forward. "Before we start to relax there is some troubling news about a second wave," Cuomo said, "We don't want the same thing to happen twice."

The key to coming out of this crisis is going to be testing, the governor said. "We're going to have to be able to test in a way we've never tested before." It's the key to getting people back to work.

"There has to be some kind of lesson from this because we paid a very high price," Cuomo said.

Watch the full interview

The governor told Michael Strahan on GMA that we are at a plateau but not yet a peak.

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Pedestrians wear protective masks during the coronavirus pandemic while walking on the boardwalk Friday, May 22, 2020, in Long Beach, N.Y.

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