Coronavirus Updates: New York records lowest deaths since March 15

ByEyewitness News WABC logo

Monday, June 29, 2020

New York records lowest deaths since March 15

NEW YORK (WABC) -- Governor Andrew Cuomo Sunday announced New York State's lowest death toll and hospitalizations due to COVID-19 since the pandemic began.

Five deaths were reported Saturday, the lowest single day death number since March 15. The death toll is now at 24,830.

An additional 616 cases were confirmed, bringing the statewide total to 392,539.

Hospitalizations continued to drop (now below 900) and 0.99% of Saturday's COVID-19 tests were positive.

NEW YORK STATE

A high school graduation ceremony in Westchester County is believed to be the source of a coronavirus spread that has health officials concerned.

NEW JERSEY

New Jersey reported 347 new positive cases of COVID-19 on Saturday, bringing the state total to 170,873.

Governor Murphy reported an additional 36 deaths were among residents who had tested positive, bringing the number of deaths in the state to 13,094

NEW YORK CITY

Mayor Bill de Blasio said that the city is on track for Phase 3 to begin on July 6.

Restaurants will reopen for indoor dining in Phase 3 at 50% capacity. Personal care services like nail salons, massage, spas, tanning, tattoo and piercing, and waxing. Some 50,000 workers are expected to return to work in the city in Phase 3.

LONG ISLAND

Nassau County is reviewing options with key stakeholders for a "safe reopening of schools in September," Executive Laura Curran said. She said ultimately, the decision to open will come from the state, but she wants the county to be prepared. The number of daily new cases of coronavirus being reported in Nassau County has dropped below 1%.

Curran says the numbers have continued to drop since reopening began one month ago. She encouraged people to continue to wear face coverings and practice social distancing to mitigate the risks of COVID, just as wearing a seat belt protects people if there is an accident.

CONNECTICUT

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont announced 5 new COVID-19 deaths Sunday.

An additional 9,077 tests were performed, and 97 came back positive (1.1% of total).

Hospitalizations decreased to 103 (3 fewer since Saturday).

Gov. Ned Lamont announced Thursday that Connecticut will plan for a full-time, in-school education framework in the fall, as long as public health data continues to support the model.

While Connecticut has determined reopening schools for in-person instruction can be achieved based upon the state's successful COVID-19 containment efforts, this model will be supported with more intensive mitigation strategies and specific monitoring, containment, and class cancellation plans.

CORONAVIRUS DEATHS SURPASS 500,000

Deaths due to the coronavirus have now surpassed 500,000, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The school's website which tracks the coronavirus pandemic says 500,108 deaths have been reported globally.

The U.S. has reported the most deaths by any country by far at 125,714.

The total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases is now 10,063,319 worldwide.

CALIFORNIA CLOSES BARS

California is ordering bars to close in seven counties due to to the rising spread of COVID-19, Gov. Gavin Newsom announced Sunday.

In a tweet, Newsom said bars in Los Angeles, Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, San Joaqun and Tulare counties are ordered closed. Bars in another eight counties, covering much of suburban Southern California and parts of the Bay Area, were also recommended to close. Those counties included Contra Costa, Riverside, Sacramento, San Bernardino, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Stanislaus and Ventura.

This week the state reported thousands of new cases of COVID-19 each day. On Friday, California announced 5,972 new positive cases.

On June 18, Newsom issued a mandatory mask order amid a spike in COVID-19 cases in the state.

COVID INCREASES ACROSS THE SOUTH

On Saturday, the state of Florida set another record in daily confirmed coronavirus cases.

Florida health officials reported more than 9,500 new COVID-19 cases, surpassing the previous day's total by more than 600 confirmed cases. The figures come as officials move to reclose beaches and discourage bar gatherings.

In addition to Florida and South Carolina, the COVID Tracking Project reports that Nevada and Georgia also hit record high numbers of cases today (with Nevada more than doubling their highest daily total.)

Vice President Mike Pence's campaign events in Arizona and Florida this coming week have been postponed "out of an abundance of caution," a Trump campaign official confirmed to ABC News. Both states are seeing an increase in rates of positivity, hospitalizations, and deaths, according to an ABC News analysis.

WATCH EYEWITNESS TO A PANDEMIC

The sense of doom grew, especially after March 1, when the first confirmed case arrived in Manhattan. Soon, there was a hotspot in New Rochelle, and small curfews and containment zones across the area offered a hint of a frightening future we still thought we could avoid.