By
Bhushan Akolkar
April 17th, 2024
With more than 160,000 confirmed cases, the New York coronavirus infection volume is now the world’s largest. New York now has more confirmed cases than any country in the world.
The coronavirus pandemic is far from over as many countries around the world are still reporting large numbers of new infections. The highly contagious disease has affected more than 1.6 million people with almost 99,000 deaths worldwide. Recently, the United States made terrible history, as it became the country with the highest number of positive coronavirus infections. Now, New York, the hardest-hit state in the US, has more confirmed coronavirus cases than any other country, suffering both health and economic damage.
New York Sets Coronavirus Record
The state of New York now has a total of 161,807 coronavirus infections after the number of confirmed cases jumped by more than 10,000 in 24 hours. As it inches closer to 162,000 confirmed cases, New York now has more cases than Italy, France, Germany, and Spain. New York is now the epicenter of the virus in the United States.
During a recent press conference, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo used words like “battle” and “war” to describe the situation, as confirmed cases and the death toll continues to increase. According to him, the virus is “very good at what it does” and needs to be dealt with head-on.
The Governor is however confident that as biting as the coronavirus pandemic is, the state has been “flattening the curve so far.” While the number of fatalities continues to increase in the state (over 7,000), Cuomo says there’s a drop in the number of hospitalizations. He says now isn’t the time to relax.
Effects on New York
New York has suffered both the health effects and economic effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Over the last two weeks, Cuomo has repeatedly asked for support from the federal government. He has requested for several medical supplies including masks, ventilators and other equipment to help patients’ chances of survival.
There is also an economic effect. Cuomo says that the economy is worse than it was during the 9/11 attack in 2001.
Recently, the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that it will inject $2.3 trillion into the economy in the form of loans as a stimulus package. Households and businesses with less than $2.5 billion in 2019 and less than 10,000 staff, will have access.
The Fed said that it will suspend all repayments for a year. It will allow recipients to get back on their feet. According to Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, the institution will continue to “provide as much relief and stability” as possible during this period.
New York probably needs the stimulus package more than other states. With the highest number of confirmed cases, active cases and total deaths, Governor Cuomo could soon call for a large amount of the stimulus package to be delivered to New York.