Covid-19 hospitalizations plummet statewide from the weekend, but deaths tick up: Cuomo

New Covid-19 hospitalizations dropped 35 percent from the weekend, down from more than 2,000 to 1,300 on Tuesday, Governor Cuomo said from a news conference in Buffalo.

"That is down, and that is good," the governor said.

Coronavirus-related deaths, however, rose slightly overnight, from 478 on Monday to 481 on Tuesday, a 2 percent increase, Cuomo said.

In Nassau, County Executive Laura Curran reported there were more than 31,000 residents who have tested positive, but many of those cases have resolved, she said. Curran also said the number of new hospitalizations was down overnight by 44, bringing the total number hospitalized in the county to 1,999.

The governor was scheduled to meet with President Trump at the White House later Tuesday to discuss Covid-19 testing and the potential reopening of the economy. Cuomo has said repeatedly that mass testing is needed in order to ramp up the economy again.

Testing kit manufacturers have said, however, they cannot get the needed materials to make the tests. It is, they said, an international supply-chain problem. Only the federal government can solve that issue, Cuomo said he believes.

The governor also said he planned to discuss increased federal funding for the states with Trump. Without it, he said, a 20 percent cut in state funding for schools, municipal services and hospitals was possible.