The number of deaths from the novel coronavirus continued to reach grim milestones, with more than 800 fatalities reported Tuesday in New York City, according to city health officials.
The national daily total of 1,858, according to Johns Hopkins University, also reachfed a record high.
It is unclear whether the New York City figure of 806 was used in compiling the US total.
Still, the distressing numbers came as some officials expressed hope that some areas of the country were reaching the peak of the curves of cases, hospitalizations and deaths.
Earlier New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo had said the numbers of hospitalizations in his state was reaching a plateau but residents still needed to be disciplined.
“We have to be smart. We have to be safe. … We do that by staying at home,” he told reporters.
The US coronavirus death toll exceeds 12,800, but health officials say parts of the country that leaned in heavily to social distancing measures may be seeing a slowdown in the growth of coronavirus cases.
The majority of people in the US are “doing the right thing” by staying home and following other mitigation measures to help fight the coronavirus pandemic, US Surgeon General Dr. Jerome Adams told ABC’s “Good Morning America.”
“I’m seeing mitigation work. I know I’ve said it a couple times with Washington and with California,” Adams said.
“Their public health officials there should be applauded because they’ve given us the blueprint for how we deal with this and the rest of the country,” he added.
New York has reported almost 140,000 positive cases; a large chunk of the almost 400,000 coronavirus cases in the US, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins.
The way the city reports its deaths soon will include possible coronavirus deaths at homes.
