As of May 8, the total cases of coronavirus in the United States is 1,269,596, and the total deaths is 76,826. The number of cases in New York State are 338,485, and the number of deaths is 27,251. These numbers have a 2 percent increase since the last update.

The number of new hospitalized patients is 8,196. Hospitalization rates have been decreasing, as well as the rate of intubations. The number of COVID-19 patients that were put in hospitals is statistically just about flat and has been for a few days leading up to May 8.

Governor Cuomo said “probably the most important statistic and the most painful” is the number of lives lost, which was 216 people on May 7. This number has been constant in the 200s for the past few days. The death curve has flattened, but is hoped to start decreasing more significantly.

There is a possibility that the virus can come back for a second wave, most likely in the fall or winter. The virus can also go through mutations and changes, potentially restarting the same problem faced at the beginning of the pandemic

New information that had come to light is that the virus did not come to the U.S. from China, but Europe. A person with the virus was likely to have gotten onto a plane in Europe and then to New York City.

From December to March, about three million Europeans came through New York airports, which would be undetected and circulated in that dense environment.

“Today we must consider an outbreak anywhere is an outbreak everywhere,” said A.J. Parkinson.

Although New York is coming up to the eighth week of quarantining and social distancing, there is still much that is not known about COVID-19.

Children, initially thought to be less vulnerable to COVID-19, are seeing symptoms now too. The symptoms are similar to the Kawasaski disease and toxic shock-like syndrome, such as prolonged fever for over five days, difficulty feeding in infants. If the child is too sick to drink fluids, they can suffer from severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, or vomiting, and numerous other symptoms.

COVID-19 has taken a toll on minority communities the most. Their infection rate is higher, and a disproportionate number of new cases come from them.