Coronavirus New York Shock: Two-Thirds Of Recent Patients Infected While Staying At Home

Two-thirds of COVID-19 cases reported in New York that required hospitalization were individuals who had stayed at home. Sixty-six percent of the respondents were at home before being admitted, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, said while sharing the survey results at a press conference.

“This is a surprise," NBC News quoted Gov. Cuomo as saying. "Sixty-six percent of the people were at home, which is shocking to us. They're not working; they're not traveling, of these recently hospitalized coronavirus patients."

This results show that the deadly novel coronavirus has continued to spread even when people were following the lockdown rules. The results also indicate the need to follow other precauionary measures like hand-washing to slow down the virus' spread.

Key points the New York coronavirus survey:

• 66% came from their homes, 18% from nursing homes, and 4% from assisted living facilities. A very small proportion were homeless or had come from prison.
• The surveyed patients were over 51 years old and were either retired, unemployed or nonessential workers.
• About 96% of them had co-morbidities. This means that nearly all of them were diagnosed with another ailment prior to becoming infected with the coronavirus.
• COVID-19 disproportionately affected Hispanics and African Americans living in the NYC.

The data came from 113 hospitals reporting information on patients being treated over three recent days, according to state health officials. The survey appears to be unique in that it showed where the patients came from prior to being hospitalized.

Some of the results from the survey with respect to age and ethnicity also matched a study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control, which reported that older adults and African Americans were more likely to contract COVID-19.

The survey was conducted because COVID-19-related hospitalizations seem to be declining at a much slower rate in New York. Although the governor didn’t explain why so many of them were coming from their homes, he highlighted the fact that the survey results reaffirm precautionary measures including handwashing and mask-wearing to protect the vulnerable lot.

"We were thinking that maybe we were going to find a higher percentage of essential employees who were getting sick because they were going to work — that these may be nurses, doctors, transit workers," Gov. Cuomo said. "That's not the case. They were predominantly at home,"