The Monday morning, April 13 Johns Hopkins COVID-19 Dashboard reports 1,872,073 confirmed cases of COVID-19 worldwide, with the United States having the most cases at 558,999.   Deaths worldwide now stand at 116,098.  In the United States, the confirmed death toll is 22,154.  New York State Public Health Department reports that the state continues to have the most cases at 188,694, with 9,385 deaths as of Sunday.  New York’s Governor Andrew Cuomo in the Monday morning media update said the toll as of Monday morning is 10,056.

Cuomo said although there are around 2,000 people per day still coming into hospitals for COVID-19, the number of cases appears to be plateauing, and deaths appear to be leveling off.  Cuomo said the worst may be over if New Yorkers continue to stay the course, isolate, and practice social distancing.  Via Twitter,  Cuomo said  “We are in a situation that never has occurred before. Reopening the economy is a delicate balance. The objective is to ease isolation & increase economic activity without increasing the infection rate. We must do it slowly & intelligently & with every precaution.”

Cuomo said reopening the economy will be a slow process.  He said there must be a parallel monitoring of the virus and if it begins to pop back up, there must be further tightening.

Spain,  which has more than 169,000 cases, second to the United States, is seeing the death toll slowing and has begun steps to reopen its economy.