New York state sets grim record with 731 coronavirus deaths in single day

A New York state-record 731 coronavirus deaths were reported Tuesday, running the total toll to 5,489 — a grim twist following a two-day dip that led officials to believe the disease may have hit its apex.

“Behind every one of those numbers is an individual,” said Gov. Andrew Cuomo in his daily Albany press briefing. “Is a mother, is a father, is a sister, is a brother.”

The unthinkable one-day toll smashed the previous high of 630, reported by Cuomo on Saturday.

But following that hellish day, the state logged 594 deaths on Sunday and 599 on Monday, leading Cuomo and others to believe the contagion may finally be leveling off.

The heart-breaking state record was revealed as New York City passed a morbid milestone of its own, now reporting 3,202 total deaths — more than the 2,996 lost in the 9/11 terror attacks.

A total of 138,836 diagnoses have been reported statewide, a 24-hour increase of 8,147.

With the disease still very much thriving, Cuomo stressed that New York can still chart its own course through a forceful health care response and social-distancing discipline.

“It still depends on what we do, and what we do will affect those numbers,” he said. “This is not an act of God that we’re looking at.

“It’s an act of what society actually does.”