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A 39-year-old woman took Flight 701 from Doha, Qatar, to John F. Kennedy International Airport in late February, the final leg of her trip home to New York City from Iran. A week later, on March 1, she tested positive for the coronavirus, the first confirmed case in New York City of an outbreak that had already devastated China and parts of Europe. The next day, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo, appearing with Mayor Bill de Blasio at a news conference, promised that health investigators would track down every person on the woman’s flight. But no one did. A day later, a lawyer from New Rochelle, a New York City suburb, tested positive for the virus — an alarming sign because he had not traveled to any affected country, suggesting community spread was already taking place. (Goodman, 4/8)

New York state reported 731 new COVID-19 deaths Tuesday, its biggest jump since the start of the outbreak, dampening some of the cautious optimism officials have expressed about efforts to stop the spread of the virus. The state’s death toll grew to 5,489. The alarming surge in deaths comes as new hospital admissions have dropped on average over several days, a possible harbinger of the outbreak finally leveling off. (Villeneuve, Matthews and Hill, 4/8)

Sharon Pollard, director for respiratory care at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y., had eight ventilators left and needed more. Overnight, at least 17 new patients required them. Teams at the hospital unloaded ventilators delivered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The machines were bound for a central depot to distribute to many other hospitals. Ms. Pollard asked if they would leave some at her hospital, which had more than 400 coronavirus patients, many of them growing worse and others still arriving. She asked for 25 and got 15. “We’ll take anything,” she said. (Evans, 4/7)

Neighboring New Jersey also reported its greatest daily increase in deaths—229 fatalities. Governor Phil Murphy announced today he was extending social distancing measures in that state for another 30 days. "Everybody watching: Stay at home," Murphy said during a press conference. "I hate to break people's bubbles, but we're just not close." Murphy said today the state has 44,416 total cases and at least 1,232 deaths. (Soucheray, 4/7)

Contributing to the national record, New York, New Jersey, Louisiana and Illinois reported their highest daily death tolls from the new coronavirus Tuesday, reflecting a precipitous climb in U.S. fatalities even as officials in some of the hard-hit states cautiously advised their outbreaks were starting to slow. Confirmed infections in the U.S. were more than double that of any other nation, at more than 396,000, according to the Johns Hopkins data. American deaths from the virus rose to 12,722, and 20,191 have recovered. (Calfas, Ping and Hinshaw, 4/7)

U.S. authorities on Tuesday reported 30,700 more people infected with the novel coronavirus and over 1,800 more deaths — the highest daily death toll so far. But amid the grim data, some officials said they saw grounds for hope that the pandemic’s devastation would at least not be as bad as the direst projections. (Dennis, Wan and Fahrenthold, 4/7)

Epidemiologists urge Americans not to gain a false sense of confidence and continue to practice social distancing, even as the number of confirmed cases of novel coronavirus appears to be slowing in some states. In New York, the state most impacted by the virus, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said there was a "possible flattening of the curve" on Monday after the total number of hospitalizations, intensive care unit admissions and daily intubations were down. In New Jersey, the second-most affected state, Gov. Phil Murphy similarly said that the state saw its "very first potential signs the curve may be finally flattening." (Torres, 4/8)

The number of new Covid-19 cases in New York appears to be stabilizing, sparking hope among officials that the disease may finally be near its peak in the U.S. epicenter of the pandemic. But health experts caution that the public needs to be clear on what that prospect means. Officials track numerous data points related to the new coronavirus, which causes Covid-19, from daily intubations to deaths. A key figure is the number of new hospitalizations, which can overwhelm health-care systems if they exceed capacity. (Campo-Flores, 4/8)

In its inexorable spread across New York City, the coronavirus is exacting a greater toll on men than women. Not only are men infected in greater numbers, new data show, but they are also dying at nearly twice the rate of women. To date, there have been nearly 43 Covid-19 deaths for every 100,000 men in the city, compared with 23 such deaths for every 100,000 women, according to figures reported by the city’s health department. And men are being hospitalized with severe disease at higher rates. The data, while disturbing, do not come entirely as a surprise. (Rabin, 4/7)

The emergency medical technicians who rushed into Maria Correa’s room in protective gear found a pulse. They told the family in Queens that they were taking her to Jamaica Hospital Medical Center, one of many health care facilities in New York City overwhelmed by the coronavirus outbreak. But when her family called the hospital the next day to check on her condition, they were told she was not there. (Otterman and Watkins, 4/7)