During CNN’s “State of the Union,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker of Illinois projected that his state’s peak was expected toward the end of April. As of Saturday, Illinois had reported 10,000 infections and 250 deaths, and has begun setting up makeshift hospitals.
Mr. Pritzker accused the Trump administration of not reacting quickly enough to the warnings of the seriousness of the virus released by intelligence in January and February.
“If they had started in February building ventilators, getting ready for this pandemic, we would not have the problems we are having today and, frankly, very many fewer people would die,” he said.
The governor, a Democrat who has requested 4,000 ventilators from the federal government, noted that states do not have the same power as the federal government, especially when it comes to use of the federal Defense Production Act.
“There’s no way that we can stockpile in anticipation of a pandemic that no one anticipated, and yet the federal government is responsible for doing precisely that,” Mr. Pritzker said.
In New York, which has been hit the hardest, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at his regular daily briefing in Albany that there appeared to be “a slight plateauing” in the number of deaths related to the coronavirus in the state, which on Sunday totaled 4,159, up from 3,565 on Saturday morning. The number of cases in the state reached 122,031, up from 113,704 the day before. In New York City, the number was 67,551, up from 60,306.
Mr. Cuomo said New York could be “near the apex,” but he added that “we won’t know for the next few days, does it go up, does it go down.”