Albany, N.Y. - During his Saturday morning press briefing on COVID-19, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced 437 more people died in New York State due to coronavirus on Friday.

The total number of deaths in the state now stands at 16,599.

Cuomo says the 437 deaths number is up from Thursday's toll of 422. There were 438 on Wednesday, 474 on Tuesday and 481 on Monday.

The Governor says all evidence says that we are on the downside of the pandemic right now.

Cuomo is authorizing all independent pharmacies in the state to be independent test sites.

He says with the number of available tests, along with the additional available testing sites, the eligibility to who can get tested can be opened up wider.

Cuomo says he is hearing it more and more, that people can no longer do this, to stay inside, to social distance, etc...

He says we have been at this for 56 days, and what we have done has saved lives, "What you're doing is actually saving lives. That's not rhetorical, that's not overly dramatic. You are saving lives. What you were doing here has saved lives. Every expert, every expert, CDC, the White House Task Force, Columbia University, the group that Bill Gates funded, everyone of them projected there would be at least 100,000 more serious infections in the state of New York. We did what we had to do, which was hard and is hard. Well what did we accomplish? 100,000 less serious infections. that's what 56 days of our relative 'living through hell' has accomplished, and that is a heck of an accomplishment."

Finally, the Governor says it's a beautiful day and he is going to get outside with his family by going hiking and says he will be wearing a mask.