New York state and city officials plan to close some streets in the nation's largest city and may close parks and playgrounds there to contain the coronavirus outbreak as cases across the state surge to 30,811, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday. State and local officials are taking a tougher line to enforce social distancing recommendations. He said city residents aren't following the state's guidelines encouraging people to maintain a distance of at least 6 feet from each other, which he said was "effective and necessary" to slow hospitalization rates. "The plan is going to pilot closing streets in New York City because we have much less traffic in New York City. We have many fewer vehicles in New York City," he said at a press conference in Albany. He said that by opening the streets, fewer people will congregate in the parks. "People want to walk. They want to go out and get some air. You want a less dense area, so pilot closing streets to cars, opening streets to pedestrians."

An empty playground is viewed on March 24, 2020 in New York City. Angela Weiss | AFP via Getty Images

The state's hospitalization rate is "moving faster than initial estimates," he said, adding that health officials project that 140,000 people will be hospitalized with the coronavirus over the next 14 to 21 days. The state previously said it would need 110,000 beds for COVID-19 patients by early to mid-May. More than 3,800 people have already been hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state and 888 are in the ICU, Cuomo said. The Army Corps of Engineers is building several temporary hospitals to house up to 4,000 COVID-19 patients throughout the state, which has just 53,000 hospital beds. That still won't be enough., the governor said. He also estimates the state will need 40,000 ICU beds at the peak of the outbreak. It currently has only 3,000. Cuomo encouraged residents to seek out counseling if they are feeling anxious, adding that the state has more than 6,000 mental health professionals on hand and is setting up a mental health hotline for residents. People shouldn't "underestimate" the impact of "emotional trauma," he said.

A chart showing the Most Impacted States in the U.S. affected by Covid-19. New York State