Nearly eight months to the day it announced its first coronavirus case in New York City, the Empire State has topped a half-million confirmed COVID cases, the fourth-highest total in the nation behind Texas, California and Florida. Gov. Andrew Cuomo added 2,031 new cases to the tally Wednesday, the highest single-day number in months, bringing New York's total number of confirmed coronavirus cases to 500,677. Officials acknowledge the actual number of cases could be 10 times higher -- or more -- given testing and societal constraints. New York tests more per capita than any place in the world, Cuomo has said. Still, asymptomatic and other cases inevitably slip through the cracks to some degree. Back in April, that 500,000-case milestone seemed like a rapidly approaching inevitable for New York. Then, over the summer, as infection rates plunged to record lows, it appeared the former epicenter of the national crisis had cracked the code to containment. Now, as cases rise in virtually every U.S. state (and deaths in most of them), the numbers are creeping up in New York.