Get all the latest news on coronavirus and more delivered daily to your inbox.  Sign up here.

New York Presbyterian director of global health and emergency medicine Dr. Craig Spencer told Fox News Monday that New York City is "not on the back side" of the coronavirus pandemic yet, despite optimism from some officials that the curve of cases is beginning to flatten.

"We're in a better place than we were a few days ago. Definitely a couple weeks ago," Spencer told "Bill Hemmer Reports". "But it's still important to remember we're in the acute phase. Even if certain numbers are down, they're down from a really high high. We still have people being incubated every day ... And we still have hundreds of New Yorkers dying every single day."

THE CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK, STATE-BY-STATE

Spencer told Hemmer it's important that restrictions and so-called "stay-at-home" orders aren't loosened too quickly.

"This is still a crisis," Spencer said. "And it's really important that we're not complacent, because if we let up now, if people think that now's the time that we start getting out of the house, the number of cases will only rebound and we'll be back in the same situation again."

The doctor then explained the difference between the reaching a peak in coronavirus cases as opposed to reaching a plateau, the goal of exhortations by officials to "flatten the curve."

"The important thing with a peak is that cases go up and then they go down just as quickly or maybe even more quickly," Spencer said. "The plateau means we get to a certain level, which may be a really high level, clear and close to what we are at now. And that holds for sometimes it may be days, it may be weeks."

CLICK HERE FOR COMPLETE CORONAVIRUS COVERAGE

Spencer concluded the interview by reiterating that the situation remains serious and many families are still being affected by the pandemic.

"We're still holding the hands of people who are dying every single day alone in emergency rooms, calling their family on face time so they can have a chat with them one last time," Spencer said.  "The impact of this on communities, even if the numbers are going down, is still huge. And we need to continue to remember that."