Governor Cuomo Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress During COVID-19 Pandemic

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. New York State's positivity rate without the Red Zone focus areas included was 1.05 percent for yesterday's test results. The state's overall positivity rate is 1.12 percent.

In "Red Zone" focus areas included as part of the Governor's Cluster Action Initiative, the positivity rate for test results reported yesterday is 3.70 percent - down from the 6.13 percent average from last week - however, it is important to note that weekend test results are often not reflective of the current situation and testing results over the next days will help show the impact of recent efforts to combat these outbreaks. The "Red Zone" focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of state's population, yet had 17.6 percent of all positive cases reported last week to New York State.

"In New York our strategy is to identify micro-clusters. We do more testing than any other state, so we have more data. We also are obsessive about getting incoming case numbers from the hospitals. You map those cases and you find the greatest predominance of cases in a geographic area. That is a micro-cluster," Governor Cuomo said. "We have an approximately 1 percent infection rate statewide, which is very low compared to other states. If we find an area where the rate is 2 percent, that's a micro-cluster. Three percent in a lot of states would be a safe zone - in New York, we consider it a micro-cluster. So we are doing very targeted analysis because we have so much testing capacity, and we will continue to let the data and science drive our approach to keeping the virus in check."

A comparison between New York and other states with regard to COVID-19 data is available below:

Within the "Red Zone" focus areas, 2,190 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 81 positives or a 3.70 percent positivity rate. In the remainder of the state, not counting these "Red Zone" focus areas, 89,603 test results were reported, yielding 948 positives or a 1.05 percent positivity rate.

The "Red Zone" focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of the state population yet had 7.9 percent of all positive test results reported to the state yesterday, and 17.6 percent of all positive case results reported to the state last week. The positivity rate for test results this past week in the "Red Zone" areas was 6.13 percent last week, down slightly from the prior week as shown in the charts below. Given that yesterday's test results are from weekend data reporting, additional weekday data will be required to assess current trends and the effect of efforts to combat the viral spread in 'red zone' focus areas.

Yesterday, the State Liquor Authority and State Police Task Force visited 641 establishments in New York City and Long Island and observed 5 establishments that were not in compliance with state requirements. A county breakdown of yesterday's observed violations is below:

• Nassau - 5

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

• Patient Hospitalization - 878 (+58)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 122
• Hospital Counties - 39
• Number ICU - 185 (-1)
• Number ICU with Intubation - 86 (+2)
• Total Discharges - 77,691 (+60)
• Deaths - 12
• Total Deaths - 25,587

Of the 122 new hospital admissions yesterday, 40 percent were from the hot spot areas New York State is monitoring in downstate counties--Orange, Rockland, Brooklyn and Queens--and parts of the Southern Tier where recent upticks and clusters have developed, including in Broome, Chemung, and Steuben counties. The State is deploying additional community testing resources to these areas over the next days.

Each region's percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

Each New York City borough's percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

Of the 475,315 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

Yesterday, there were 12 deaths due to COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 25,587. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence: