Yellow Zone Expansion
Early this afternoon during his press conference Governor Cuomo indicated that there had been no change in the State’s red or orange zones, but that there had been an expansion of several yellow zones. A yellow zone is defined as having a 3% positivity rate (7-day average) over the past 10 days and is in the top 10% in the State for hospital admissions per capita over the past week, and is experiencing week-over-week growth in daily admissions.
The changes in the State’s yellow zones are:
- Niagara County – the past yellow zone has grown in size
- Genesee County, Batavia – this is a newly recognized yellow zone
- Oneida County, Utica and Rome – this is a newly recognized yellow zone
Full maps detailing these changes in the yellow zones, as well as the rest of the red, orange and yellow zones across New York State, can be found here.
COVID-19 Vaccine
With the emergency approval by the F.D.A. of the Pfizer vaccine this past Friday and the subsequent approval by the New York State Clinical Advisory Task Force, the Governor held a morning video presentation at the Long Island Jewish Medical Center where a staff critical care nurse became the first New Yorker to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The State is scheduled to initially receive 170,000 doses of the vaccine from Pfizer, 10,000 of which the Governor stated would be administered today.
New York is also scheduled to receive 346,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Moderna, if it is approved by the F.D.A. Approval could happen as quickly as later this week.
New York State COVID-19 Numbers
The statewide positivity rate yesterday was 5.66% with 5,712 hospitalizations, an increase of 302. There were 83 COVID-19 deaths in New York State yesterday.
