Variants Continue

Today, Governor Cuomo announced that there was currently a patient at a New York City hospital that had been confirmed to have the South African variant of COVID-19. This patient did not originate in the State but was transferred from a Connecticut medical facility directly to the New York Hospital.

 

Vaccine Eligibility and Protocol

The Governor announced that more than 2 million New Yorkers have received the first dose of their vaccine and more than 1 million New Yorkers have been fully vaccinated.

 

With the expansion of those qualified for the vaccine to now include individuals with comorbidities, it’s estimated that there are approximately 10 million New Yorkers who are now vaccine eligible.

 

New York City Public Transportation

A partial restoration of overnight service on the New York City Subway system will begin in the early morning of Monday, February 22. Governor Cuomo announced that this reopening will assist in the push to help re-open the NYC economy.

 

Response to Nursing Home Concerns

In a response to the recent revelations that the Governor’s office and DOH attempted to conceal the number of nursing home deaths in the state, Governor Cuomo stated that the Administration was always forthcoming with the numbers of deaths but that they had to prioritize requests for information by the legislature once the Dept. of Justice opened an inquiry. The Governor did however say that he was sorry his administration did not prioritize the release of complete information about the spread of COVID-19 in nursing facilities and that this void helped create “conspiracies and disinformation” surrounding what was happening inside of nursing homes.

New York State COVID-19 Numbers

The statewide positivity rate yesterday was 3.5%.  There were 6,623 hospitalized individuals yesterday, and over the past week there has been a net decrease of 1,093 patients hospitalized. There were 103 COVID-19 deaths in New York State yesterday.