Archive: NYS COVID-19 Resources & Information
1/27/21

In the rapidly changing dynamics of combating the Coronavirus, information is updated constantly. This archive is being provided as an additional resource for those seeking to learn more about how New York State is addressing COVID-19.

LATEST NEWS & INFORMATION - 1/27/21 

From Governor Cuomo’s Zoom briefing in Albany:

OVERVIEW

  • Day 333
  • Statewide positivity rate: 5.44%
  • 202,661 tests conducted
  • 170 deaths
  • 8,771 hospitalizations (-60)
  • 1,588 ICU patients (+14)
  • 1,027 intubations (+21)

REGIONAL HOSPITALIZATIONS

  • Finger Lakes: 662 (0.05%)
  • Western NY: 426 (0.03%)
  • Southern Tier: 240 (0.04%
  • Mid-Hudson: 1,056 (0.05%)
  • Central New York: 250 (0.03%)
  • Mohawk Valley: 240 (0.05%)
  • Capital Region: 474 (0.04%)
  • NYC: 3,771 (0.04%)
  • Long Island: 1,553 (0.05%)
  • North Country: 99 (0.02%)

POSITIVITY RATE

  • Finger Lakes: 4.85%
  • Western NY: 5.54%
  • Southern Tier: 2.72%
  • Mid-Hudson: 6.70%
  • Central New York: 4.31%
  • Mohawk Valley: 6.02%
  • Capital Region: 6.16%
  • NYC: 5.39%
  • Long Island: 6.83%
  • North Country: 6.45%
  • Manhattan: 3.36%
  • Bronx: 6.98%
  • Queens: 5.73%
  • Staten Island: 5.64%
  • Brooklyn: 5.54%

GENERAL

  • Positivity rate over the holidays went from 2.93% to 12.46%.
  • Hospitalizations, positivity rates on the decline statewide.
  • New strains pose risk for another surge.
  • On NYC restaurants, the state will be talking to officials this week, will announce plan by the end of the week.
  • Red line capacity for hospitals is 15% availability or less.

FEDERAL

  • NY to receive 16% more vaccine allocation for the next 3 weeks.
  • President Biden announced to NGA more FEMA, providing funding to states to perform vaccines ($450 million advance for NY).
  • More federal vaccine purchasing to meet supply shortage (est. 200 million more doses, which will arrive in 6-9 months).

VACCINES

  • 96% of dosages received have been administered over the last 6 weeks.
  • Cuomo calls on local governments to vaccinate more hospital staff.
  • Federal LTCF Program: 72% of residents in nursing homes have been vaccinated to date.

          - 44% of nursing home staff have been vaccinated overall
          - All staff will have been offered vaccination by February 7th

  • Cuomo calls for local governments to maintain social equity in vaccine distribution.
  • State will partner with local governments to open vaccination sites.

FROM THE Q&A

On indoor dining, is the Gov leaning towards 25% capacity or 50%:

  •     There is no definite plan yet, will have a plan by the end of the week and leaning towards 25% capacity.

On restaurants, will closing time be extended from 10 to midnight:

  •     No, because when restaurants are open later there tends to be more drinking and gathering.

Should people's addresses be taken into account when administering vaccines:

  •     We need to help the Bronx, there is no problem with restricting a site to address problem areas.

On yellow/orange zones, what restrictions remain in place for gatherings:

  •     There are no orange zones currently.
  •     Yellow zone guidance:

        - Limits on indoor/outdoor dining
        - 50% capacity at places of worship
        - 25 people maximum for gatherings

What are the restrictions outside of orange/yellow zones:

  •     All the usual requirements for COVID are still in place, like testing requirements for salons/schools, curfew for restaurants, etc.

Is the UK variant spreading widely? What is being done to detect variants:

  • NYS is looking at 3,000 samples to detect variants.
  • There are cases of variants in all parts of the state.
  • 42 positives for the UK variant in NY.

How concerned is the Governor on lifting restrictions given the UK strain:

  • The measures are justified but the facts may change.
  •  If experts discover more information about strains, NY will adapt.