‘This is a Concern’: Gov. Cuomo Sounds the Alarm as Covid-19 Positivity Rates Approach 15 Percent in Some Parts of New York

Covid-19 test positivity rates are approaching 15 percent across 10 Zip codes in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) said Tuesday.

“A cluster today can be community spread tomorrow,” Cuomo said at a press conference in Albany. He noted the state’s top 20 Zip codes have a combined test positivity rate exceeding 5 percent compared to 1.1 percent in the rest of the state.

The worst-hit communities include Orange and Rockland counties, in addition to Brooklyn. Cuomo said the new “clusters” of cases overlapped with Orthodox Jewish communities, which celebrated Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur this month.

“This is a concern for their community, public health concern for their community,” Cuomo said. “It’s also a public health concern for surrounding communities.

“This Brooklyn cluster, we have to get to the bottom of it,” he added. “Data is key, and we have to act on the data.”

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference earlier in the day that the positivity rate in New York City had breached 3 percent, the highest figure since June, and said “all options” to combat it were on the table.

Cuomo also said local leaders had been “very uneven across the state” in terms of the measures they’ve taken in response to the virus, and called on them to become more aggressive in light of the surge. “You have a job. Do it,” Cuomo said.

The state has experienced nearly 500,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus this year, with more than 33,000 people dying as a result of it.

Watch above via the New York Governor’s Office.

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