Governor Andrew Cuomo said in a briefing late Wednesday morning that Western New York seems to be flattening its coronavirus curve, but the Finger Lakes region including Rochester is not. He said the Finger Lakes and Central New York are now the state’s focus for controlling COVID-19.
Cuomo said New York City and the North Country now have the lowest infection rates per population.
Overall, Cuomo says New York is doing well on infection rate compared to the rest of the country. But he said New York is still a boat on a rising tide.
The governor denied that New York is heading for a shutdown due to coronavirus. He said its possible, but nobody knows because it’s up to New Yorkers to decide what will happen over the next three weeks. He says slowing the spread, managing hospital capacity and administering the vaccine will slow the curve. He called again for people not to gather in their homes despite the holidays, saying we need to focus on health.
Cuomo said the state has now received 87,000 doses of the vaccine and expects another 80,000 in a few days which will be dedicated to nursing home patients. The state is distributing it region-by-region according to a formula designed to hand it out fairly. They also hope to get shipments of the Moderna vaccine in addition to the Pfizer vaccine once the Moderna vaccine is approved.
Priority general public, people with underlying health conditions, will begin to be treated in the second phase of the program. Regional vaccination hubs will be set up to create plans for each part of the state to handle that, subject to state approval of the regional plan. The University of Rochester is the manager of the Finger Lakes Hub and will administer the vaccinations locally. They will work with city and county governments and other health organizations to reach out and vaccinate the people who are eligible in each phase.
Governor Cuomo says this second phase will begin sometime in January, and he wants to see New York be the first state to slay the coronavirus. He says no person will have to pay a penny for the vaccination.