The highly contagious strain of Covid-19 recently discovered in the UK has reached New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.
State health officials said they had tracked down a case of tension in a Saratoga County man. The new variant, which is known to spread 70% faster than earlier versions of the virus, was first detected in a man in Colorado in the US, health officials said last week.
The New York man is associated with N. Fox Jewelers in Saratoga Springs, a company where other people tested positive for the virus, New York State officials said. Officials have asked everyone who has been visiting the store since December 18 to be tested.
A hand disinfectant station at N. Fox Jewelers in Saratoga Springs, NY, in May.
Photo:
Cindy Schultz for The Wall Street Journal
The identification of the new tribe in New York took place when Covid-19 hospitalizations and positivity rates continued to climb in the state, mostly in areas north of the Hudson Valley.
Another 170 New York residents died Sunday from Covid-19, and 8,251 people across the state were admitted to the hospital, the Democratic governor said. This is the highest hospitalization rate since May 7th. Calculated on an average of seven days, 71% of the available hospital beds of the state are occupied.
The number of people admitted to the hospital is higher in regions abroad that were not hit as hard as the city of New York this spring during the initial wave of the pandemic. The highest positivity rates are in the Mohaw Valley and the Finger Lakes regions; the latter includes the city of Rochester.
‘If you’re in the territory of the state, then take it seriously. “You have to take more precautions than people in other parts of the state,” he said. Cuomo said at a news conference.
He said he would only order further strike if the data showed hospitals would be exceeded. New York currently bans gatherings of more than ten people in the state and bans indoor dining in New York.
Albany County CEO Dan McCoy said Monday that the number of hospitalized Covid-19 patients has exceeded its record level over the past three consecutive days.
Albany County CEO Dan McCoy said at a Monday briefing that Covid-19’s hospitalizations had broken records in recent days.
Photo:
Albany County Executive Officer Daniel P. McCoy
On Monday, he called on people to stay home and support restaurants by getting picked up, and he asked school districts to interrupt the pupils for a week or two rather than start again after the holidays.
‘Only go out if necessary. If you can stay home, stay home. Do not travel if you do not have to, ”said Mr. McCoy, a Democrat, said. “It will all have a consequence that we move forward.”
Only the state has the authority to close school buildings, or to order restrictions on activities such as dining, personal care, and gyms.
Mr. Cuomo said earlier in July that he would close schools in a region where the seven-day average positive percentage was above 9%. But on Monday, he said schools could remain open if the data showed the school’s positivity rate was lower than the surrounding communities. That would be to individual districts, the governor said.
The Mohawk Valley had the highest seven-day positivity rate of the state at 10.4%, state officials reported Monday. Anthony Picente, CEO of Oneida County, whose office is in Utica, agrees with Cuomo’s setup.
“I can not say that I want to see things closed, because I do not think it will work out,” he said. Picente, a Republican, said. “It’s behavior, education that we have to go through and hopefully we have to get this vaccine out the door faster to stop this tide.”
Write to Jimmy Vielkind by [email protected]
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