Governor Andrew Cuomo held his briefing on Monday – unveiling new zones across the state of New York.
Ahead of those announcements, he noted that 5,712 people were hospitalized with COVID-19 across the state. The state’s positivity rate the day before was 5.66%.
For the Finger Lakes region it wasn’t good news. They claimed the title as ‘highest rate’ of hospitalization, which is a major metric in the Governor’s plan for COVID-19 mitigation.
However, it meant no further economic restrictions. “Best news of the day,” Rochester Chamber of Commerce President Bob Duffy wrote on Twitter. He leads the Finger Lakes regional control room. “We are not moving into a ‘Red zone’ shut down. We need to maintain the discipline of avoiding behaviors that drive up the infection rates. The Finger Lakes Region can reverse this current spike and get out of Yellow/Orange.”
Governor Cuomo railed against those who are minimizing or bolstering certain COVID metrics, saying that the state uses positivity rate, hospitalization, and deaths. “At this rate, if nothing happens we could have 11,000 people in hospitals,” he said. “This is what could happen if nothing changes; and if nothing changes some region’s hospitals could be full by January.”
While the region is on one trajectory, it’s similar to that of the state overall.
.@NYGovCuomo predicts New York has three weeks before a shutdown happens again — if #coronavirus cases keep rising and the hospitals in each region reach at least 90% capacity.
— Bernadette Hogan (@bern_hogan) December 14, 2020
“If we don’t change the trajectory we could very easily be headed toward shutdown. That is something to worry about. That is really something to worry about,” the Governor said again. “We’re trying to change the trajectory. If we don’t change the trajectory we’re going to go to shutdown and your business is going to close.”
He called that a real problem.
“Deaths are a worry and shutdown of the economy are the real worries,” Cuomo continued. “This is not far-fetched. This is something to really worry about.”
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