New York reported a new daily record of 13,422 COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as the state continues to implement its coronavirus vaccination plan.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) shared the update on Twitter, saying 8.7 percent of the 154,949 COVID-19 tests conducted had come back positive. In a press conference on Wednesday, he characterized the number of tests performed as “a bit low,” claiming that New York had conducted more than 250,000 tests at an earlier point.
Today’s update on the numbers:
The total number of COVID hospital admissions is 7,892.
Of the 154,949 tests reported yesterday, 13,422 were positive (8.66% of the total).
Unfortunately, 144 were killed. pic.twitter.com/EStJsWqt7b
– Andrew Cuomo
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Cuomo said at the press conference that the state must reopen the economy before most of the population is vaccinated. Cuomo noted that the first figures estimate that 70 to 90 percent of the population must be vaccinated for the state to reach “critical mass.”
“That is a very large percentage of the population. If you listen to the timeframe they are talking about, it starts after about six months. By June and then we would have reached critical mass [the estimate] went around September, and now some people are talking about the end of the year, ”he said.
According to Cuomo, the state cannot wait that long saying, “We cannot bear the economic costs. We cannot bear the psychological costs. We cannot bear the emotional costs. We must be prepared.”
More than 203,000 people have received a dose of a coronavirus vaccine in New York to date, Cuomo said.
In a tentative move toward reopening, Cuomo also announced on Wednesday that 6,700 fans would be allowed to attend Buffalo Bills’ first home game in January. Cuomo called this move a ‘pilot’ for future events in New York. Each competitor must pass a negative COVID-19 test before the competition and contact is sought afterwards.
The state has also conducted 4,300 sequence tests, Cuomo said, as it tries to detect the new, more contagious COVID-19 strain first found in the UK. The strain has not been found in New York so far, the governor said.