ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Sunday shared concerns about enforcement of COVID-19 guidelines by local jurisdictions and school testing in hot spots for the virus.
Cuomo's Sunday news release discussed the top 20 zip codes for areas with COVID-19 outbreaks, which are in Brooklyn (Kings), Queens, and Rockland and Orange counties. The governor said that the state will start directly intervening with enforcement.
"Local governments have not done an effective job of enforcement in these hot spot ZIP codes. The State will be doing aggressive enforcement starting tomorrow," Cuomo said.
The average positive test rate in the top 20 zip codes with outbreaks is 4.8 percent. This is higher than the rate for the rest of the state, excluding those zip codes, which is 0.91 percent.
Cuomo added that the state "cannot take over effective enforcement for every jurisdiction" and that the state could close all business activity in hot spots where the area governments are not properly enforcing COVID-19 rules.
The governor also added that he is concerned about schools in these areas as well. He stated that if the local areas don't start testing schools in hot spots, the state will close the schools.
"I have assured the parents of this State that I would not send my child to a school that I didn't know was safe. Without testing we can't assure parents and teachers of the safety of that school," Cuomo said.
COVID-19 data locally and statewide
Locally, Western New York's daily percent positive rate remained the same on Saturday as it was on Friday at 1.1 percent.
Statewide, 14 people died from the virus, including 3 residents of Erie County. During the pandemic, 25,519 people in New York have died from the virus.
Hospitalizations have dropped by 29, to 618 patients statewide. Of those people in the hospital, 138 are in the ICU, which is also down by 11. In ICUs statewide, 67 people are intubated, which is down by three.
