Cuomo calls new COVID strain “Game-Changer” as NY’s Rate Spikes

Cuomo calls new COVID strain “Game-Changer” as NY’s Rate Spikes : Governor Andrew Cuomo warned New Yorkers about a potential post-holiday spike in COVID cases as New York became the fourth state to surpass one million cases. And saw the discovery of the first case of the new COVID strain, first detected in the United Kingdom, in Saratoga Springs. Cuomo called the new strain “highly problematic” and said it “could be a game-changer.”

To date, no medical expert has provided evidence that the new strain may be resistant to the current Pfizer and Moderna vaccines or that it could lead to more severe infections. However, Cuomo pointed out that “Even if the lethality doesn’t go up, the fact that it is so much more transmittable is a very real problem.”

New York Positivity Rate Spikes to 7.94%

Meanwhile, New York’s positive test rate spiked to a 7-day rolling average of 7.94% last week with 97,038 new cases from 1,222,337 tests conducted from December 29 through January 4. That’s up from 5.8% two weeks ago and 3.52% since before Thanksgiving. The state’s Mid-Hudson Region, that includes Westchester, Putnam, Rockland, Ulster, Dutchess, Sullivan and Orange counties experienced a similar spike to 8.3%, compared to 6.3% two weeks ago. Three New York regions, Mohawk Valley (10.7%), Finger Lakes (10.3%) and the Capital Region (10.1%) jumped into double digits. New York’s regions with the lowest positivity rates are the Southern Tier with 5.4% and New York City with 6.4%. New York State’s positivity rate peaked at 49.9% on March 30 and was as low as .09% on September 18. It wasn’t until November 5th that it returned to 2%.

Westchester Hits Post-Summer Peak

Westchester County’s positive test rate was 7.8% last week. The County now has seven Micro-Cluster Focus Zones: New Rochelle, Ossining, Peekskill, Tarrytown, Port Chester and Yonkers. Nationally, the 7-day rolling average positive test rate rose to 13.6% – it was 11.2% two weeks ago, according to the Johns Hopkins University of Medicine’s Coronavirus Resource Center. The US positive test rate peaked at 21.9% in the spring and bottomed at 4.1% in June and 4% in October.