Cuomo Warns Numbers Will Keep Rising As New York Parents Wait For The Latest On The Fate Of Schools

What you should know

• New York’s daily case totals have quadrupled since late October; that was only six weeks ago. Hospitalizations are the highest since early June; Governor Cuomo Says More Restrictions May Come
• New Jersey has posted record numbers in the past week; states’ struggles reflect America’s overall increase – all 50 states plus Washington, DC, have seen increases in cases in the past 14 days
• Meanwhile, New York City schools are still on the brink of a remote change; Mayor de Blasio says that if the progressive positivity rate reaches 3%, schools go virtual the next day. That number is 2.74% now

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NEW YORK – Governor Andrew Cuomo is expected to outline new regional efforts to control viral spread on Wednesday after his emergency meeting over the weekend with Northeast governors facing the same resurgence of COVID that continues to worsen daily. .

The new protocol will likely include quarantine and testing requirements for college students traveling home for Thanksgiving and the upcoming December holidays, though it could be extended further. Cuomo, who imposed the 10 pm closure for indoor services for restaurants, gyms and businesses last week, warned that indoor dining could see additional new restrictions if numbers continue to rise; and they have.

New York has averaged more than 4,600 new cases in the past five days, more than four times the number it was seeing at the end of October. Hospitalizations are also increasing. The total of 2,124 cases reported Tuesday is the highest since June 9. The daily death toll, which is a lagging indicator, is also slowly rising.

Treatment is more effective now than it was in the spring, which can reduce the death toll associated with this latest wave, at least in certain parts of the country. But a renewed sense of anxiety, one that is all too familiar, is overwhelming audiences once again as the holiday season rapidly approaches.

“The number of cases across the country and in New York continues to rise. Despite our success in managing the spread, New York is not immune to this national surge in COVID,” Cuomo said in a statement. “Our micro-clustering strategy and testing capabilities will help us through this new season, but ensuring we don’t go back to where we were in the spring will depend on our behavior. Our actions today will determine our positive case rate tomorrow.”

Coronavirus cases have increased in all 50 states plus Washington, DC, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam over the past 14 days. In a dozen of those states, including New York, infections have skyrocketed in the past two weeks, meaning there has been a 100 percent or more increase in confirmed cases over 14 days.

The Empire State Building still has the third or fourth lowest positivity rate in the nation on any given day, but that measure has become relative to how successful it was in containing the virus over the summer, where it saw more than a full month of rates. daily positivity below 1 percent. New York on Tuesday reported a daily positivity rate of 3.18 percent; it now has a seven-day moving average of 2.88 percent.

Nowhere in the state is that positivity rate more critical on a daily basis than in New York City. Schools face closure in person if they reach 3 percent, a certainly imperfect threshold, according to Mayor Bill de Blasio, who has teetered at the top for days. The positivity rate in school is below 0.2 percent.

Five days ago, De Blasio warned New York City public school parents to have an alternate plan ready in case the schools switched to completely remote on Monday. Five days later, schools remain open, with a progressive citywide positivity rate of 2.74 percent. But each day has been a harrowing waiting game for those parents. Any given in-person day could be your child’s last for an unspecified period of time.

Is the closure still a foregone conclusion? Maybe yes, maybe no.

The city’s seven-day daily average of cases has risen all but one day since Oct. 29. On Tuesday, it was at its highest total since May 10 (1,117). But testing is an equally critical indicator, and the city and state have been doing record testing in recent weeks. Even if the number of cases increases, if enough people test negative, the positivity rate could still stay below the 3 percent threshold.

But that requires enough people to continue to have negative results, and it is not yet clear if it will continue to do so in the days and weeks to come.

The spikes in cases have certainly led to a higher positivity rate in neighboring New Jersey, which is also testing record highs. The Garden State’s positivity rate was well above 9 percent in Governor Phil Murphy’s last report. He is expected to provide another update on his COVID briefing scheduled for Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday, all but six of the state’s 21 counties reported more than 100 new cases, state data showed. An equal number of counties reported more than 300. Hospitalizations are at their highest levels since late May. Murphy reported 38 new deaths Tuesday, the highest daily figure since May 21.

Four mayors within Essex County, the hardest hit in the state, have agreed to impose a 24-hour lockdown if their number continues to deteriorate, said one of the officials from our sister network NBC 4 New York. If that doesn’t work, they raise a three-day period. to turn off. A spokesman for Murphy says mayors would need permission from the state to do both.

The governor warned that additional measures may be necessary statewide to help curb the rampant spread. It distributed new indoor and outdoor capacity limitations on Monday, days after issuing a new curfew for 10 p.m. indoor service for bars and restaurants. The 10-person interior limit is already in effect, while the exterior rule, which reduces capacity by 70 percent to 150, takes effect Monday.

Murphy had been reluctant to impose limits on gatherings within private homes, citing constitutional reasons. He set out to do it anyway, aligning himself with the executive orders of Cuomo in New York and Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont. Ultimately, the message may be more of a public appeal than a threat of execution.

De Blasio said flatly on Tuesday that New York City would not monitor people’s private homes to enforce the 10-person assembly rule. While the city will continue to break up big parties if it sees any, it depends on New Yorkers using common sense and being smart about exposing themselves and their families to risk.

Small family gatherings have become a key factor in COVID in just the last month and a half; officials are concerned.

The mantra has been to avoid Thanksgiving trips and gatherings as a general rule, but recognizing that many will not heed that advice, officials have suggested that people wear masks even when with their own families. The New Jersey health commissioner said singing should not be allowed on Mondays and the music should be low to avoid yelling, which could spew saliva and spread COVID.

The recent battles between the three states are a reflection of national struggles amid a surge in COVID that has left no state untouched. The White House task force stated bluntly in its latest weekly report that “there is now a broad aggressive, relentless and sprawling community spanning the entire country, reaching into most counties, with no evidence of improvement. but of further deterioration. “

Experts say that life in the US will not return to normal until there is an effective and widely available vaccine. That may not happen for months, despite encouraging news from two companies producing the first vaccines this week. The last highlight came on Wednesday, when Pfizer said the final analysis found its vaccine was 95 percent effective. He said he plans to submit an emergency approval request to the FDA “in a few days.” Moderna also plans to order her vaccine in the coming weeks.

De Blasio urged New Yorkers Tuesday to hold their own until the day a vaccine is available. Cuomo has questioned the feasibility of an accelerated schedule, and even when a vaccine is approved, delivery and distribution to millions of people remains a daunting challenge for US governors.

Still, mitigation measures may be needed well beyond the launch of the vaccine. Dr. Anthony Fauci, the nation’s leading infectious disease expert, says that people should not abandon masks and physical distancing even after they have been vaccinated.

“Although, for the general population, it could be 90% effective [%] at 95%, “said Fauci, reporting the effectiveness rates shown in the Pfizer and Moderna trials,” you don’t necessarily know, for you, how effective it is. “

Up to 10 percent of immunized people could still contract the virus, even with those high success rates, CNBC reported.

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