Governor Cuomo Update: New York State Positivity Rate Drops Below 1 Percent
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today updated New Yorkers on the state’s progress during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. New York State has conducted 12 million COVID-19 tests. In “Red Zone” focus areas included as part of the Governor’s Cluster Action Initiative, the positivity rate for test results reported yesterday is 5.74 percent and 6.13 percent for the past week. These “Red Zone” focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of state’s population, yet have had 17.6 percent of all positive cases reported this week to New York State.
New York State’s positivity rate without the Red Zone focus areas included was 0.84 percent for yesterday’s test results. The state’s overall positivity rate – with Red Zone focus areas included – dropped to 0.96 percent yesterday, under 1 percent for the first time since September 24.
“We’re dealing with a very specific situation, which is the clusters. Overall the state is doing very well. We have a sophisticated testing mechanism where we take, now, more tests per day than most states take per week. That allows us to do a very granular analysis. Most states don’t have that capacity or don’t have that desire,” Governor Cuomo said. “Because we test as much as we do, and because we have such an ability to target, we then see clusters and we can track cases in very small clusters. We’re now tracking a cluster in about 2 or 3 percent of the population. No other state has this discussion because no other state has the ability to target that way. We do, and that’s a good thing because when you can target a specific cluster, it means you can attack a specific cluster. Attacking a cluster is much easier than trying to attack a statewide increasing rate.”
Within the “Red Zone” focus areas, 2,961 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 170 positives or a 5.74 percent positivity rate. In the remainder of the state, not counting these “Red Zone” focus areas, 115,293 test results were reported, yielding 973 positives or a 0.84 percent positivity rate.
The “Red Zone” focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of the state population yet had 14.9 percent of all positive test results reported to the state yesterday, and 17.6 percent of all positive case results reported to the state this week. The positivity rate for test results this past week in the “Red Zone” areas has been 6.13 percent, down slightly from the prior week.
