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Rush Transcript: Governor Cuomo Announces Updated COVID-19 Micro-Cluster Focus Zones

November 19, 2020

A rush transcript of the Governor's remarks is available below:

Hello guys - guys being gender-neutral. Today is day 264. I am joined once again by Melissa DeRosa, Robert Mujica, Beth Garvey, Gareth Rhodes and Dr. Zucker.

State positivity rate today with the micro-cluster zones, 2.7. That's with the micro-cluster zones. That is down from 3.4 yesterday. State without focus zones, without the micro-cluster zones, 2.3. That's down from 3.1. It's a big drop. Micro-cluster zones had 4 percent.

Thirty-one New Yorkers passed away. They're in our thoughts and prayers. 2,276New Yorkers hospitalized. Context: we had 18,000 New Yorkers hospitalized at one time. We have about 50,000 hospital beds. 437 COVID patients in ICU - that'sup 14. 200 intubated - that's up 8.

Around the state: Capital Region 2.3; Central New York 3.5; Finger Lakes 3.8; Long Island 3.2; Mid-Hudson 3.8; Mohawk Valley 2.4; New York City 2.5; North Country 1.7; Southern Tier 1.1; Western New York 4.8.

Western New York has been and continues to be the problem. After Western New York it's Finger Lakes, 3.8, and then it's Mid-Hudson, 3.8. Then it's Central New York, 3.5. Again, context: we have an orange zone that is at 3 percent on the micro-clusters, red zone which is at 4 percent. Those are very conservative guidelines. California just went through a closedown. Their closedown number's 8 percent. Chicago is at 15 percent. So our 4 is half the California number.

We're going to add some micro-cluster zones today. While some areas have improved over the past weeks, other parts, the Hudson Valley, have seen a higher positivity rate. Mid-Hudson is at 3.8 on a seven day average, but there are some higher areas within that. In Rockland County, we're going to expand the zone to include Pearl River, West Haverstraw, Stony Point and Suffern. Orange County will be adding a yellow zone for Newburgh, New Windsor, Middletown and Highland Falls, right near West Point. Westchester County, adding a yellow zone in New Rochelle, Ossining, Tarrytown, Yonkers, and Peekskill.

Remember the concept of the micro-cluster zones. Targeted restrictions but targeted restrictions so you don't disrupt the economy in areas when you don't need to distribute the economy. It's also a warning sign for that community. New Rochelle is a yellow zone. The people in New Rochelle, I'm not saying there's a problem in Essex, I'm not saying there's a problem in Suffolk, I'm saying there's a problem in your backyard in New Rochelle. So I hope that gets your attention because it's your community, it's your block, and this is personal to you. And I think that helps get people's attention. You know, one of the, when the problem is somewhere else, it's a lot easier to dismiss.