ALBANY — While New York State had it’s lowest COVID-19 infection rate since the pandemic started, it wasn’t all good news.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Monday that a slight increase in positive tests in western New York is being monitored, specifically a cluster in Erie County.
“Today is a great day,” Cuomo said. He said Sunday’s 0.66 percent positive test rate is “the lowest infection rate that we have had since we started.”
“In western New York we have a caution flag and we’re focusing on it. The number of positive tests has somewhat escalated.”
Cuomo said the uptick is being monitored and “there have been several clusters in western New York, a steel plant, a processing center, two nursing homes.”
Because the state does more tests than any state in the union, Cuomo said officials are able to keep a better handle on clusters that break out anywhere in the state.
Admitting mistakes were made because early on officials didn’t understand what was being dealt with, Cuomo said once science and medicine took over more than politics, progress was made.
“It wasn’t rocket science. It just took the nation a long time to understand it,” Cuomo said. “We made a lot of mistakes early on.”
Calling the COVID-19 virus a China virus is wrong and shows a lack of understanding. He said the virus came to New York from Europe, not China.
“The virus did not come to New York from China, the federal government missed that. The virus came to New York from Europe.”
The other major mistake, Cuomo charged, is that some leaders looked at the virus as a political issue early on.
To limit the spread of the virus, Cuomo said the state is setting up testing sites at airports to test every person flying into the state.
Cuomo, in an unrelated matter, blasted utility companies for power outages during severe storms. He called for a change in the laws to provide larger fines for utility companies.
Leave a Reply