NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Wednesday that the state is currently on track to begin vaccinating essential workers and some of the general public as soon as late January.
Right now, the state is in Phase 1 of vaccinations, which includes priority health care workers and residents and staff at nursing homes and long-term care centers.
Under Phase 2, essential workers and "priority" segments of the general public, including people with underlying health conditions, would be vaccinated.
The state has established Regional Vaccinations Hubs led by local hospital systems to develop plans for a "regional vaccination network" that will start when the state has the doses to begin Phase 2, Cuomo said.
Each hub is coming up with a regional plan for Phase 2 that will be submitted in the first week of January to be approved by the state Health Department.
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If vaccine supplies continue, some people could be vaccinated under Phase 2 beginning at the end of January, Cuomo said at his briefing.
"We want to be in place and ready as soon as we get the Phase 2 allocation," the governor said. "On the current schedule, we think we can get to Phase 2 in late January."
Cuomo said the state is distributing vaccines proportionately by region. The state expects to have a total of 170,000 Pfizer doses over the coming days for Phase 1 vaccinations.
Pending federal approval of Moderna's vaccine, the state could get another 346,000 doses of that vaccine next week, the governor said.
"As the vaccinations go up, COVID will come down," Cuomo said. "But it's a footrace, and it's a footrace over a six-to-nine-month period. We have to get the vaccination out as soon as we can. That will start to bring the COVID rate down. But it's just a question of logistics and supply and making it happen. And making it happen is hard."
At his briefing, the governor also addressed talk of another "PAUSE" stay-at-home order like the state saw in the spring. He said whether or not another order happens depends on what New Yorkers do over the holidays.
On Tuesday, Mayor Bill de Blasio suggested that a shutdown in New York City could be coming right after Christmas. Cuomo said he thought that was a "helpful warning" by the mayor and suggested that a shutdown could come in January if numbers continue to climb.
"I think a helpful warning is right," the governor said. "Saying to New Yorkers, 'Look, if we don't do anything different and these numbers keep going up, you could see a shutdown.' I say probably in January, but that's if all the numbers go up. The answer to that question is don't have the numbers go up."
Cuomo said the state's positivity rate was 6.21% on Wednesday, with 9,998 new positive cases out of 160,947 tests conducted Tuesday.
Hospitalizations rose by 115 to 6,097, while the number of patients in intensive care increased by 33 to 1,098. Intubations rose by 31 to 611.
Another 95 deaths were reported statewide.
