NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned Sunday that the state will be doing "targeted enforcement" at businesses in COVID hotspots as he called on local governments in the clusters to do more testing in schools.
Cuomo said the state is starting the enforcement in hotspots Monday and that "local businesses that are in violation of the law will be fined and can be closed."
Cuomo said the state does not have enough resources to cover a large geographic area with just a blanket approach. The state started targeted enforcement with bars and restaurants and that will now carry over to businesses throughout hotspot areas, including in parts of New York City and the Hudson Valley.
"We're putting together a task force like we did with bars and restaurants of employees from across the state government, and we will be doing targeted enforcement in each of these clusters," Cuomo said on a conference call.
The governor also said Sunday that he is concerned about the lack of testing in schools in COVID hotspots—and he warned that if localities don't do testing immediately in those schools, the state will close them down.
"If the local governments have any issue with doing more tests in those schools, contact the state," he said. "We can help you."
Cuomo said the state's dashboard for tracking real-time COVID infections and testing in every school district showed there weren't enough results being reported in the hotspots.
"If you go to the dashboard today, you'll see very few results from those schools, which to me signals a problem," the governor said.
Cuomo said he's been getting calls from worried teachers and parents about the increase of cases in school districts across the state.
"We want additional tests in those schools, report the data on the dashboard, and let's find out what's going on," Cuomo said. "Because the schools in this case will be the canary in the coal mine."
Cuomo said Sunday that the 20 hotspot ZIP codes in Brooklyn and Queens and Rockland and Orange counties have a 4.8% positivity rate.
The statewide positivity rate excluding the 20 ZIP codes is 0.91%. The state's rate is 1.10% when the ZIP codes are included.
There were 5,392 tests conducted in the hotspots Saturday, yielding 261 positives. In the remainder of the state, there were 104,937 tests with 961 positives.
The total number of new cases Saturday was 1,222, bringing the state's total to 464,582.
The governor said there were also 14 more deaths in the state on Saturday—including three in Queens and one in Westchester—bringing the state's death toll to 25,519.
Hospitalizations were down Saturday, with 618 patients hospitalized. There were 138 people in intensive care and 67 patients intubated.
