NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New York state reported a record number of coronavirus tests as it focuses combatting an increase in cases in 20 hotspot ZIP codes that contributed to the state seeing more than 1,700 new cases on Friday.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday that the state had reported 134,267 tests on Friday, a record high since the pandemic began.
Of those tests, 8,676 were conducted in the hotspot ZIP codes—in Brooklyn, Queens, and Rockland and Orange Counties—yielding 450 positive cases for a 5.2% positivity rate.
In the rest of the state (not counting the hotspot ZIP codes), there were 125,591 tests conducted, yielding 1,281 positives for a 1.01% positivity rate.
The 450 new cases in the hotspots and the 1,281 new cases in the rest of the state combine for a total of 1,731 cases on Friday, up from Thursday's number of 1,598—daily case totals not seen since late May.
However, the state has significantly ramped up its testing since May, as reflected by the record number of tests on Friday.
Cuomo said the 20 ZIP codes accounted for 26% of all positive cases in the state Friday despite representing only 6.7% of the state's population. The governor said the state is continuing to focus on the clusters and increasing testing there, including access to rapid testing machines.
"This pandemic is not over. We continue to closely monitor the data throughout the state, push our testing capacity to new highs and keep an especially close eye on the ZIP codes in hot spot areas," Cuomo said in a statement.
The state reported six more deaths on Friday, including one person in Queens and another person in Nassau. The death toll is now 25,505.
The state's total number of cases is now 463,360.
