Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Governor Cuomo says there were 1,900 new COVID cases in New York Sunday. Cuomo says most of those are among those who are not vaccinated, and are linked to the delta variant.
Cuomo says there is some good news. "The good news is that 75% of adults in New York have been vaccinated. 75%. When the president first set 70% as a goal I can't tell you how frightening that was for us. 70% of the people in this state had to receive a vaccine. Seemed almost impossible, right? The diversity of this state, but we hit the 70% and we're now up to about 75%," says Cuomo.
Cuomo says the bad news is 25% have not received the vaccine. He says that equates to 3.5 million New Yorkers. "3.5 million is larger than 21 states' total population. Think about that. We have an unvaccinated population larger than the entire population of 21 states. And then when you put this COVID Delta variant, which is transmitted much easier than the normal COVID virus, you put that variant together with 3.5 million people that spells spread of COVID. That is what is happening. We know that's what's happening. We see it in the numbers. 1900 positives yesterday, 1900 new COVID positive cases. Well, how does that compare to where we were? Last month, 346. Numbers don't lie. 346 to 1900 in just one month," notes Cuomo.
Cuomo says 72 percent of those cases are linked to the delta variant. "It is what they say it is. It is spreading faster than the normal COVID virus. The vaccines are working. Only 0.15 vaccinated New Yorkers have been infected by the COVID Delta variant. Think about that. Only 0.15 of the people who received the vaccines. The vaccines work, they work and it's proven in the numbers," adds Cuomo.
Cuomo believes the problem now is vaccine hesitancy. "They don't want to take the vaccine. And look, I've had thousands of these conversations. I get it. I truly get it. Some people, communities of color, have had really horrific historic experiences with vaccines. It is true. Tuskegee experiment. It is true.
So the cynicism, the skepticism, some people ideologically, well, government says we should do this. I think it's all a government conspiracy. I don't think there is any such thing as COVID. We've all had all the conversations and then some people are just nervous of the vaccine. Well, it was created quickly. I don't know if they fully tested it," adds Cuomo.
Cuomo updated NY's COVID numbers while announcing $15 million would be allocated to promote vaccination in communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic.
