Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Governor Cuomo addresses WNY's 4.2 percent COVID positive test rate during a news conference in New York City Friday afternoon. He says COVID fatigue and other behaviors are contributing to that rate.
Cuomo says ensuring WNYers get the vaccine is key, and helping those 60 and older by allowing them to get a vaccine without an appointment. But the demand for the vaccine has dropped while positive test rates have gone up. "What do you do about the hesitant population? I think it's access and information, that's the current strategy," says Cuomo.
But he believes the higher rate is the result of community behavior. "I think you have some people who don't take as many precautions. They don't take it as seriously, and the sequitur to that is, if I don't want to wear (a mask), if I don't believe COVID is a serious risk, if I don't believe in the precautions, then I don't believe in getting the vaccine, and we have seen that in Western New York," says Cuomo. He says that was seen from the get go. "When COVID first started, Western New York had the highest positivity rate right out of the box, one of the lowest mask compliance rates right out of the box, one of the hiest resistance to any of the rules because people do not take the issue as seriously," notes Cuomo.
Cuomo says the numbers did change at one point. "When people saw on the nightly news that people were going into hospitals and were dying, they took it seriously," explains Cuomo. He detects COVID vaccine and people are letting their guards down. "Look at the variations across the state. In WNY, ask yourself why do you have the highest infection rate in New York State?"
