Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - New York Gov. Kathy Hochul was in Plattsburgh on Wednesday to provide her weekly COVID-19 briefing at Clinton Community College.
Hochul acknowledged the state saw another uptick in new daily COVID-19 cases, as another 67,000 new cases were reported on Tuesday. That is another new record for daily positive cases for New York State.
However, Hochul pointed out the number of people getting tested for COVID-19 following this past holiday weekend. A total of 362,000 tests were conducted on Tuesday alone, which Hochul says it shows the state's ability to deploy the resources to make sure people can get tested.
Some more positive news on Wednesday came with an 8% increase in statewide bed capacity for hospitals. However, with the expected surge of Omicron cases across the state, those numbers could change.
"We're basically preparing for a January surge. We know it's coming, and [we'd be] naive to think it won't," Hochul said on Wednesday. "We do think there's going to be a spike in cases that's going to continue not just in our positive rates, but also in hospitalizations."
Also from Wednesday's briefing came more with the state's progress of making "test-to-stay" available for school districts, and what to expect with when it comes to making more at-home COVID-19 testing kits available to schools.
"We are working tirelessly to talk to our school superintendents," Hochul said. "I was on a call with over 500 of them [Tuesday] to talk about our strategy to make sure that every child gets back in a classroom. ... We want to institute, fully, a "test-to-stay" program, and what that does is it makes sure you have the test to be able to send home with the children. Put them in the backpack if someone tests positive in their class. Let the parents test them the next morning and send them back if it's negative. Test them again in a few days. We'll make sure everyone has those protocols."
Hochul says it will be up to the school districts to manage "test-to-stay" the way they see best.
"The bottom line is that our 'test-to-stay' program says we want children back in schools, and I think the principals, all the administrators, the teachers, and everybody who has been working closely with us to make this happen.
"Kids want to be in school. They want to be with their friends. It's a lot more fun. ... So let's make sure our children have the chance to get the quality education that we offer here in New York State, in-person."
You can listen to the entire briefing below:
