Cuomo warns 2 new COVID strains could overwhelm NY, asks Pfizer to sell vaccine directly to state
NEW YORK (WBEN) — Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Monday warned that the UK COVID variant is not New York's only concern as two other strains could potentially overwhelm the state.
In addition to the UK strain, there is now concern over the Brazilian and South African COVID-19 strains, which have still yet to appear in the United States.
"Any of these three strings could be a second wave," the governor warned during his daily press conference.
Cuomo says the federal government and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have yet to issue any travel restrictions and the three COVID strains still have the potential of causing chaos in New York State.
"If you know there's a UK strain, if you know there's a South African strain, if you know there's a Brazilian strain – why don't you do something," the governor asked the CDC. "Why don't you stop those people from coming here?"
He notes that during the height of the pandemic in the state, the majority of new cases spread through travel and the same will happen again if restrictions are not put in place.
According to health officials, the UK strain is considered to be more contagious but less lethal than the current strain in the United States – and it is, so far, considering similar to the South African strain.
Researchers are still studying the Brazilian strain as not much is known about it still.
For now, Gov. Cuomo says health officials in New York "have found nothing besides the UK strain."
However, the exact number of UK variant cases in the state is still unknown as testing for the virus is more difficult than testing for the strain currently in the country.
"The tests are more elaborate because they have to do genetic sequencing," Cuomo said. "It takes the CDC something like two weeks to do a single test for the UK's strain. We do it in about forty hours at our state lab."
The CDC predicts the UK strain will be the dominant one by March.
Cuomo has said the best way to fight off the new strains is by getting as many New Yorkers vaccinated against the virus as possible, however, the federal government has been extremely slow in getting doses to the state.
In an effort to get more vials of the vaccine to New York, Cuomo announced he had sent a letter to Pfizer's chairman and CEO, Dr. Albert Bourla, asking for the ability to buy vaccines "directly," rather than waiting on allotments from the federal government.
"Because you are not bound by commitments that Moderna made as part of Operation Warp Speed, I am requesting that the state of New York be permitted to directly purchase doses from you," the governor wrote in the letter.
To ramp up vaccination efforts, the state will also be opening eight new mass vaccination sites this week, including one at SUNY Stony Brook on Long Island and one at the Aqueduct Racetrack in Queens.
As of Monday, the state had administered more than 1 million vaccines, but Cuomo stresses New York is still in a "footrace with the virus."
On a positive note, the governor did say that New York's test positivity rate has gone down from the post-holiday high.
Still, New York state on Monday reported 154 new COVID-19-related fatalities and 12,185 new cases of the virus.
