NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- Gov. Andrew Cuomo said he believes a shutdown in New York will be avoided as the state reported a record number of coronavirus cases and tests on Friday.
“I believe we will avoid a shutdown—I’ll go that far,” Cuomo said at a briefing, adding that he believes New Yorkers will see the COVID uptick from Thanksgiving and be extra careful through the holidays.
“Shutdowns are very, very harmful. They hurt a lot of people. They hurt businesses. They have mental health consequences. They hurt children. Shutdowns have many negative consequences, and this has been a long year. The last thing anybody wants is a shutdown,” the governor said. “So I’m working as hard as I can—and hoping—and I believe we can stay open and we will stay open.”
Cuomo said officials told hospitals they must notify the state if they believe, based on a rate of increase, that they'll hit 85% of their maximum capacity in three weeks.
“If that regional hospital system says were going to hit 85% in three weeks—we’ll have a 15% buffer—that’s when we would shut down the economy,” Cuomo said.
The governor noted that no hospital in the state has given a three-week notice so far.
“You have no hospital in the state saying they think they’re going to hit 85% of their maximum by Jan. 8,” Cuomo said, referencing a date about three weeks from Friday. “So that is very good news.”
The governor said he believes New Yorkers can slow the spread and hospitals can manage the increase, what he called “the two variables.”
New York state reported 12,697 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the most in a single day since the beginning of the pandemic. That was out of a record 249,385 tests reported Thursday, Cuomo said.
The state also reported 120 fatalities for the second day in a row.
Statewide hospitalizations dropped by 66 to 6,081 patients. The number of patients in intensive care also dropped by 27 to 1,068, while the number of intubations decreased by 19 to 592.
“Those are good signs,” Cuomo said of the hospital declines.
The governor said 19,000 New Yorkers have been vaccinated with Pfizer’s COVID vaccine so far.
The state is set to receive 346,000 Moderna vaccine doses next week. The Food and Drug Administration is expected to authorize the Moderna vaccine for emergency use any day now. New York's independent Clinical Advisory Task Force approved the Moderna vaccine Friday morning.