If you were holding out hope that your part of New York State was going to be reopening sooner than, say, the Big Apple, you might have to rethink that hundred-person backyard barbecue you were planning. Per New York Governor Andrew Cuomo in his April 27 press briefing, with the latest work-from-home order set to expire on May 15, he was set to “extend [the order] in many parts of the state,” though not mentioning any specific ones by name.
Governor Cuomo announced that, to date, some 7,500 New Yorkers have been administered the COVID-19 antibody test, and the percentage of people that have tested positive has increased. In the original antibody testing run, 3,000 people were tested and 13.9 percent tested positive throughout the entire state, with just 3.6 percent of that total testing positive in Upstate New York. In the latest total, that percentage positive has increased to 14.9 percent, with Upstate New York’s percentage dipping slightly to 3.2 percent. The said, different regions of Upstate New York had a variety of results: In the Capital Region, for example, 2.1 percent of people tested for the antibody tested positive, while in the Mohawk Valley, that total was 2.6 percent. In Western New York, the total jumped to 7.1 percent, and in the Hudson Valley, which includes Westchester and Rockland Counties, it was was 10.4 percent.
Additionally, Cuomo announced that this week, the state would be opening up drive-through COVID-19 testing sites in Broome, Erie, Monroe, Niagara and Oneida Counties; that it’d be conducting antibody testing on 1,000 FDNY and NYPD officers, respectively, across all five boroughs of NYC; 3,000 healthcare workers; and 1,000 transit workers.
Certainly, the case could be made for reopening some regions of the state sooner than others—but, per Cuomo, this would have to be based on a coordinated effort within New York itself; with the states surrounding New York; and be based on the Centers for Disease Control’s (CDC’s)/governor’s roadmap for reopening, which includes a two-phase rollout process with weeks to come to fruition.
