GOVERNOR CUOMO ANNOUNCES UPDATED COVID-19 MICRO-CLUSTER FOCUS ZONES

By CUOMO PRESS OFFICE | November 18, 2020


Brooklyn, Orange and Broome Zones Improve

Part of Erie County Yellow Zone Changes to Orange Zone, Yellow Zone Expanded in Erie; New Yellow Zone in Niagara County

New Yellow Zone in the Bronx; Expanded Yellow Zone in Queens

Changes to Zones Go into Effect Friday for Businesses, Monday for Schools

Positive Testing Rate in All Focus Zone Areas is 4.73 Percent; New York State Positivity Outside All Focus Zone Areas is 3.10 Percent  

Statewide Positivity Rate is 3.43 Percent

35 COVID-19 Deaths in New York State Yesterday

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced updated COVID-19 micro-cluster focus zones in New York State. Based on data metrics, the existing yellow zones in Broome and Orange Counties will be removed, and Brooklyn’s orange zone will transition to a yellow zone. Part of Erie County’s yellow zone will transition to an orange warning zone, and part of Niagara County adjacent to Erie will become a yellow zone. Changes to zones go into effect Friday for business restrictions and Monday for school closures.

“Parts of the Bronx will go into a Yellow Zone and the Queens Yellow Zone is expanded northwest to cover the Astoria area. Western New York is the worst situation in the State of New York. Parts of Western New York are going from a Yellow Zone to an Orange Zone, and a part of Niagara County will move to a Yellow Zone. Those areas are astronomical compared to the rest of the state,” Governor Cuomo said. “What’s the good news? The good news is micro-clusters work. Following the rules works. Broome and Orange Counties were Yellow Zones and they’re now back to normal. Brooklyn was an Orange Zone and is being dropped to a Yellow Zone. So the restrictions work. And just to make it very simple, if you socially distanced, and you wore a mask, and you were smart, none of this would be a problem. It’s all self-imposed.”

 

Modifications to Current Focus Zones

 

Broome County – Yellow Zone Removed

 

Based on metrics including declining and low positivity rates and hospital admissions, Broome County is now eligible to have its yellow precautionary zone removed.

 

Brooklyn – Orange Zone Changes to Yellow Precautionary Zone

 

Last week, Brooklyn’s red zone was transitioned to orange based on its progress. The zone has continued to demonstrate progress, so now the current orange zone will be changed to a yellow precautionary zone, and the current yellow buffer zone will be removed.

 

Orange County – Yellow Zone Removed

The existing yellow zone has demonstrated progress and consistently low positivity rates and low number of new daily cases.  The precautionary yellow zone will be removed.

 

New Focus Zones

 

Bronx – New Yellow Precautionary Zone – Click Here and Here for Maps

 

Several communities in the Bronx have seen a rise in positive cases, and meet the metrics for a precautionary yellow zone.

 

Erie County – New Orange Warning Zone – Click Here for Map

 

Parts of the Erie Yellow Precautionary Zone meet the metrics to transition to an Orange Warning Zone. The previous Yellow Zone is expanded to include new parts of Erie County seeing upticks in new cases, positivity, and hospital admissions.

 

Queens – Expanded Yellow Precautionary Zone – Click Here for Map

 

The current Queens zone will be expanded to include additional communities which have seen an increase in both positivity and cases over the past ten days, and are currently over 2.5% positivity on the 7-day rolling average

 

Niagara County – New Yellow Precautionary Zone – Click Here for Map

 

North Tonawanda has seen an uptick in cases and positivity and meets the metrics for a yellow precautionary zone.

 

The Governor noted that the positive testing rate in all focus areas under the state’s Micro-Cluster strategy is 4.73 percent, and outside the focus zone areas is 3.10 percent. Within the focus areas, 30,762 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 1,455 positives. In the remainder of the state, not counting these focus areas, 123,672 test results were reported, yielding 3,839 positives. Full results for tests reported yesterday, the day prior, the current 7-day rolling average, and last two weeks is below:

 

FOCUS ZONE 11/1- 11/7 % Positive 11/8- 11/14 % Positive Current 7-day rolling average Day Prior (11/16) % Positive Yesterday (11/17) % Positive    
   
   
Queens Kew Garden Hills/Forest Hills yellow-zone focus area % positive 2.96% 3.48% 3.48% 4.17% 3.85%    
Rockland yellow-zone focus area % positive 2.96% 2.23% 2.50% 5.28% 3.52%    
Chemung orange-zone focus area % positive 6.45% 4.59% 4.33% 5.74% 5.71%    
Westchester orange-zone focus area % positive 7.46% 9.34% 8.34% 7.42% 5.41%    
Erie yellow-zone focus area % positive 5.35% 7.30% 7.39% 8.05% 8.26%    
Monroe yellow-zone focus area % positive 4.06% 5.54% 4.74% 3.68% 3.87%    
Onondaga yellow-zone focus area % positive 4.68% 6.58% 6.02% 8.42% 4.74%    
Staten Island yellow-zone focus area % positive 3.00% 4.33% 4.24% 4.81% 4.24%    
Tioga yellow-zone focus area % positive 10.03% 10.81% 8.39% 7.14% 6.90%    
All focus area statewide % positive 3.83% 4.84% 4.62% 4.89% 4.73%    
Statewide % positive with all focus areas included 1.95% 2.86% 2.95% 3.18% 3.43%    
Statewide % positive without all focus areas included 1.81% 2.47% 2.60% 2.82% 3.10%    

 

Today’s data is summarized briefly below:

 

  • Patient Hospitalization – 2,202 (+78)
  • Patients Newly Admitted – 352
  • Hospital Counties – 50
  • Number ICU – 423 (+15)
  • Number ICU with Intubation – 192 (+16)
  • Total Discharges – 82,261 (+239)
  • Deaths – 35
  • Total Deaths – 26,225

 

Each region’s percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

 

REGION SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY
Capital Region 2.3% 2.8% 3.3%
Central New York 3.9% 4.5% 3.7%
Finger Lakes 4.3% 3.7% 3.9%
Long Island 3.5% 3.5% 3.6%
Mid-Hudson 3.0% 4.3% 4.6%
Mohawk Valley 1.7% 3.1% 2.6%
New York City 2.3% 2.9% 2.9%
North Country 1.8% 2.2% 1.9%
Southern Tier 1.4% 0.7% 1.4%
Western New York 5.2% 6.5% 5.6%

 

Each New York City borough’s percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

 

BOROUGH SUNDAY MONDAY TUESDAY
Bronx 2.5% 3.7% 3.9%
Brooklyn 1.9% 2.3% 2.6%
Manhattan 1.6% 2.3% 2.2%
Queens 3.3% 3.1% 3.3%
Staten Island 3.1% 4.8% 4.3%

 

Of the 574,072 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

 

County Total Positive New Positive
Albany 4,730 77
Allegany 692 25
Broome 4,545 76
Cattaraugus 739 44
Cayuga 664 10
Chautauqua 1,304 39
Chemung 2,438 34
Chenango 518 6
Clinton 389 5
Columbia 906 11
Cortland 801 22
Delaware 289 8
Dutchess 6,386 78
Erie 18,983 573
Essex 236 2
Franklin 207 12
Fulton 408 5
Genesee 655 20
Greene 596 3
Hamilton 31 5
Herkimer 524 16
Jefferson 345 6
Lewis 265 12
Livingston 527 18
Madison 753 14
Monroe 11,148 257
Montgomery 349 18
Nassau 55,112 397
Niagara 2,869 71
NYC 287,022 1,747
Oneida 3,752 85
Onondaga 8,301 217
Ontario 1,008 22
Orange 15,412 129
Orleans 538 12
Oswego 1,053 47
Otsego 480 10
Putnam 2,269 26
Rensselaer 1,389 25
Rockland 20,176 132
Saratoga 1,769 28
Schenectady 1,950 30
Schoharie 160 5
Schuyler 238 1
Seneca 222 2
St. Lawrence 610 7
Steuben 1,467 19
Suffolk 54,485 430
Sullivan 2,008 15
Tioga 984 11
Tompkins 828 8
Ulster 2,865 30
Warren 518 3
Washington 407 0
Wayne 824 16
Westchester 45,335 360
Wyoming 375 12
Yates 218 1

 

Yesterday, 35 New Yorkers died due to COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 26,225. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

 

Deaths by County of Residence
County New Deaths
Allegany 3
Broome 1
Chautauqua 1
Chemung 1
Erie 4
Herkimer 1
Kings 2
Lewis 1
Manhattan 4
Monroe 1
Nassau 2
Oneida 1
Orange 1
Oswego 1
Rensselaer 1
Richmond 1
Schenectady 2
Steuben 2
Suffolk 1
Ulster 1
Westchester 3

 

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Additional news available at www.governor.ny.gov
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