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

By CUOMO PRESS OFFICE | November 23, 2020


New Orange Warning Zones on Staten Island and in Monroe and Onondaga Counties

New Yellow Precautionary Zones in Upper Manhattan and Nassau and Suffolk Counties

Zone Changes Go into Effect Wednesday for Businesses, Thursday for Schools

South Beach Psychiatric Center Will Be Utilized for COVID-19 Hospitalization Overflow on Staten Island

Positive Testing Rate in All Focus Zone Areas is 4.48 Percent; New York State Positivity Outside All Focus Zone Areas is 2.73 Percent  

Statewide Positivity Rate is 3.08 Percent

33 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. Part of Staten Island’s Yellow Precautionary Zone will become an Orange Warning Zone. Orange Warning Zones will also be established in Monroe and Onondaga Counties. New Yellow Precautionary Zones will be established in Upper Manhattan and Nassau and Suffolk Counties. Modifications to current focus zones and new focus zones go into effect this Wednesday, November 25 for businesses and Thursday, November 26 for schools.

The Governor also announced that South Beach Psychiatric Center, a new but unopened Office of Mental Health facility on Staten Island, will at the request of the local hospitals be opening as a temporary emergency facility for COVID patients. The facility served as an emergency hospital in the Spring, providing care for COVID patients.

“We need a reality check because these are dangerous times that we’re in. The COVID rate, number of deaths, number of hospitalizations, everything we watch all day on TV, is all a function of our actions. There is no predetermined result here. You tell me what New Yorkers do today, I will tell you the infection rate tomorrow. We are in a place now where there is a bad synergy — a sense of COVID fatigue. Yes, we’re only at 3 percent and only Vermont, Maine, and Hawaii are lower than us, but that can change in an instant and we must remember how we got here,” Governor Cuomo said. “It’s the infection rate in your community that matters, and that’s why we talk about micro-clusters. Influence your family’s behavior and your community’s behavior and be a COVID change agent in your community. We’re social beings and it’s also the high season of social activity. That is a bad combination, and it is always the combination of events that creates the major issues. Now, Upper Manhattan, basically the Washington Heights area, will become a yellow zone. We’re also adding additional yellow zones on Long Island. Parts of Onondaga and Monroe Counties will become orange zones. Staten Island, part is a yellow zone, part is an orange zone. This year, let’s think of Thanksgiving as a time to yes, really give thanks to the people who really did phenomenal things this year, and continue to thank them by doing our part and wearing masks, staying socially distant, and practicing safe behaviors.”

 

Modifications to Current Focus Zones

 

Staten Island – Parts of Staten Island Move to Orange Warning Zone – Click Here for Map

Parts of Staten Island will transition to an orange warning zone based on increasing 7-day positivity rates, number of cases, and hospitalizations that meet the metrics for orange warning zone designation. The remainder of the borough will remain in a yellow precautionary zone.

 

New Focus Zones

 

Manhattan – New Yellow Precautionary Zone – Click Here for Map

A new yellow zone will be established in the Washington Heights area, after meeting the metrics for yellow precautionary zone designation including on increasing 7-day positivity rates, number of cases, and hospitalizations.

 

Monroe County – Click Here for Map

The City of Rochester and surrounding areas will transition to an orange zone after meeting the positivity, new cases, and hospitalizations metrics for orange zone designation. The rest of the existing yellow zone will remain a Precautionary yellow zone.

 

Nassau County – Links to Maps Below

Yellow Precautionary zones will be established in and around Great Neck and Massapequa Park, after both areas have seen sustained positivity, new case rates, and hospitalizations that meet the metrics for yellow precautionary zone designation.

 

Onondaga County – Click Here for Map

The City of Syracuse and surrounding areas will transition to an orange precautionary zone after seeing continued increases in positivity and number of cases, as well as hospitalizations. The existing yellow zone will remain a yellow precautionary zone, and parts of it will be expanded.

 

Suffolk County – Links to Maps Below

Parts of Suffolk County including Hampton Bays and Riverhead will be designated as Precautionary Yellow Zones after meeting the positivity, new cases, and new hospitalization metrics for yellow zone designation.

 

The Governor noted that the positive testing rate in all focus areas under the state’s Micro-Cluster strategy is 4.48 percent, and outside the focus zone areas is 2.73 percent. Within the focus areas, 39,209 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 1,755 positives. In the remainder of the state, not counting these focus areas, 152,280 test results were reported, yielding 4,151 positives. Full results for tests reported yesterday, the day prior, the current 7-day rolling average, and last two weeks is below:

 

STATEWIDE 11/1- 11/7 % Positive 11/8- 11/14 % Positive 11/15- 11/21 % Positive Current 7-day rolling average Day Prior (11/21) % Positive Yesterday (11/22) % Positive    
   
   
All focus area statewide % positive 3.44% 4.89% 4.57% 4.57% 4.39% 4.48%    
Statewide % positive with all focus areas included 1.95% 2.86% 2.89% 2.93% 2.74% 3.08%    
Statewide % positive without all focus areas included 1.81% 2.47% 2.44% 2.52% 2.29% 2.73%    

 

Micro-cluster zone 7-day average positivity rates for today, yesterday, the day before, last week, and the week prior is below:

 

FOCUS ZONE 11/1- 11/7 % Positive 11/8- 11/14 % Positive 11/15- 11/21 % Positive Day Prior 7-day Rolling Average Yesterday 7-day Rolling Average Current 7-day Rolling average    
   
   
Erie orange-zone focus area % positive 4.53% 7.22% 7.30% 7.25% 7.30% 7.20%    
Erie Yellow-zone focus area % positive 4.64% 5.34% 7.36% 7.58% 7.36% 7.53%    
Niagara Yellow -zone focus area % positive 4.29% 5.10% 4.44% 4.30% 4.44% 4.53%    
Monroe Yellow-zone focus area % positive 4.06% 5.54% 3.80% 3.96% 3.80% 3.76%    
Onondaga Yellow-zone focus area % positive 4.68% 6.58% 5.12% 5.65% 5.12% 4.99%    
Queens Kew Garden Hills/Forest Hills/Astoria yellow-zone focus area % positive 2.11% 3.40% 3.40% 3.32% 3.40% 3.31%    
Bronx East Yellow-zone focus area % positive 2.70% 3.81% 3.52% 3.49% 3.52% 3.73%    
Bronx West Yellow -zone focus area % positive 2.79% 3.80% 4.70% 4.72% 4.70% 4.73%    
Brooklyn Yellow-zone focus area % positive 3.33% 3.92% 3.70% 3.72% 3.70% 3.85%    
Rockland Yellow-zone focus area % positive 3.46% 3.55% 3.39% 3.30% 3.39% 3.29%    
Chemung Orange-zone focus area % positive 6.45% 4.59% 4.71% 4.15% 4.71% 5.20%    
Staten Island Yellow-zone focus area % positive 3.00% 4.33% 4.15% 3.99% 4.15% 4.28%    
Tioga Yellow-zone focus area % positive 10.03% 10.81% 5.60% 5.90% 5.60% 5.47%    
Orange Middletown – Yellow-zone focus area % positive 2.95% 3.81% 5.41% 4.94% 5.41% 3.84%    
Orange Newburgh – Yellow-zone focus area % positive 5.96% 8.07% 7.89% 7.93% 7.89% 8.68%    
Westchester Peekskill – Yellow-zone focus area % positive 5.16% 10.36% 7.15% 7.70% 7.15% 7.29%    
Westchester Ossining – Yellow-zone focus area % positive 5.00% 9.88% 10.22% 10.37% 10.22% 10.11%    
Westchester Tarrytown – Yellow-zone focus area % positive 4.26% 8.47% 8.27% 8.56% 8.27% 8.80%    
Westchester Yonkers – Yellow-zone focus area % positive 3.42% 4.48% 4.11% 4.07% 4.11% 4.38%    
Westchester New Rochelle – Yellow-zone focus area % positive 4.40% 6.46% 5.68% 6.58% 5.68% 5.20%    
Westchester Port Chester Orange-zone focus area % positive 7.46% 9.34% 7.59% 7.09% 7.59% 7.94%    

 

Today’s data is summarized briefly below:

 

  • Patient Hospitalization – 2,724 (+162)
  • Patients Newly Admitted – 363
  • Hospital Counties – 52
  • Number ICU – 545 (+43)
  • Number ICU with Intubation – 249 (+15)
  • Total Discharges – 83,501 (+194)
  • Deaths – 33
  • Total Deaths – 26,390

 

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

 

REGION FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY CURRENT 7-DAY AVERAGE
Capital Region 2.4% 2.0% 2.0% 2.28%
Central New York 3.5% 2.6% 3.6% 3.43%
Finger Lakes 3.8% 2.5% 3.6% 3.30%
Long Island 2.9% 3.5% 3.5% 3.24%
Mid-Hudson 3.7% 3.3% 4.2% 3.91%
Mohawk Valley 3.3% 2.1% 2.5% 2.58%
New York City 2.6% 2.3% 2.5% 2.57%
North Country 2.2% 1.3% 1.7% 1.73%
Southern Tier 1.2% 1.5% 1.8% 1.23%
Western New York 5.7% 6.0% 5.5% 5.11%

 

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

 

BOROUGH FRIDAY SATURDAY SUNDAY CURRENT 7-DAY AVERAGE
Bronx 3.9% 3.3% 3.4% 3.39%
Brooklyn 2.4% 2.0% 2.7% 2.33%
Manhattan 2.0% 1.4% 1.4% 1.78%
Queens 2.4% 2.9% 2.9% 2.81%
Staten Island 3.8% 4.4% 4.2% 4.15%

 

Of the 602,120 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

 

County Total Positive New Positive
Albany 5,148 40
Allegany 856 10
Broome 4,927 68
Cattaraugus 901 24
Cayuga 735 31
Chautauqua 1,403 11
Chemung 2,702 55
Chenango 578 15
Clinton 428 10
Columbia 965 3
Cortland 907 23
Delaware 314 5
Dutchess 6,728 94
Erie 21,572 497
Essex 250 2
Franklin 239 8
Fulton 454 22
Genesee 800 42
Greene 633 7
Hamilton 39 2
Herkimer 582 7
Jefferson 435 17
Lewis 306 6
Livingston 617 34
Madison 821 24
Monroe 12,771 365
Montgomery 396 18
Nassau 57,127 421
Niagara 3,213 61
NYC 296,547 1,782
Oneida 4,210 129
Onondaga 9,362 202
Ontario 1,129 42
Orange 15,987 115
Orleans 576 15
Oswego 1,273 86
Otsego 529 21
Putnam 2,472 110
Rensselaer 1,528 13
Rockland 20,708 106
Saratoga 1,969 65
Schenectady 2,136 63
Schoharie 176 7
Schuyler 271 9
Seneca 253 10
St. Lawrence 678 11
Steuben 1,599 42
Suffolk 56,865 526
Sullivan 2,093 15
Tioga 1,043 19
Tompkins 936 32
Ulster 3,073 50
Warren 543 1
Washington 430 8
Wayne 967 55
Westchester 47,262 421
Wyoming 419 18
Yates 239 11

 

Yesterday, 33 New Yorkers died due to COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 26,390. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

 

Deaths by County of Residence
County New Deaths
Allegany 1
Bronx 3
Chemung 1
Erie 10
Genesee 1
Kings 2
Lewis 1
Madison 1
Monroe 3
Nassau 1
Richmond 3
Rockland 1
Steuben 1
Suffolk 3
Tioga 1

 

 

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Additional news available at www.governor.ny.gov
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