Governor Cuomo Announces State to Provide 200,000 Rapid Test Kits to New York City Schools in "Yellow Zones" - OCTOBER 15, 2020

 

Statewide Positivity Rate is 1.09 Percent

Positive Testing Rate in Hot Spot Areas is 4.84 Percent; New York State Positivity Without Red Zone Focus Areas Included is 0.99 Percent

13 COVID-19 Deaths in New York State Yesterday

 Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced that the state will provide 200,000 rapid test kits to New York City schools in "Yellow Zones." On October 9, Governor Cuomo announced that COVID-19 rapid result testing will be made available to every county in New York State. Those tests will also be made available on an as needed basis to help schools in "Yellow Zones" test students and staff as part of new requirements to monitor COVID-19 spread as part of the Governor's Cluster Action Initiative.

"I've asked local governments to do testing in the schools surrounding the Red Zones, in what we call Yellow Zones. Some of the local governments have said they don't have enough tests to do it. I've said if you need something, tell me and I'll provide it," Governor Cuomo said. "We're going to give New York City 200,000 test kits so they can do the tests in the schools in the Yellow Zones."

In "Red Zone" focus areas included as part of the Governor's Cluster Action Initiative, the positivity rate for test results reported yesterday is 4.84 percent - down from 6.29 percent the day before. The "Red Zone" focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of state's population, yet had 11.5 percent of all positive cases reported yesterday to New York State. 

Within the "Red Zone" focus areas, 3,473 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 168 positives or a 4.84 percent positivity rate. In the remainder of the state, not counting these "Red Zone" focus areas, 129,739 test results were reported, yielding 1,292 positives or a 0.99 percent positivity rate. The state's overall positivity rate is 1.09 percent with focus areas included. The "Red Zone" focus areas are home to 2.8 percent of the state population yet had 11.5 percent of all positive test results reported to the state yesterday, and 11.9 percent of all positive case results reported to the state this current week.

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

• Patient Hospitalization - 897 (-41)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 108
• Hospital Counties - 40
• Number ICU - 197 (-4)
• Number ICU with Intubation - 95 (-5)
• Total Discharges - 78,006 (+136)
• Deaths - 13
• Total Deaths - 25,618