The highly contagious strain of Covid-19 recently discovered in the UK arrived in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo said on Monday.
State health officials said they had detected a case of the strain in a man from the interior of Saratoga County. The new variant, known to spread 70% faster than previous versions of the virus, was first detected in the U.S. in a man in Colorado, health officials said last week.
The New York man is associated with N. Fox Jewelers in Saratoga Springs, a company where others tested positive for the virus, New York state officials said. Employees asked everyone who visited the store since December 18 to take the test.
A hand sanitizing station inside N. Fox Jewelers in Saratoga Springs, NY, in May.
Photograph:
Cindy Schultz for The Wall Street Journal
The identification of the new strain in New York came as hospitalizations and positivity rates for Covid-19 continue to rise across the state, particularly in areas north of the Hudson Valley.
Another 170 New Yorkers died on Sunday as a result of Covid-19, and 8,251 people across the state were hospitalized, the Democratic governor said. This is the highest number of hospitalizations since May 7, state data show. Calculated for an average of seven days, 71% of the beds available in the state are occupied.
The number of people hospitalized is greater in the interior regions that were not as affected as New York City during the initial wave of the pandemic this spring. The highest positivity rates are in the Mohawk Valley and Finger Lakes regions; the latter includes the city of Rochester.
“If you are in these areas of the state, take this seriously. You should take more precautions than people in other parts of the state, ”said Cuomo at a news conference.
He said he would order more closings only if the data showed that hospitals would be invaded. New York currently prohibits meetings of more than 10 people across the state and prohibits indoor dining in New York City.
Albany County executive Dan McCoy said on Monday that the number of patients hospitalized with Covid-19 had exceeded its record level for the past three consecutive days.
Albany County executive Dan McCoy, in an interview on Monday, said hospitalizations for Covid-19 in the past few days have broken records.
Photograph:
Albany County Executive Office, Daniel P. McCoy
On Monday, he asked people to stay at home and support restaurants by buying takeaway food and asked school districts to pause personal learning for a week or two instead of resuming after the holiday.
“Only leave if necessary. If you can stay at home, stay at home. Don’t travel if it isn’t necessary, ”said McCoy, a Democrat. “Everything will have a consequence on us going forward.”
Only the state has the authority to close school buildings or order restrictions on activities such as dining, personal care and gyms.
Mr. Cuomo said earlier in July that he would close schools in a region where the seven-day average positivity rate was 9%. But on Monday, he said schools could remain open if the data showed that the school’s rate of positivity was lower than that of neighboring communities. It would be up to each district, said the governor.
The Mohawk Valley had the highest rate of positivity in seven days in the state, at 10.4%, state officials said on Monday. Oneida County executive Anthony Picente, whose office is in Utica, agreed with Cuomo’s approach.
“I can’t say that I want to see things closed, because I don’t think this will fix it,” said Picente, a Republican. “It is the behavior, the education that we have to continue and, hopefully, we have to launch this vaccine faster to contain this tide.”
Write to Jimmy Vielkind at [email protected]
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