Number Of New NY Coronavirus Cases Jumps 449% In 1 Month: Cuomo

LONG ISLAND, NY — As the number of new coronavirus cases rises again — up more than 449 percent in one month — largely due to the highly transmissible Delta variant, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced a new push to promote vaccination in communities marked by hesitancy and disproportionately impacted by the pandemic.

New York State will allocate $15 million to promote vaccinations in those communities and engage the help of six community organizations to help further efforts through communication, public education, and outreach, Cuomo said.

As of Monday, 75 percent of adults in New York State are vaccinated, but there are 3.5 million who remain unvaccinated — that number is larger than the populations of 31 states, Cuomo said.

On Tuesday, 1,900 new positive cases were reported, up from the 346 reported last month, Cuomo said, adding that 72 percent of the new positives are linked to the Delta variant. "It is what they say it is. It is spreading faster than the normal coronavirus," Cuomo said. "Numbers don't lie. 346 to 1900 in just one month. And remember all the work we did to get here."

Those numbers reflect an increase of 449.13 percent.

The vaccines work, he said: Only 0.15 percent of vaccinated people have been infected by the COVID-19 Delta variant. Vaccinations have helped to reduce the risk of hospitalization by 94 percent, Cuomo added.

"We are looking at the pandemic of the unvaccinated," Cuomo said. "The problem now is vaccine hesitancy."

The plan, the governor said, is to target communities with high COVID-19 spread and low vaccination rates while partnering with community-based organizations to educate.

There are 117 zip codes where 6.7 percent of the state has new positive cases above the average and vaccination rate below the state average. In New York City, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn, those areas tend to be "communities of color, poorer, communities with less access to health care," Cuomo said. More than 61 percent of those zip codes are in New York City.

On Long Island, with 21 zip codes, 18 percent, where 25 percent of the population lives, of those are communities with vaccination rates below the state average, Cuomo said.

In addition to outreach, new commercials will air promoting vaccination, Cuomo said.

"We cannot go backward," he said. "There's no logical theory that anyone can advance now that says it's more logical not to take the vaccine than to take the vaccine. Well, we don't know the long-term consequences of the vaccine. We don't know what's going to happen a year or two or three or four down the road. But you don't know what's going to happen on the long-term consequences of COVID either, do you? And I would rather take my chances with the long-term consequences of the vaccine than with the long-term consequences of COVID. "

Others, Cuomo said, are in denial.

"If we do not make progress on vaccinating that unvaccinated population, 25 percent, with the Delta variant, you're going to see the numbers go up. That is a large number and we're going to lose lives and it will be disruptive — and we cannot let that happen," Cuomo said.