Governor Cuomo Announces Updated COVID-19 Micro-Cluster Focus Zones

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."

https://www.youtube.com/embed/i2q8_uxKXYw

Audio Photos

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