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

HUDSON VALLEY, 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 the vaccine in communities with lower vaccination rates and higher COVID-19 rates — including 13 in the Hudson Valley.

New York State will allocate $15 million and engage the help of six community organizations to increase efforts to reach the unvaccinated 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 aren't — a number larger than the populations of 31 states, Cuomo said.

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, he said. Most of those zip codes are in New York City and on Long Island.

Thirteen are in the Hudson Valley:

• Westchester County: three neighborhoods in Yonkers, plus Bedford Hills, Mohegan Lake and Valhalla (10703, 10704, 10705, 10507, 10547, 10595)
• Rockland: Tomkins Cove, West Haverstraw, Stony Point (10986, 10993, 10980)
• Orange: Highland Mills, Middletown, Washingtonville (10930, 10940, 10992)
• Dutchess: Lagrangeville (12540)

"We are looking at the pandemic of the unvaccinated," Cuomo said.

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

"We cannot go backward," Cuomo 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."

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.

"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," he said, "and we're going to lose lives and it will be disruptive — and we cannot let that happen."

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."

By Lisa Finn, Patch Staff. Patch editor Lanning Taliaferro contributed to this report.