NY governor refutes US president's vaccine claim, gears up for more severe scenario

RISING FIGURES AND MORE RESTRICTIONS

In the past weeks, Cuomo has repeatedly criticized the federal government's COVID-19 vaccination program, saying it relied too much on private entities and overlooked the minorities and the disadvantaged groups.

In a parallel development, New York suffered from continuous rise of COVID-19 cases statewide and New York City is even planning an overall closure of its schools for the coronavirus infection rate has been edging up to 3 percent.

Cuomo tweeted on Saturday that the COVID-19 test positivity rate in the focus areas under the micro-cluster strategy, where the pandemic has been the most severe in New York State, was 4.83 percent on Friday, up from 4.58 percent one day earlier.

The statewide positivity rate excluding these focus areas was 2.57 percent, up from 2.29 percent on Thursday; of the 184,162 tests reported on Friday, 5,388 were positive, or 2.92 percent of the total, up from 2.65 percent one day earlier, he added.

"If we all take more precautions, COVID will spread less and there will be fewer restrictions. If we all take fewer precautions, COVID will spread more and there will be more restrictions. It's that simple," said the governor in another tweet on Saturday.

The state has limited indoor gatherings at private residences to 10 people, and any gym as well as other establishment with a state liquor license, including bars and restaurants, should close at 10 p.m. Both orders took effect at 10 p.m. Friday.

As of Saturday afternoon, the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University reported 34,003 coronavirus deaths so far in New York State, the worst in the country.