Aug 9, 2021
The Delta variant is spreading across our State, and it will take New Yorkers' concerted effort to get vaccinated and defeat this virus for good. For everyone who is able to get the vaccine and hasn't yet received it—we have available vaccines and sites are open today, so get it as soon as you can. Please help spread the word: Unvaccinated people are at significantly higher risk of hospitalizations and death from COVID and its variants.
Chart of the Day: Hospitalizations in New York have more than tripled in the past month due to the highly transmissible Delta variant.
Here's what else you need to know tonight:
1. COVID hospitalizations are at 1,225. Of the 108,965 tests reported yesterday, 3,615, or 3.32 percent, were positive. The 7-day positivity average was 2.96 percent. There were 246 patients in ICU yesterday, up seven from the previous day. Of them, 95 are intubated. Sadly, we lost 12 New Yorkers to the virus.
2. As of 11am this morning, 76.6 CDC. Over the past 24 hours, 31,562 total doses have been administered. To date, New York has administered 22,623,028 total doses with 69.3 percent of adult New Yorkers completing their vaccine series. See additional data on the State's Vaccine Tracker.
3. We announced Excelsior Pass Plus to support the safe, secure return of tourism and business travel. To date, over 3 million regular Excelsior Passes have been retrieved and this new expansion will allow New Yorkers to display their Excelsior Pass Plus at hundreds of businesses and locations that require proof of vaccination. The Passes can also be used when traveling to entities where SMART Health Cards are accepted.
4. The mass vaccination site at Rochester's Dome Arena will relocate on August 16. The site will relocate to SUNY Rochester Educational Opportunity Center, as part of the ongoing efforts to right-size the State's mass vaccination site operations and target areas of need, with the last day of operations on Sunday, August 15. Second dose appointment information with details on the new site for individuals who received their first dose at the Dome Arena will be texted and emailed to the contact information on file for all individuals.
Tonight's "Deep Breath Moment": Yesterday, the Summer Olympics concluded with the United States winning 113 medals, 39 of which were gold. At this year's games, New York was well represented in the medal count with additional medals won in the last week of the games: Rai Benjamin from Mount Vernon won gold in the 4x400m Men's Relay and silver in the Men's 400m Hurdles, Dalilah Muhammad from Jamaica, Queens, won gold in the 4x400m Women's Relay and silver in the 400m Hurdles, Emma White from Duanesburg won bronze in the Women's Team Pursuit, and Kyle Dake from Ithaca won bronze in Men's Freestyle Wrestling. Congratulations to all three of them and Team USA!
Ever Upward,
Governor Andrew M. Cuomo