News

  BACKGROUND: COVID-19 has devastated tourism more than any other New York State industry. Since March 1, 2020, NYS travel spending has declined 72% (-$49.6 billion) vs 2019 and Leisure/Hospitality employment is down 48% vs February 2020. Residents are unemployed, businesses are struggling to…

- New Yorkers can see the COVID numbers and understand the risks. Destiny is in our hands, and I believe we can and will avoid a shutdown because we can slow the spread and if we do, the hospitals can manage the increase in cases. This is now a footrace between the vaccine and COVID, and as we slow…

- On this snowy day, I have a simple message that we can all agree with. We want to slow the spread, we want to avoid shutdowns, and together we can do it. We slow the spread by being smart during the holiday season. It's a difficult situation and people need to come together. There's a feeling of…

- As we see hospitalizations climb, remember that what we do collectively influences what happens. New Yorkers can stop a shutdown, New Yorkers can save lives. It depends on what we do. Right now we need to manage the hospitals, administer the vaccine and slow the spread. With a major winter storm…

- Tuesday, Dec. 15 9:30 PMMajority Leader McConnell, Minority Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi and Republican Leader McCarthy are currently holding their second meeting of the day to negotiate the next COVID-19 relief package. Leading up to this moment, the most recently proposed iteration of the $908…

- Everything we have done from the start of this pandemic has been based on the facts, and the facts are that COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths are all on the rise across the country. We are on an unsustainable trajectory and if we don't act now, hospitals could become overwhelmed in January.…

- Today, history was made when Sandra Lindsay, a frontline ICU nurse and New Yorker, became the first American to receive the COVID-19 vaccine in a non-trial setting. Sandra received the vaccination at Long Island Jewish Medical Center in Queens. After her vaccination, I asked Sandra over Zoom how…

- Last night, New York's independent COVID-19 Clinical Advisory Task Force unanimously approved the FDA vaccine panel's decision to recommend the Pfizer vaccine. The Task Force, which is chaired by Nobel laureate Dr. Charles Rice, was able to review data on the vaccine concurrently with the FDA,…

- As we continue to see the number of COVID-19 cases surge across the nation, it is beyond critical that we ensure hospitals, and hospital systems as a whole, develop additional capacity and prepare to work cooperatively with each other to prevent any one facility from becoming overwhelmed. This…

- The FDA is expected to authorize Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine as soon as tomorrow and New York is expected to receive an initial allocation of 170,000 doses as soon as this weekend. As part of the distribution, the State will set up 90 cold storage sites as regional distribution centers that are…

- from Tori Emerson Barnes, December 8th at 10:14 PMBrief: THE LATEST FROM WASHINGTON:Congress is in the midst of negotiations on a recovery package and the text of a bipartisan bicameral proposal is expected to be released as soon as tomorrow. There have been indications that President Trump will…

- As we continue to see the number of COVID cases rise in New York and across the nation, it's critical that we not only remain tough and practice safe behaviors to limit viral spread, but that we also do everything in our power to ensure hospitals are prepared to handle a growing number of…

- I was honored to have Dr. Anthony Fauci join us at today's COVID briefing. I asked Dr. Fauci when we might see a peak in the expected COVID spread. He thinks that the effect of Thanksgiving will likely become clearer in the coming days and that with Christmas and Hanukkah coming up, we could see a…

- I understand COVID fatigue—we all are tired and exhausted by this pandemic. But we can't give in to it. We can't let hospitalizations climb. Contact tracing data suggests that small indoor gatherings are a source of as much as 70 percent of infections. While I can understand why…

- Hospitalizations due to COVID continue to increase throughout the State. The total number of hospital beds in NY is about 53,000—currently 35,000 of those beds are occupied by patients, about 4,000 of whom are COVID patients. For context, at the height of the pandemic in the…

- The federal government has informed us that New York will be getting its first 170,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine in the coming weeks. If all safety and efficacy approvals are granted, we expect to receive these vaccines doses—from the New York pharmaceutical company…

- December is here, and we are quickly moving toward a COVID-19 vaccine, which is great news. However, the federal government's current vaccine distribution plan fails to address equity issues adequately. Today, joined by a coalition of groups, I issued a letter to the Department for Health and…

- Tuesday, December 8, at 1pm ET -Phocuswright and Miles are teaming up again for the fifth annual webinar for travel and tourism marketers. The 2020 edition will explore insights, analysis and predictions of how the industry is changing. We'll shine a spotlight on the impact of technology and…

- I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving weekend. We are entering a new phase in the war against COVID, and therefore a new strategy is required. We need to ensure that hospitals have enough capacity and enough staff to deal with the fall and winter surge that is upon us. Tonight's update will be longer…

- Unfortunately, we expect the virus to continue to spread as winter approaches. To that end, New York State in consultation with health experts is developing a winter plan to respond to the continued threat that COVID-19 poses to our state. The first step is to prioritize areas with the highest…