NY's COVID Zones to be Reassessed Wednesday, Cuomo Says

The so-called ‘Red Zones’ in New York, where the state has placed heavy restrictions on mass gatherings and congregate settings amid an uptick in the coronavirus, will be reassessed on Wednesday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo told reporters Monday.

Cuomo said he’ll announce on Wednesday if those zones will change, which could mean they’ll either be reduced in size, or redrawn, to accommodate more recent data.

“We have total flexibility in these zones,” Cuomo said. “You can draw the lines on these maps wherever you want … As discrete areas get better, you can rewrite the size of the zones. And that’s what we’re looking at doing now.”

Cuomo went on to say that, while the zones will be determined by using the latest data, he’ll also be speaking with community leaders Monday and Tuesday to ensure that individuals within the ‘Red Zones’ don’t plan to resume unlawful mass gatherings when the restrictions are lifted.

The zones were established in early October after the state identified a trend of rising infection rates in areas of downstate New York and the Southern Tier. As of now, those zones are in Brooklyn, Queens, Rockland County, Orange County and Broome County.

At the time, the infection rate in 20 zip codes, which would later be used to identify the zones, was at 5.5%. That drove up the statewide infection rate, at the time, to 1.45%.

Numbers released by Cuomo on Monday showed a decline in diagnosed COVID-19 cases in the hotspot areas. The positivity rate of those tested in the ‘Red Zones,’ which are oversampled, was 3.3%. The statewide positivity rate was 1.2%.

There were 14 new deaths from the disease Sunday, and hospitalizations were at 934, a slight increase over the previous day’s numbers.