What to Know
- Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday announced the state's achievement in administering over 110,000 doses in a 24-hour period, bringing the total number of first doses given out to 1.6 million
- Statewide hospitalizations have dropped below 8,000 after hitting a peak above 9,200 only about a week ago and are now at their lowest level since Jan. 1, Cuomo said
- Adults of any age with conditions such as cancer, kidney or liver disease, compromised immune systems, obesity or are pregnant will be eligible for the vaccine on Feb. 15
New York's governor repeated warnings to avoid unnecessary gatherings over Super Bowl weekend in hopes of maintaining the recent decline in COVID spread after the state suffered through a holiday surge.
"Super Bowl weekend is here and while the instinct may be to celebrate together, we cannot get cocky - we must continue doing the things we know are effective at taming the virus: wear a mask, adhere to social distancing, and avoid gatherings," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.
New York state is in the midst of a 29 consecutive-day stretch of declining daily positivity rates. Cuomo again reported the lowest seven-day average statewide positivity rate since Dec. 3 on Saturday, while the state's daily positivity rate fell to 4.31 percent, the lowest it has been since Nov. 28.
Statewide hospitalizations have dropped below 8,000 after hitting a peak above 9,200 only about a week ago and are now at their lowest level since Jan. 1, Cuomo said -- further evidence to support the governor's contention that the holiday surge is now indeed behind us.
His goal, of course, is not to allow another one -- and as the U.S. heads into Super Bowl weekend, he warned New Yorkers against indoor gatherings.
Super Bowl weekend takes on an even more excited tone in New Jersey this weekend, with Murphy lifting the 10 p.m. indoor service curfew on restaurants effective Friday and raising the limit on indoor dining capacity to 35 percent on the same day. The same capacity increase applies for gyms and casinos as well, while Murphy signed additional legislation to expand outdoor dining on Friday.
The bill allows restaurants, bars and other eateries to expand their services to parking lots, public sidewalks and other outdoor spaces as they look to bolster their economic recoveries. They'll be able to retain liquor permits through Nov. 30, 2022 -- or at whatever time indoor dining returns to full capacity in the state.
"As we weather the devastating effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, we are continually trying to find new and innovative ways to aid our state’s business community while not sacrificing our public health," Murphy said. "This bill will give our restaurants more certainty for the future so they can once again lean into the outdoor expansions we allowed this past summer to help recoup losses and strengthen their businesses and the jobs they support.”
New York City has had similar rules in place for months and Mayor de Blasio has said his wildly popular Open Restaurants program will be a permanent fixture.
Meanwhile, a 10 p.m. indoor service curfew remains in place in New York and won't be lifted anytime soon, Cuomo has said. He has set a date -- Valentine's Day --for the return of indoor dining in the city, though. Dine-in can resume across the five boroughs at that time at 25 percent capacity. The governor's latest ban has been in place since mid-December, as the post-Thanksgiving effect began to materialize with the longest holiday stretch still looming into the new year.
Asked Friday whether he would consider moving the indoor dining reopening up a bit, since Valentine's Day is on a Sunday and some parents may not want to go out "on a school night," Cuomo seemed at least marginally open to the idea.
"We follow the data, we follow the facts -- so let's talk on Monday," Cuomo said. "Let's see what the numbers look like on Monday and then we can talk about Friday on Monday when we see the facts. I get the point."
New York City and New Jersey Vaccine Providers
Click on each provider to find more information on scheduling appointments for the COVID-19 Vaccine.
Data: City of New York, State of New Jersey • Nina Lin / NBC
The tri-state has been in a literal arms race since the end of last year, rushing to vaccinate as many people as possible while keeping new cases and hospitalizations under control. New York is fast approaching a significant milestone in its vaccine rollout after a rocking start and recent roadblock limited by weekly federal supplies.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Saturday announced the state's achievement in administering over 110,000 doses in a 24-hour period, bringing the total doses given out to 1,602,686. That accounts for 91 percent of the total first doses provided to the state so far.
The governor said he wanted to give hospitals one more week to encourage frontline health workers who haven't gotten their first shots to do so. After that, he'll reallocate doses for that group 1a to local governments to begin vaccinating people with comorbidities. That pivot in prioritization will start on Feb. 15, he said.
Adults of any age with conditions such as cancer, kidney or liver disease, compromised immune systems, obesity or are pregnant will be eligible at that time, though Cuomo cautioned the list is subject to change. See the full list of underlying conditions that qualify here.
Tracking Coronavirus in Tri-State
The governors of New York and New Jersey have scaled up their vaccination programs extensively over the last month -- and say they could administer far more vaccine doses daily if they had the supply. To date, New York state has administered more than 1.6 million first doses, while New Jersey has administered nearly 750,000 first doses to date.
A 20 percent boost in federal weekly allocation over each of the next few weeks is expected to accelerate administration efforts further, as states seek to inoculate as many, particularly the most vulnerable, as they can at this vulnerable time.
