Nicole Epstein, with Gotham Public Relations, sends in a quick recap of Governor Cuomo's COVID-19 briefings. Here are her notes from Governor Cuomo’s conference call:

COVID:

  • 3.9% overall statewide rate
  • 75 deaths
  • 4,800 hospitalizations
  • 1,000 ICU patients
  • 675 intubations, up 6

Positivity Rate by Region:

  • Bronx: 4.8%
  • Brooklyn: 4.05%
  • Capital Region: 1.98%
  • Central NY: 0.9%
  • Finger Lakes: 1.7%
  • Long Island: 4.23%
  • Manhattan: 0.43%
  • Mid-Hudson: 4.29%
  • Mohawk valley: 1.5%
  • North Country: 2.4%
  • NYC: 3.9%
  • Queens: 4.2%
  • Southern Tier: 0.7%
  • Staten Island: 4.5%
  • Western NY: 1.96%

Announcements:

  • Starting tomorrow vaccine eligibility expands to 60 year olds
  • A week from tomorrow, eligibility will expand to public facing employees
  • Beginning next Wednesday all providers can vaccinate anyone eligible, except pharmacies
  • Pharmacies can only vaccinate those 60+ and teachers, which is a federal mandate
  • Pharmacies already check age, but are not set up to verify work groups
  • 10 new mass vaccination sites being opened, houses of worship being contacted to partner with
  • Governor announced he will be signing Protect our Small Businesses Act with chapter amendment
  • Governor said it now applies at 50 employees, but has worked with legislature to increase to 100+ employees
  • There is a further agreement to expand protections to those up to 500 and that were closed for two or more weeks between May 15, 2020 and May 21, 2021 if they were closed by Executive Order
  • LIRR had reduced services, but this resulted in overcrowding, so Governor is calling on LIRR to resume cut services

White House Call on Vaccine:

  • There will be a flat allocation for the next two weeks from the federal government
  • Sub-recipients, such as localities, should expect flat allocation as well
  • Last week of March and into April, allocation should start to increase "dramatically"

Q&A:

On new allegation of sexual harassment reported today:
  • Governor claimed he is not aware of any new allegation
  • Repeated his previous statement that he has never touched anyone inappropriately

On whether Governor directed changes be made in nursing home data report:
  • Garvey stated the administration previously commented on changes in the data, asserted there were no changes made
  • Garvey stated there were more than one data set but they had same conclusion
  • She declined to comment further, citing ongoing investigation

On allegations against Eric Schneiderman and Governor's call for his resignation, and how the Governor's situation is different:
  • Governor distinguished between that situation and his, saying he was never told he was making anyone uncomfortable at the time and reiterated he never touched anyone
  • Governor repeated the AG investigation will yield the facts

Follow up on the Governor's conversations with his daughters on allegations:
  • Governor answered the previous question, but did not address this topic

On whether the Governor is reconsidering running for another term:
  • Governor said he is focusing on the current challenges
  • Governor again stated calls for his resignation are based on allegations, not facts

On why the administration claims nursing home data was not released because it was preliminary, but this is done all the time:
  • Garvey said the data had to be verified, as the administration was concerned about double counting
  • Garvey maintained the overall number of deaths was always reported, has not changed
  • Governor repeated that the suggestion the March 25th directive from DOH was politically motivated, created by President Trump
  • Governor said data demonstrates this was not the case