The more contagious COVID-19 variant first identified in South Africa has been detected in a New York resident for the first time.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the case involving a Nassau County resident on Sunday morning.
Cuomo said the variant’s arrival in New York means that COVID-19 safety measures like wearing masks and maintaining distance from other people are more important than ever. “We are in a race right now — between our ability to vaccinate and these variants which are actively trying to proliferate — and we will only win that race if we stay smart and disciplined,” he said.
Executive Curran addressed the concern of this variant being more contagious, thankfully though not considered to be more deadly:
NEWS: The South African COVID variant has been confirmed in a Nassau resident. We don’t believe this variant is more deadly but it may be more contagious. The best response is to continue tried & true precautions: #WearAMask,avoid social gatherings, stay home/get tested if sick.
— Laura Curran (@NassauExecutive) February 21, 2021
Case numbers and positivity rates in Nassau County continue to drop – but we need to keep that progress going.
Nassau County is NY’s leading large County in vaccinations according to State data, and we’ll continue to get as many shots in arms as quickly as we can.
— Laura Curran (@NassauExecutive) February 21, 2021
Tha latest numbers have been on a downward path, and the hope is as spring arives those numbers continue to decline:
Today's update on the numbers:
Total COVID hospitalizations are at 5,764.
Of the 221,157 tests reported yesterday, 6,610 were positive (2.99% of total).
Sadly, there were 75 fatalities. pic.twitter.com/9Zdy70WpAi
— Andrew Cuomo (@NYGovCuomo) February 21, 2021
