Governor Andrew Cuomo has released a second week of coronavirus testing results for New York State, finding 14.9 percent of New Yorkers have been infected with the virus. That's up a point from last week, but within the survey's margin of error, so essentially unchanged.
New York City's infection rate was up to nearly 25 percent, with Upstate at 3.2 percent. For the first time, Cuomo released regional infection rates. They show 2.7 percent of the Rochester population has been exposed to the virus, 1.3 percent in Central New York, 1.2 percent in the North Country and more than seven percent in Western New York, which is the most infected part of Upstate.
Those samples will be repeated weekly, and the numbers will guide which areas of the state reopen first after the governor's shutdown order expires on May 15th. Cuomo says it will be extended for parts of the state, probably New York City and its suburbs where the infection rate remains high. Other parts of the state will be able to reopen as Cuomo said in Sunday's briefing.
Governor Cuomo says the state's regional economic development zones will be opened as their numbers fall into line with CDC recommendations, which call for 14 days of declining infections. Cuomo says each region's plan must include how that information will be tracked across the entire region.
Finally, the governor said additional drive-through testing sites are being installed in Monroe and other counties in the coming week, in addition to making pharmacies into testing locations. He also said the state is working on a plan to get Upstate dairy farmers' milk to Downstate food banks that need it. Farmers have been forced to dump their milk because their usual wholesalers have been unable to accept it due to the coronavirus crisis.