Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled on New Year’s Eve a plan to combat the coronavirus in the state, called Winter Surge Plan 2.0. (Plan 2.0. Before the Winter Surge).
In it, the governor renews her commitment to pressure New Yorkers to get vaccinated and put on the booster, to get their children vaccinated and to do everything possible to keep their children in school.
The renewed plan for the winter surge has five key objectives which also include helping overwhelmed hospitals and protecting the most vulnerable.
- Keeping the kids in school
- Continue using masks and tests
- Prevent serious illness and death
- Continue to increase vaccines and boosters for adults and children
- Continue to work in collaboration with local leaders
The governor’s final update for the year included a record 76,555 new positive cases in the past 24 hours, putting pressure on state hospitals.
An average of 53,000 New Yorkers a day tested positive for the week ending Thursday, up from 13,000 a day two weeks earlier. More than 7,900 people with COVID-19 are hospitalized statewide, up 67% in one week.
About half of those patients are in New York City, where 50 ambulance teams from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) are due to start arriving early next month, Hochul said. Thirty federal ambulance teams were dispatched earlier to other parts of the state.
Hochul’s “2.0” plan begins with education. In addition to the millions of tests already on hand and heading to schools across the state, another 6 million will be in New York by Monday, bringing the total number of test kits for schools far to exceed 11 million. .
The idea with these ‘kits’ is to meet demand and keep students in the classroom if it is safe to do so.
Booster shots will also be necessary for students attending state universities, the governor explained.
SUNY and CUNY students who are eligible for their booster shot will be required to receive an additional dose of COVID-19 vaccine when they return to campus, beginning January 15.
Students must also have a negative PCR test. Staff are also required to be vaccinated.
“To go back to the university campus, you have to have put on the brace, this will be part of the reopening,” Hochul said.
“They have to be boosted when they are eligible, we understand that students recently vaccinated in the last six months are not eligible for the booster. We know the date they received the first vaccination, so we know when they can receive the booster. This goes into effective on January 15, “added the governor.
The governor also announced that she will extend the term “Vax o Mask” in the state until February 1.
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