Cuomo: UK COVID-19 variant could cause 2nd wave of the pandemic

Gov. Andrew Cuomo updated the city on the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic Monday afternoon.

News 12 Staff

Jan 18, 2021, 10:49 PM

Updated 1,419 days ago

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Gov. Andrew Cuomo updated the city on the state's response to the coronavirus pandemic Monday afternoon.
He emphasized that the surge following the holiday season was not in fact a second wave, but worries that the actual second wave is on its way due to the COVID-19 UK variant strain.
Cuomo said that the CDC commented that the UK variant will be the dominant strain come March.
Cuomo said while more than a million vaccine doses have been administered, there is much more to be done. The priority is to get more health care workers inoculated. He said he is worried that hospitals with little vaccination rates will be the first hospitals to have capacity problems if a surge does happen.
Cuomo added that the state is working on importance of getting vaccinated, by reaching out to communities that have less trust in vaccine and educating them. He added that the state is also reaching out to places that have fewer health care services.
One more thing Cuomo mentioned was that the state is going to prioritize in getting more of the vaccine to higher performing facilities to get more New Yorkers get vaccinated.