Deaths from the coronavirus ticked up statewide, with 226 fatalities reported over the past 24 hours, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Saturday,
The numbers were up from the 216 deaths reported the previous day. The statewide death toll now stands at 21,270.
“This is not welcome news, and it has been heartbreaking every day,” Cuomo said of Friday’s deaths, which included 173 people dying in hospitals and 53 in nursing homes.
There was encouraging news, intubations continued to fall along with new hospitalizations, which stood at 572, the lowest number since March 20, breaking the 600-plus trend reported the two previous days.
Of the 21 zip codes with the newest coronavirus hospitalizations, 20 have a greater than average percentage of black and/or Latino populations, compared to the state as a whole, the governor noted.
The state will ramp up COVID-19 testing in minority neighborhoods by partnering with Northwell Health and local churches to set up 22 additional sites, Cuomo said.
An additional 2,715 people were diagnosed with the virus, for a total of 333,122 cases in the Empire State, he said.
Cuomo announced the 1,300 transit workers tested for antibodies have a lower rate of positivity than the state as a whole, where 20 percent of those tested so far have shown the presence of antibodies, indicating they battled, and beat, the bug.
Fourteen percent of bus operators were positive, along with 17 percent of station operators and 11 percent of conductors and conductor assistants, he added.
