Cuomo bets N.Y. will beat shutdowns

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo is so confident New York can avoid a second shutdown he’s willing to wager on it.

The governor bet a reporter $100 Friday that the Buffalo Bills will make the NFL playoffs and the Empire State will avoid another COVID shutdown because he “believes in New Yorkers and I would never bet against New Yorkers.”

Cuomo, who warned earlier in the week that surging COVID hospitalizations could potentially trigger regional shutdowns, said he has faith that New Yorkers will step up and help stem the spread of the virus.

“I do not believe we are destined to have a shutdown. There is no destiny here. Destiny is what we make of it,” the governor said during a remote briefing in Albany. “I believe New Yorkers can slow the spread, and that hospitals can manage the increase.”

Under the state’s “surge and flex” plan, hospitals are required to inform officials if their projected capacity reaches 85% in three weeks, which could trigger a shutdown in a region, Cuomo said. Earlier that number was 90%.

The governor also offered what he described as a new mantra.

“Slow the spread, stop the shutdown,” he repeated several times.

Hospitalizations fell Thursday by 66 to 6,081 statewide, a glimmer of hope as COVID-19 cases continue to rise across the country. Patients in intensive care units dropped 27 to 1,068.

Still, another 120 New Yorkers died of the virus Thursday and the statewide positivity rate is 5.09%.

Cuomo also announced that New York will receive 346,000 vaccine doses from biotech firm Moderna next week, once it is granted final federal approval. That’s in addition to 167,000 doses from pharmaceutical giant Pfizer that arrived in New York this week.