Cuomo fears mutant will strain hosps

ALBANY — Gov. Cuomo applauded New York hospitals for increasing the amount of COVID vaccines distributed this week, while warning that new strains of the virus could hamper efforts to stem the spread.

The governor said 430,000 doses have been administered across the state as of Thursday as cases soar, another 197 New Yorkers died of coronavirus and the state remains in a war of words with city officials over immunization eligibility issues.

“The numbers have been going up every day,” Cuomo said, adding that mutations of the virus pose a significant threat to efforts to stem the spread along with a slow rollout of inoculations. “New fact: U.K. strain, all bets are off, all equations are altered. That’s where we are, and the more cases the higher the hospitalization rate and you are going to start to overwhelm the system.”

Details on the state’s plan to reallocate unused doses by the end of the week will come on Friday, the governor added, as Mayor de Blasio and other officials ask that eligibility be opened up to include more at-risk New Yorkers.

Cuomo argued that frontline heath care workers are still the state’s top priority.

“It’s like putting an oxygen mask on yourself first so you can help others,” Gov. Cuomo said. “Protect your health care system, keep your hospitals open, so if you need them, there is a bed and staff to assist you.”

The governor said hospitals across the state have improved “dramatically” at administering vaccines since his threats of fines and reallocation was made on Monday.

“From 10,000 vaccinations per day, went to 30,000 Monday, over 30,000 Tuesday, 50,000 Wednesday, and today is going to be in excess of 50,000,” he said. “That’s five times the rate that we’re doing.”

Still, Cuomo called out specific sites for not doling out doses fast enough, mentioning Montefiore and the NYC Health + Hospital-run Queens and Coney Island medical centers.

In a statement issued earlier in the day, Cuomo warned of mutated strains coming into the U.S. from overseas and said a highly contagious variant, first discovered in the United Kingdom and recently found upstate, could wreak havoc on overburdened hospitals.

The number of people currently being treated for the virus dropped by 117 to 8,548 on Wednesday, but cases are still rising rapidly.

The 197 New Yorkers who died bring the state’s grim death toll to 31,164 since the pandemic began.