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New York Gets OK To Test Thousands A Day For Covid-19

New York will soon be conducting thousands of tests for coronavirus after receiving the green light from the federal government to outsource testing to private labs.

A map of counties with existing cases (in blue).

A map of counties with existing cases (in blue).

Photo Credit: Governor's Office
A county-by-county rundown of the latest COVID-19 cases.

A county-by-county rundown of the latest COVID-19 cases.

Photo Credit: Governor's Office
A look at the current number of hospitalizations of New York's 421 cases (12 percent).

A look at the current number of hospitalizations of New York's 421 cases (12 percent).

Photo Credit: Governor's Office
A state-by-state breakdown of cases and fatalities.

A state-by-state breakdown of cases and fatalities.

Photo Credit: Governor's Office

Gov. Andrew Cuomo said during a briefing on Friday, March 13, that as soon as the middle of next week, the state may have the ability to conduct approximately 6,000 tests per day, which “would be a dramatic increase for us.”

In total, 28 private labs throughout the state will have access to both manual and automated testing, if they have the capacity. The authorization was given on Friday.

“To date, we’ve done about 3,000 tests (total), so it’s a very big difference,” Cuomo said. “Testing is probably the single most important thing we can do, and we’re going to be able to do about double that in one day, and that’s all the tests we’ve done to date.”

Cuomo said that “we have 28 top-tier labs, in essence, that the Department of Health works with on an extensive basis, and we’re going to those labs and we’re contracting with those labs on testing.”

Cuomo said that there were 96 new cases reported as of March 13, bringing the state’s total to 421. (See first and second images above.)

Fifty of those 421 are being hospitalized (12 percent). See third image above.

New York now once again leads with the most cases in the nation, one more than Washington state. (See fourth image above.)

Coronavirus cases were confirmed in the following counties:

  • Albany: Two cases (one new);
  • Broome: One;
  • Delaware: One:
  • Dutchess: Three (two new);
  • Herkimer: One;
  • Monroe: One;
  • Nassau: 51 (10 new);
  • New York City: 154 (59 new);
  • Orange: Three (two new);
  • Rockland: Nine (two new);
  • Saratoga: One;
  • Schenectady One (one new);
  • Suffolk: 28 (eight new);
  • Ulster: Five (one new);
  • Westchester: 158 (10 new).

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