Latest coronavirus updates in New York: Tuesday, October 13, 2020

NEW YORK — Below you will find the most up-to-date information on coronavirus news impacting New York. You can find additional resources and coverage on our coronavirus page.

10:15 a.m.
Mayor Bill de Blasio gave an update on NYC's COVID-19 response. Watch in video below.

NYC COVID-19 enforcement

• Over 100 summonses
• Over $150,000 in fines

NYC small businesses

• If you’re having challenges, small business services have help resources.
• Visit: https://www1.nyc.gov/nycbusiness/ or call 888-SBS-4NYC

Testing in schools

• Mandatory testing started Friday
• 1,751 tests conducted in 56 schools
• Only 1 positive test (0.06%)
• Families can complete consent forms at NYC School Account

Concerns at schools

• From 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m., city will answer questions live online #NYCOfficeHours

Daily indicators

• COVID Hospitalizations: 59 (24.5% positivity rate)
• New reported COVID-19 cases on 7-day average: 520
• Percentage tested positive: 1.90%
• 7-day rolling average: 1.48%

Q&A

• This is a critical week in terms of red zones and restrictions. Do you think you’ll know by the end of the week if the two-week closure is possible?
  • By the end of the week, we’ll have a clear sense to see if this is working. It’s a decision we’ll make with the state, but it’s definitely a possibility.
• Restrictions in areas etc.
  • We’re seeing a leveling off of not consistent increases. We see some starting to come down a bit.
• Is there financial assistance to these small businesses?
  • We’re in a tough situation with our city budget. What we need is federal stimulus. We likely won’t get one before the election.
• Are there other areas seeing an increase/will be there be updates in the map?
  • We’re closely monitoring. Will reassess as time goes by.
• Polling stations
  • We have to sort it out, but also need to make sure there isn’t a resurgence.
  • People have more than one opportunity to vote this year (early voting and voting on election day)
• Aside from testing in public schools, parents say there’s lack of communication with DOE (state testing, schedules, etc.)
  • The first thing we had to do was get the schools running. Now, more and more attention will go to those questions asked.
  • We’re in unusual circumstances, but we hope to get it right
• Student to teacher ratio testing/response rate on consent forms
  • We’ll get that info as it comes in.
• Cuomo on religious institution’s limited capacity.
  • I understand the concerns communities have, but the state makes the ultimate decision when it comes to these circumstances.
  • “It’s in everyone’s interest to address these problems as quickly as possible.”
• Zip codes and areas of concern — how are those areas doing?
  • We’re looking at overall trends, but we’re going to work on state with decisions if there is an emergence. But decisions on based on the state.
• 550 threshold — the indicators are meant to give us a public measure of how we should respond.
  • This indicator is going up the most because of more people getting tested. Other numbers have been stable. Positivity rate has shown concern, but have not seen a major increase in the last week or so.
  • We want to see the three indicators in unison. If they all increased, we'd look deeper. The restrictions are applied, and we're seeing leveling off on a city level.
• Earlier this month, AG James issued a report suggesting NYPD get out of traffic stops.
  • Have not seen specifics, but mayor said he wants to caution that there’s a lot of fundamental issues when it comes to traffic stops and how they’re done.

5:30 a.m.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned of COVID hospitalizations rising across New York, possibly due to "micro-clusters." Read more here.

The latest official numbers:
As of Monday, there were 475,315 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 25,587 confirmed fatalities in New York, according to the Department of Health.

COVID-19 timeline: How novel coronavirus spread

Tips to protect yourself and others amid coronavirus outbreaks

The New York state coronavirus hotline is 1-888-364-3065; information is also being posted here