NEW YORK (WKBW) — New York Governor Kathy Hochul held a COVID-19 briefing Thursday and said there will be COVID-19 policies announced Friday "to help fight this impending surge."
"I will be making an announcement tomorrow about some policies that we think will be important to help fight this impending surge," Hochul said Thursday.
Hochul previously announced an executive order that allows the state to limit non-essential, non-urgent procedures for hospitals or systems with limited capacity to "protect access to critical health care services." Limited capacity is defined by the state as 10% staffed bed capacity.
Tuesday, the New York State Department of Health released a list of hospitals in the state that were ordered to limit elective surgeries based on the executive order. The list includes 32 hospitals across the state, seven in Western New York. The state will review data weekly and make determinations. You can find the full executive order guidance here.
"We've seen hospitalizations go up, we've seen infections go up, and vaccinations are going up but not at the rate we want them to see," said Hochul. "So we've been talking about needing to take additional steps at some point and we're going to be talking about that, I'll be releasing information on that tomorrow."
A reporter asked the governor if she may be referencing mandates to come in her Friday announcement and she responded "I will say, I'm referencing that I'm having many conversations with people today in anticipation of a very challenging season coming up for the holidays, so yes, stay tuned."
