MANHASSET, N.Y. — Governor Andrew Cuomo says New York State will undertake the most aggressive statewide antibody testing survey in the nation starting Monday. The governor says this testing is being done to see how many people in the state were infected by coronavirus and now have the antibodies.
Cuomo says testing New Yorkers for COVID-19 antibodies will give the state a more accurate idea regarding what percentage of the population actually had coronavirus. He added that this will be the first true snapshot of the coronavirus pandemic in the state.
Since the FDA approved New York's antibody tests, Cuomo says the New York State Department of Health will be able to take thousands of antibody tests across the state. The governor says the tests will be given at random, though he did not elaborate on how exactly the process will work.
Melissa DeRosa, secretary to the governor, says 3,000 of the state's 19.5 million people will be tested beginning Monday.
"So we'll have the first real statistical number on exactly where we are as a population. You know they talk about herd immunity, talk about infection rate, and we’re all trying to extrapolate from that, but we have not had hard data on where we are," said Cuomo.
The governor once again discussed reopening New York State on Sunday, saying any plan to reopen the state needs to be made based upon data and determining how many people have been infected. Antibody testing is a way of gathering that information.
Cuomo stresses that although New York is controlling the spread of coronavirus, we need to learn from this experience and build a future better than before.