Governor Cuomo says NY hospitals, labs to test for UK variant

New York officials are concerned about the UK variant of the coronavirus and say more testing is key to stopping the spread.
Governor Andrew Cuomo said Tuesday that he’s working with several hospitals and labs in the state to begin testing for the variant. “If it’s here, we want to know it, we want to isolate it immediately,” he said.
Wadsworth Laboratory has begun aggressive research of the new, highly contagious COVID-19 strain. Already, Wadsworth has looked at more than 3,700 virus sequences identified in New York, but has yet to find the U.K. variant present in any of the samples.
Additionally, Wadsworth and the Department of Health have forged agreements with six hospitals from across the State to obtain additional samples and is continuing to make arrangements with other hospitals to do the same.
Those hospitals with agreements already in place include: Montefiore, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Northwell Long Island, University of Rochester, Albany Medical Center, and Saratoga Hospital.
Cuomo says the state is taking an aggressive approach to curbing the spread of the COVID variant.
“Let’s learn from the spring. Dr. Fauci says he thinks it’s here. If it’s here, where? Where is it?” Cuomo said. “Upon learning of this new variant, we immediately worked with airlines to ensure that anyone getting on a plane from the U.K. bound for New York tests negative, but we need federal action and we need it now.”
Virgin Atlantic, British Airways and Delta Air Lines have all agreed to test passengers coming to New York City from the United Kingdom.

Image courtesy of (Image courtesy: wsj.com)

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