New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo says coronavirus infections among young people are on the rise

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Thursday that there’s been an increase in coronavirus infections among young people compared with other age groups, posing a threat to the state’s reopening plans. 

At a press briefing, Cuomo said infection rates in every age group in New York has either remained flat or has declined except for people between 21 and 30 years old.

“It has ticked up 4 points, that is a significant increase in a short period of time,” Cuomo said. Groups of young people socializing while not complying with recommended health protocols, such as social distancing and wearing a face mask, has been driving the increase, he said. 

“We’ve been talking about it, you can see it in the news, you can see it in the newspapers, you can see it in social media. It is not hard to understand what is going on. It’s hard to deal with it, but it’s not hard to understand what’s going on,” Cuomo said. 

New York will begin an advertising campaign targeted toward young people in the state to dispel “misimpressions” they may have about Covid-19, like thinking they’re immune to serious illness or death, Cuomo said. 

“To young people, this is not the time to fight for your right to party. I respect your right to party, I fully respect it. I would enshrine it in the state law if you want to know. You have the right to party, but let’s be smart about it,” he said. 

Overall, however, the daily number of infections and hospitalizations has shown “good news” for New York. There were 706 people hospitalized Wednesday with Covid-19, the lowest level since March 18, Cuomo said. Of the more than 69,600 tests conducted Wednesday, only 1.16{3c4481f38fc19dde56b7b1f4329b509c88239ba5565146922180ec5012de023f} of them returned positive. 

“The data is clear, we congratulate New Yorkers because they climbed the highest and hardest mountain and we’re on the other side,” Cuomo said. “The big caution… we don’t want to climb any more mountains. It was not fun.” 

This is a developing story. Please check back later for updates.