Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces State Will Invest in Private Companies to Bring Rapid Testing to Scale

Interested Businesses Should Contact Empire State Development at 212-803-3100 or [email protected]

State Department of Health has Developed a Test to Detect Antibodies to the COVID-19 Infection in an Individual's Blood

Issues Letter to New York's Congressional Delegation Outlining the State's Need in the Next Federal COVID-19 Legislation

Governor Announces Relief for Approximately 300,000 New York Student Loan Borrowers Not Covered by Federal CARES Act

Agreement with Major Servicers Including, Navient, Nelnet, PHEAA, MOHELA, and Others Includes Deferred Collection of Payments, Waived Late Fees

Governor Signs Executive Order Allowing State to Redistribute Ventilators & Personal Protective Equipment to Hospitals with Highest Need

Confirms 8,174 Additional Coronavirus Cases in New York State - Bringing Statewide Total to 138,863; New Cases in 45 Counties

Amid the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew M. Cuomo today announced the state will invest in private companies to bring rapid COVID-19 testing to scale and accelerate testing capacity. Businesses interested in working with the state to manufacture these rapid tests on a large scale should contact Empire State Development at 212-803-3100 or [email protected].

The Governor also announced that the State Department of Health has developed a test to detect antibodies to the COVID-19 infection in an individual's blood. This test is an important step towards determining whether New Yorkers are developing immunity and when they could potentially return to work or school.

Governor Cuomo also issued a letter to New York's Congressional Delegation outlining the state's needs in the next federal COVID-19 legislation. The previous COVID-19 stimulus bills failed to adequately address New York's revenue losses and included restrictions affecting the state's Medicaid reforms.

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The Governor also announced an agreement with the largest student loan servicers in New York to obtain relief for student loan borrowers experiencing financial hardship due to COVID-19 who contact their private student loan servicer. Available relief includes 90 days of deferred monthly payments, waived late fees, no negative reporting to credit agencies, and enrolling eligible borrowers in available long-term assistance program. The federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act, or CARES Act, only provides relief to borrowers whose loans are owned by the federal government. This agreement with the student loan industry provides much-needed relief to these outstanding borrowers whose loans are privately owned.

The New York State Department of Financial Services will issue guidance that reflects and complements the State's agreement with the private student loan industry and that also directs regulated student loan servicers to quickly and appropriately implement the relief provided by the federal CARES Act for borrowers whose loans are federally owned. New York student loan borrowers should visit DFS' website for more information about available student loan relief.

This is not a light switch that we can just flick on one day and everything goes back to normal.

Governor Andrew M. Cuomo

The Governor today signed an Executive Order allowing the state to redistribute ventilators and personal protective equipment to hospitals with the highest need. The Executive Order also extends all NYS on Pause functions for an additional two weeks until April 29th and allows medical students that are slated to graduate to begin practicing immediately to help with the state's surge health care force.

"We've been working to reduce the spread of COVID-19 through aggressive actions to reduce density, increase testing and properly equip and staff our hospitals, and we're also looking at how to restart the economy in a thoughtful and responsible way," Governor Cuomo said. "This is not a light switch that we can just flick on one day and everything goes back to normal - we have to come up with a smart approach to restart the systems we shut down so abruptly, and testing is going to be one of the key components of that. We are going to continue working to get rapid testing up to scale so we can get people back to work."

Amid Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic, Governor Cuomo Announces State Will Invest in Private Companies to Bring Rapid Testing to Scale

Finally, the Governor confirmed 8,174 additional cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 138,863 confirmed cases in New York State. Of the 138,863 total individuals who tested positive for the virus, the geographic breakdown is as follows:

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	333	14
Allegany	17	0
Broome	86	10
Cattaraugus	13	1
Cayuga	14	3
Chautauqua	16	1
Chemung	49	2
Chenango	51	5
Clinton	37	1
Columbia	61	2
Cortland	16	3
Delaware	36	7
Dutchess	1,249	60
Erie	1,135	112
Essex	7	0
Franklin	10	0
Fulton	13	2
Genesee	33	10
Greene	24	0
Hamilton	2	0
Herkimer	27	2
Jefferson	39	6
Lewis	6	0
Livingston	23	1
Madison	88	6
Monroe	596	22
Montgomery	18	3
Nassau	16,610	994
Niagara	126	6
NYC	76,876	4,695
Oneida	118	18
Onondaga	335	64
Ontario	33	1
Orange	3,599	202
Orleans	15	2
Oswego	31	2
Otsego	34	0
Putnam	366	21
Rensselaer	67	5
Rockland	5,990	287
Saratoga	155	2
Schenectady	145	7
Schoharie	12	1
Schuyler	4	0
Seneca	10	1
St. Lawrence	60	1
Steuben	75	0
Suffolk	14,517	1030
Sullivan	270	17
Tioga	8	0
Tompkins	97	3
Ulster	398	26
Warren	31	5
Washington	19	0
Wayne	35	1
Westchester	14,804	510
Wyoming	23	0
Yates	1	0