State stops releasing COVID-19 ‘focus zone’ data, shifting criteria for managing crisis

The governor this week stopped providing updates on the status of infection rates in the various micro-cluster focus zones around New York State.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo in October nnounced “a new micro-cluster strategy to tackle COVID-19 hot spots that may come up with the fall and winter weather.” The idea was to quickly identify hot spots on a “block by block” level and increase restrictions in the hot spot areas to control the spread of the virus, Cuomo said. The state then published an elaborate system of metrics for identifying yellow, orange and red zones, each carrying its own restrictions — with red zones restrictions resembling the lockdown the state imposed in the spring, when the outbreak was at its peak in New York.

Focus zones grew from a handful in October to nearly 30 as of last week. The governor’s daily update press release provided seven-day average positivity rates in each of the focus zones for the current day, the prior day and for a few weeks going back to early November. The data showed no appreciable difference in most of the zones, with some even continuing to increase over time.

Last Monday, the governor announced the state’s strategy would shift to focusing on hospitalizations rather than positivity rates. He said the state would publish new metrics as soon as it had enough data to gauge the probable impact of the Thanksgiving holiday on hospitalization rates.

This Monday, without explanation, the governor stopped publishing individual focus zone positivity rate data. The state at the same time also stopped providing the information to the local municipalities where the focus zones are located — also without explanation, according to officials in Riverhead and Southampton towns.

The governor’s office did not respond to repeated requests this week for an explanation about the change in data.

Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone acknowledged yesterday the state has “shifted the micro cluster zone program.” He said the state has added new protocols and has “adjusted and shifted” them “over time.”

“I think they have changed the way they’re reporting data,” Bellone said. “I think that may continue to shift,” he said.

A spokesperson for the State Department of Health did not respond to requests this week for data on the Riverhead and Hampton Bays focus zones. Yesterday, she said she expected “changes to the plan” would be announced today.

Yesterday, the statewide positivity rate rose to 5.15%, according to a press release out of the governor’s office.

The lack of data and the changes in what is reported by the state is “very, very frustrating” to town officials, said Riverhead Town Supervisor Yvette Aguiar.

“We need consistent information,” she said.

“Not notifying local officials and townships is unacceptable,” the supervisor said. “We don’t have the foundational data we need to properly manage this.”

All of downtown Riverhead and a chunk of Route 58 are in the Riverhead yellow zone.

“Our business are hurting,” Aguiar said. “This is not the time to play ping-pong.”