Gov. Andrew Cuomo says another statewide "pause" order could be put in place to slow the spread of COVID-19.

On Monday, Cuomo pointed to other states, like California, when announcing New York could see another "pause" order, Cuomo's preferred word for the closing of nonessential businesses.

"We could potentially do a NY Pause," Cuomo noted during his COVID-19 briefing on Monday. "The hospitalization rate is increasing dramatically."

The Governor announced New York could add an "emergency stop" or "NY on Pause" if the hospital system is overwhelmed.

"We are now worried about overwhelming the hospital system. You will see serious stress on the hospital system," Cuomo said.

On Sunday, 3,532 New Yorkers were hospitalized with COVID-19, a 226 percent increase in the past month. One month ago 1,085 were in the hospital with the virus. On August 29, 429 Empire State residents were in the hospital with coronavirus, according to Cuomo.

Monday's statewide hospitalization number is the highest since late May.

"This is the problem. We are seeing the rise in hospitalizations all across the state. We will have a limited ability to bring resources from upstate to downstate or from downstate to upstate," Cuomo said.

Cuomo added New York will soon roll out new metrics for Yellow, Orange and Red zones based on hospital availability and demand.

"The holiday season is going to have a profound effect. It already has," he said. "Covid is the Grinch. And the Covid Grinch is an opportunist and the Covid Grinch sees this as the season of viral transmission."

Cuomo said he hopes to keep schools open, especially schools that teach students grades K-8.

"We believe in keeping especially K-8 open," he said.

Cuomo announced small gatherings is now the number one spreader of COVID-19 across New York. 65 percent of all cases statewide are linked to small gatherings, according to Cuomo.

Cuomo believes the COVID numbers will continue to increase until mid-January because of the holiday season.

He doesn't think we will see a mass distribution of a vaccine until "late spring" or "early summer."

On Monday, Cuomo announced the positivity rate for all tests conducted on Sunday was 4.57 percent. The last time New York reported a positivity rate above 4.2 percent was on May 18, according to the New York State COVID-19 Dashboard.

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