COVID Cases Have Increased By Over 500% Recently in New York

Gov. Cuomo says the highly contagious Delta COVID variant "poses a great risk" to New York.

The CDC confirmed the Delta variant now makes up over 80-percent of new COVID cases. Dr. Gregory Poland of Mayo Clinic believes the Delta variant will "find everybody" who is vaccinated.

"This is a very different variant, it will find you," Poland said.

On Thursday, Gov. Andrew Cuomo updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19 and announced 1.70 percent of tests came back positive in the previous 24 hours.

"COVID, especially the Delta variant, poses a great risk to those who remain unvaccinated. Get your vaccine before it's too late," Cuomo said.

Stay Informed: CDC Website About Coronavirus

Cuomo noted 1,584 tests came back positive out of 93,174. Back on Monday, July 5, 255 tests came back positive.

Earlier this week, Cuomo said the vaccine is the "critical factor" in beating COVID and rebuilding New York State.

"As we near the midpoint of summer, life is picking back up and people are living again after putting everything on hold last year. The best way to take advantage of all that summer in New York has to offer is to get vaccinated - protect yourself and your loved ones," Cuomo added.

The state's 7-day COVID percent positive rate has increased to 1.50 percent. According to Cuomo, 74.1 percent of all New Yorkers 18 and older have received at least one vaccine while 67.6 percent have completed their vaccine series. Nearly 62 percent of all eligible New Yorkers have at least one vaccine dose.

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LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.