Cuomo moves ahead with gradually reopening state, though antibody tests show higher infection rate

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo suggested Monday that he’ll proceed with gradually reopening the state, though new antibody testing suggests a higher infection rate than previously thought.

A second round of testing has reportedly found 14.9 percent of samples to be positive, one percentage point higher than the first round, despite fewer hospital visits and other signs that the spread of the virus in his state is slowing.

Despite the new numbers, the governor says the intends "un-pause" the state, which has essentially been on pause since the virus hit New York about five weeks ago. Cuomo put restrictions on businesses operations and resident's non-essential excursion through May 15.

"I will extend them in many parts of the state," the governor said Monday." But in some parts of the state, some regions, you can make the case that we should un-PAUSE on May 15. But you have to be smart about it.”

The new tests indicate that even more than the 2.7 million New Yorkers identified in the first testing round may have been infected at some point, according to NBC 4 in New York. 

The new results also suggest that many people likely didn’t know they had the virus and were spreading it, as has been the case elsewhere around the world.

New York state has reported nearly 300,000 confirmed cases to date, with better and more testing potentially increasing that number ten-fold.

Cuomo said Monday his "PAUSE" directive likely would not be universally extended statewide when it expires May 15. Gov. Phil Murphy has different plans for New Jersey, which has no comparative antibody testing data, according to the TV station's website.