By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

On Wednesday, New York State Governor Andrew M. Cuomo announced 11,571 additional confirmed cases of novel coronavirus, bringing the statewide total to 213,779 confirmed cases in New York State.

New York City has reported 118,302 cases and 8,455 deaths todate.

Cuomo also said he will issue an Executive Order requiring all people in New York to wear a mask or a face covering when out in public and in situations where social distancing cannot be maintained, such as on public transportation. The Executive Order will go into effect on Friday, April 17th.

In addition, he said the the state will begin conducting antibody tests, prioritizing frontline health care workers, first responders and other essential workers, beginning this week. Using a new finger prick method the state will test up to 2,000 New Yorkers per day.

“As we continue to flatten the curve and slow the infection rate of the virus we have to build a bridge from where we are now to the reopening of the economy, and the single best tool to do that is large scale testing,” Governor Cuomo said. “We have done more tests than any other state in the nation – more than 500,000 in over a one-month period – but we need to do more and we need the help of the federal government to get people back to work and begin our return to a new normal. We are going to begin conducting antibody testing for our frontline workers and we are currently able to test 2,000 people per day, and we are asking the FDA for approval of a finger prick test that would allow us to test 100,000 people per day. Another part of getting to the new normal is continuing to stop the spread of the virus, and to do that I am issuing an Executive Order that says all people in public must wear a mask or face covering.”