(WENY) -- Governor Cuomo is cracking down on local governments as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in certain areas.

According to a release, the Governor announced yesterday that New York State will be withholding funds for localities and schools in coronavirus cluster zones that are failing to enforce public health laws.

The State Department of Health will send warning letters to the hot spot regions if they don't make efforts to limit gatherings or enforce proper school closures.

The Governor added that private schools will also lose state funding if they do not comply with requirements on closure and testing.

Currently, the Southern Tier is not on that list of areas of concern.

The current infection rate for these hot spots is 6.2%, but without those areas included the number drops all the way down to 0.95%.

In the Southern Tier, the latest three-day average contraction rate is 1.36%.