New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's administration on Friday announced plans for new methods of tracking and treating people with HIV and AIDS. The governor's goal is to, by 2020, reduce infection rates to the point that AIDS will no longer reach epidemic levels in New York.

The plan, developed from negotiations with AIDS activists and changes to state HIV testing laws, will take more "aggressive" measures in identifying, treating and tracking people who have HIV. This proposal also aims to provide discounts for bulk purchases of HIV drugs.

As The New York Times reported would happen, Cuomo announced the epidemic-ending plan Sunday, the day of New York City's annual Gay Pride Parade. The timing could help solidify Cuomo's support among gay voters, helping his bid for re-election next year.

"Thirty years ago, New York was the epicenter of the AIDS crisis," Cuomo said in a statement Saturday. "[Now,] we are in a position to be the first state in the nation committed to ending this epidemic."

The first report of what came to be known as AIDS -- surfacing initially in young gay men -- was published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in June 1981.

According to recent AIDS research, current medications are believed to have the dual effect of treating the disease and blocking its transmission.

Dr. Howard Zucker, New York's acting health commissioner, said Friday he believes that by 2020, New York could curtail annual new infections from the current 3,000 to about 750. That would mean "bending the curve," as Zucker phrased it, or dropping new cases below the state's annual death rate. The 750 figure would rank the HIV infection rate near the level of diseases like tuberculosis.

"No one views tuberculosis as an epidemic," Zucker said Friday. "It's a manageable disease at this point."