ALBANY, N.Y. — The number of New Yorkers hospitalized with COVID-19 is falling fast, dropping by 25% from last week alone, Gov. Hochul announced on Tuesday.
The governor provided a brief update on the state’s fight against the coronavirus during an appearance at the State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, used as a testing and vaccination site throughout the pandemic
“This is a huge barometer of how we’re doing, and we’re still dropping, thank God, from the peak we were at two weeks ago,” Hochul said, noting that earlier this month, there were nearly 13,000 people hospitalized with the virus.
That number is now below 9,800.
The state’s overall seven-day positivity rate continues to fall as well, dropping to 9.69% on Tuesday from a peak near 23% in early January.
The seven-day average plummeted to just 7.68% in the city, significantly lower than earlier in the month as the omicron-fueled winter surge swept through the state.
Despite the positive trends, the grim realities of the ongoing pandemic were apparent as the state recorded another 158 COVID-related deaths.
As a judge temporarily reinstated the state’s mask mandate following an earlier ruling declaring it unconstitutional, Hochul encouraged parents of school-age children to get kids vaccinated.
Hochul noted that only 26% of kids ages 5–11 are fully vaccinated against the virus.
“Hundreds of thousands of kids have now been vaccinated,” she said as she pushed reluctant parents to get their kids inoculated. “It is safe to do so.”
The governor also touted the state’s testing efforts and said that over 14 million COVID-19 testing kits will have been sent to schools across the state by the end of the week.
Another 2.2 million tests have been sent to nursing homes and other congregate settings, with 200,000 more expected to arrive this week.
“We saw what happened a year ago, but it doesn’t have to be our destiny. Now there’s no reason not to be vaccinated. No reason not to be boosted. No reason not to understand that the masks are making a difference. And that’s why we’re focused on all these tools,” Hochul said. “So the winter surge is not over, but we are in a far better position to deal with it.”
“This roller coaster is not over,” she added.
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