Rate of deaths in upstate drops

Capital Region infection figures remain near 2%

Coronavirus infections are still abundant throughout New York, as the decrease in cases has stagnated.

But deaths are declining — particularly in upstate, where as of Tuesday a lower percentage of deaths are being seen north of Westchester County.

Six coronavirus patients died Monday in all of upstate — 11 percent of the 53 deaths New York reported. That is compared with upstaters making up nearly half of 164 deaths New York reported on Jan. 10, at a time when the deadly fallout from the holiday season was evident.

The six deaths upstate Monday were reported in Wayne, Ulster, Dutchess, Oneida and Chenango counties.

The falling death totals also come along with very low infection rates in some upstate regions — in addition to ever expanding vaccine eligibility. For example, for the last month, the central New York and North Country regions have had sevenday testing rates consistently at or below 1 percent.

The Capital Region has had about a 2 percent infection rate since February.

New York City boroughs, which make up the majority of deaths reported Tuesday, have slowly seen their infection rates decrease. That region is now at just over 4 percent positivity.

But the existence of variants has health officials concerned about a third wave of spiking infections. For example, the Midhudson region’s seven-day positive result test average has gone up since February, from 4.2 percent Feb. 22 to 4.7 percent reported Monday.