N.Y. virus cases rise

Governor’s office insists COVID-19 positive rate remains “relatively flat”

Positive test rates for COVID-19 rise over 1% for second time this week./

The number of people testing positive in New York for COVID-19 has inched past one percent for the second time this week.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office in its daily report Sunday said 1.02 percent of people tested positive Saturday.

While the governor’s office said Sunday the percent positives “remain relatively f lat,” Thursday was the first time since early August that the percent testing positive went above 1 percent. On Thursday, the number was also 1.02 percent.

The metric is being seen about two weeks after many children have gone back to school in-person for the first time since mid-march. School districts have been required to put in place distancing and cleaning guidelines, among other rules, to keep infection out of their buildings.

Schools across the state are reporting that students and staff are testing positive. Those with closest contact are being quarantined and tested. But most districts have kept schools open, citing the proactive steps they’ve put in place that will hopefully protect others from catching the virus.

On Sunday, the Bethlehem schools announced its first case, a person with ties to the high school. Bethlehem is using Monday’s Yom Kippur holiday, when school is closed, to sanitize the high school. Albany County announced 19 new cases Sunday, eight of which are connected to the University at Albany.

Hadley-luzerne’s Stuart M. Townsend Elementary building will be closed this coming week after five positive test results in the Warren County school district.

New York’s percent positive rate being below one percent was a matter of pride for weeks as part of the governor’s office’s daily communications; the last

time the state had a percent positive rate above one percent was Aug. 4, when 1.05 percent of people tested positive.

Cuomo’s office said in a release Sept. 16: “Having our infection rate come back down to 0.87 is great news for us — we don’t want to see our infection rate go over one percent for any period of time. There is no margin for error: It’s going to take all of us to keep wearing our masks, washing our hands and remaining socially distant.”

Sunday the state reported that of 84,770 people who were tested, 866 came back positive. There were six deaths statewide, and hospitalizations again went up above 500 to 514.

“COVID-19 remains a force to be reckoned with throughout the country and around the globe, and we cannot drop our guard,” Cuomo’s office wrote Sunday. “While our numbers remain relatively f lat, we continue to closely monitor the data daily as always.”