Little change in N.Y. COVID infection rate
Coronavirus infection and hospitalization rates remain mostly steady in New York as the state vaccinated a daily record number of people and passed the 10 million vaccine mark, Gov. Cuomo said Saturday.
The state recorded 7,846 new COVID-19 cases and a 3.12% positive test rate with 4,491 people hospitalized, numbers that have all remained more or less steady for weeks.
At least 60 New Yorkers died from the deadly virus in the past 24 hours, a toll that has also remained mostly stable at stubbornly-high levels.
Cuomo repeated his mantra that New Yorkers should stick with the program of wearing masks and social distancing until positivity rates come down once and for all.
“Everyone is struggling with COVID fatigue, but we need to stay the course until we actually reach the light at the end of the tunnel,” the governor said.
The state administered nearly 250,000 vaccines on Friday, a new daily record for the state.
More than 10 million shots have now been delivered to New Yorkers. About 20% of residents are fully vaccinated and about a third of New Yorkers have received at least one vaccine shot.
Most of the deaths and illnesses in the state are centered in the New York metro area, where a more contagious variant originally identified in the U.K. is believed to be driving the spread. Forty of the 60 deaths occurred in the five boroughs and 10 more in nearby suburbs.
The nation is seeking to keep a lid on a so-called fourth wave of the pandemic as virulent strains of COVID take hold in several regions and threaten to spread across the country.
New York’s death and illness rates have inched upward after declining dramatically from a brutal high reached in early January.
Public health officials hope that the accelerating pace of vaccinations will prevent the surge from getting out of control like it has recently in some European countries and Brazil.