NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New York state’s COVID-19 hospitalizations surpassed 5,500 on Monday as Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of a jump in pediatric admissions, which have increased nearly five-fold in the New York City area recently.
There were 5,526 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 statewide Sunday, an increase of 635 from the 4,891 hospitalized on Friday.
The number is about an 80% increase from the 3,022 patients hospitalized on Dec. 1 and a nearly 200% increase from Nov. 1, when 1,856 people were hospitalized statewide.
“You can see the hospitalizations are continuing to spike upwards,” Hochul said at a morning briefing Monday. “You get some comfort in seeing we’re not where we were in April 2020, we’re not where we were in January of 2021, but it is going upwards, and that is something we’re very cognizant of and have been anticipating and preparing for.”
On Dec. 27 of last year, before the vaccines were widely available, there were 7,183 patients hospitalized statewide.
New York state has taken a number of steps recently in anticipation of the surge in hospitalizations, including a pause on non-essential elective surgeries at hospitals with "limited capacity" and a deployment of the National Guard to nursing homes.
The increase in hospitalizations comes as the state saw its highest number of daily cases since the pandemic began: 49,708 on Friday. Another 36,454 cases were reported on Saturday and 26,737 on Sunday, though Hochul cautioned those are likely an underreporting due to the holiday and weekend.
The governor also addressed an uptick in COVID-19 hospitalizations among children in the state.
State health officials issued a heath alert to pediatricians Friday warning them of an increase in pediatric admissions, primarily in New York City and the surrounding metropolitan area.
The number of pediatric admissions for COVID-19 in the five boroughs rose 395% from early December to late December, according to newly released data from Dr. Mary Bassett, the state’s acting health commissioner.
There were 22 pediatric admissions in the city from Dec. 5 to Dec. 11. That number grew to 109 in the period between Dec. 19 and Dec. 23.
Statewide, the increase over the same period was 70 to 184 admissions.
Bassett said that vaccine coverage among children 5 to 11 remains low and that more must be done to get the youngest New Yorkers vaccinated.
Related
Related
