NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New York State reported it’s highest-ever daily COVID-19 case count Friday as omicron continued to hit the area hard.
New York’s latest case count was 21,027 Friday, breaking the previous high 19,942, set back in January. That’s up by nearly 3,000 cases from just yesterday.
The state positivity rate has continued to balloon, now at 7.98%, up 1.4% from yesterday, and over 5% higher than the figure was this time last week.
COVID-related hospitalizations continued to rise, now up to 3,839. In late October, that number dropped below 2,000.
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Sixty new COVID deaths were reported, only slightly higher than what was recorded Thursday.
"The winter surge in COVID-19 cases is a reminder that the pandemic is not over yet and we must take extra care to keep ourselves and each other safe," Gov. Kathy Hochul said. "The vaccine is still our best weapon to defeat the virus and ensure we are safe from serious illness. Get the shot if you haven't yet and the booster if you have, mask up, and wash your hands."
Lines at COVID-19 testing centers have grown to massive lengths in parts of the state as numbers rise and with Christmas just over a week away.
Daily case counts have flown above 9,000 for much of December, but hitting over 20,000 is a new, unfortunate record.
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During the peak of the first wave of COVID-19 in March and April 2020, the highest figure recorded was just above 10,000, although with much fewer testing resources available.
Those figures again peaked in January 2021, but never over 20,000. On the previous record day, Jan. 14, over 324,000 people were tested for a positivity rate of 6.1%. On Friday, there were over 263,000 tests recorded.
New York City’s rate jumped from 3.56% Thursday to 4.39% Friday, still the lowest figure in the state.
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