NEW YORK (WCBS 880) -- New York State smashed its pandemic record for single-day COVID-19 cases Wednesday — with new records being set five times over the past week.
State officials reported 28,924 new cases Wednesday, decimating the previous record, set Monday, by over 5,000.
The state’s key metric, cases per 100,000 people on a seven-day average marks New York City with the highest numbers — 151.08, with Long Island right behind at 134.6.
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Hospitalizations rose by over 100 patients, now at 4,452, the statistical figure that Gov. Kathy Hochul said keeps her up at night. Those numbers are nowhere near the peaks of last winter’s surge or the April 2020 surge of the virus, which the latter saw nearly 20,000 patients at its worst.
The state death toll rose by 57, around a similar number as the state has been seeing all month long.
Hochul has continuously reminded New Yorkers that “It’s not March 2020, it’s not even December 2020” due to the availability to vaccines and other virus treatments.
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The push to vaccinate more people amid the omicron variant has continued, with 82.4% of New York adults completing their vaccine series. But Hochul expressed hopes for more children to get the shot.
State numbers show 26.2% of kids 5-11 have gotten at least one dose of the vaccine, with the number at nearly 75% for those 12-17.
Hochul has also focused on at-home testing amid the virus surge, with 5 million more take-home tests coming to the state by the end of the year — 1.6 million are going to New York City, 2 million to state school districts, 1 million to county emergency managers and 400,000 to state vaccination sites.
According to the governor, New York in all has procured 37 million total additional free take-home tests.
Hochul also announced starting on Dec. 27, testing sites will open at the the Times Square-42nd Street subway station, Grand Central Terminal and the Jackson Heights-Roosevelt Av/74 St. station. More locations are due to open next week as well.
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