NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – New York state's coronavirus infection rate reached a record low and has stayed below 1 percent for three straight weeks, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday.
Of the 97,826 COVID tests in the state on Thursday, 636, or 0.65 percent, came back positive. The 0.65 percent infection rate is the lowest since the pandemic started.
The infection rate was slightly lower in New York City than the state overall; it dropped from 0.9 percent on Tuesday and Wednesday to 0.6 percent Thursday.
In a statement, Cuomo said Thursday's data "shows that we aren't necessarily finding more positives with more testing, which is a good new development."
The governor said the total number of confirmed cases in the state is now 432,767. The largest number of new cases Thursday, 270, was in New York City. Nassau had the second most at 53 new cases.
Three more deaths were also reported in the state Thursday, including one in Queens and one in Nassau. The statewide death toll is now 25,312.
The number of hospitalized patients dropped by 12 to 478 Thursday, with 72 patients newly admitted. There were 122 patients in intensive care, four less than Wednesday; 51 of those patients were intubated, one less than Wednesday.
Cuomo also said the State Liquor Authority and State Police Task Force visited 1,322 establishments in New York City and Long Island and found nine of them weren't in compliance with state COVID requirements.
Of the establishments, four were on Staten Island, three were in the Bronx, one was in Manhattan and one was in Brooklyn.
