NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New York state reported over 9,900 new coronavirus cases on Saturday, a day after the state saw a record number of single-day cases.
The 9,919 new cases were out of 191,476 tests, for a statewide positivity rate of 5.18%.
The daily case total is down from Friday, when the state reported 12,697 cases—the most in a single day since the pandemic began.
Hospitalizations rose again Saturday after declining Friday. There were 6,208 patients hospitalized statewide, 127 more than the day before. That includes 737 newly admitted patients.
The number of patients in intensive care increased since Friday, rising by 20 patients to 1,088, as did the number of intubated patients, which rose by 18 patients to 610.
The state reported 127 more deaths, the third day in a row it has reported 120 or more daily deaths.
Among those deaths were nine people in Brooklyn, nine in Queens, six in Manhattan, four on Staten Island and three in the Bronx.
Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday that there were 156 new hospitalizations in the five boroughs and 2,700 new cases, with a seven-day positivity rate of 6.22%. That's up from Friday's 6.16% seven-day positivity rate.
Despite a rise in cases, deaths and hospitalizations in the weeks after Thanksgiving, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Friday that he didn't think the state would go into another shutdown.
"I believe we will avoid a shutdown—I'll go that far," Cuomo said at a briefing, adding that he believes New Yorkers will see the COVID uptick from Thanksgiving and be extra careful through the holidays.
On Saturday, Cuomo also announced an executive order to help "two of the groups hardest hit by the COVID-19 pandemic."
The governor said that under an executive order he'd signed, restaurants in COVID orange zones won't have to pay sales tax until March and local governments can continue to provide property tax exemptions for low-income senior citizens and people with disabilities who own property through 2021, lifting an in-person renewal requirement that would have put them at risk.
"COVID has tested our collective strength and put a strain on finances for so many New Yorkers," Cuomo said in a statement. "We're taking measures that will provide much needed tax relief for some of those hardest hit by this pandemic - New Yorkers over 65 and our restaurant industry"
