NEW YORK (1010 WINS) -- New York state reported over 11,000 new coronavirus cases Saturday as New Jersey saw more than 6,000 cases, among the Garden State’s highest daily totals yet.
Gov. Andrew Cuomo said there were 11,129 new cases in New York out of 242,927 tests reported Friday, for a positivity rate of 4.58%. The governor said the number of tests was a single-day record high for the state.
Total hospitalizations statewide in New York rose by 38 to 5,359, including 705 newly admitted patients. There were 595 patients discharged.
The number of patients in intensive care rose by 22 to 1,029, while the number of intubated patients increased by 17 to 563.
New York reported another 95 COVID-related deaths, bringing the state's death toll to 27,675.
“COVID cases are continuing to climb nationwide and with the holiday season in full swing, it could get worse before it gets better,” Cuomo said in a statement Saturday.
“The federal government must do its job and provide resources to state and local governments to equitably administer the vaccine and provide badly needed support for businesses and the unemployed,” Cuomo said.
“In the meantime, we are laser focused on ensuring the increase in cases we are seeing does not overwhelm our hospital system and we are putting in place redundancies to shore them up. Ultimately, it's up to each of us to slow the spread of this virus until there is widespread access to a vaccine: wear a mask, socially distance, wash your hands and stay vigilant,” the governor said.
New Jersey, meanwhile, reported its highest single-day case total since the pandemic began. Gov. Phil Murphy said there were 6,247 new positive cases Saturday.
The largest share of new cases, 567, were reported in Middlesex County. Bergen County reported 542 cases, while Camden County reported 520 cases.
New Jersey’s total hospitalizations dropped slightly to 3,543 on Saturday. There were 690 patients in intensive care and 438 on ventilators.
There were another 71 COVID-related deaths in New Jersey, bringing the death toll to 15,864, not including 1,868 probable deaths.
A total of 664 people have died in New Jersey in the first 12 days of December, according to NJ.com. That’s higher than in all of November, when 615 deaths were reported.