NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – New York state's coronavirus positivity rate ticked up slightly Saturday but remained far lower than it was earlier this month as hospitalizations continued to drop. However, the state surpassed a grim milestone of 35,000 COVID-related deaths.
"We've gotten past the post-holiday spike and thanks to the hard work of New Yorkers, our infection rate continues to decline," Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement, a day after announcing that indoor dining could return to New York City restaurants at 25% capacity on Valentine's Day if the downward trajectory holds.
Cuomo emphasized that reopening restaurants in the city depends on the actions of New Yorkers, saying, "getting to that point will be a consequence of our actions."
"We must continue taking steps to reopen our economy, but we have to do it smartly and safely," the governor said, urging New Yorkers to "take responsibility at an individual level."
The state's seven-day positivity rate ticked up to 4.75% from 4.65% the day before, but it remains much lower than on Jan. 4, when it reached a high of 7.94%.
The seven-day positivity rate in the five boroughs declined slightly, dropping from 5.27% to 5.24%, according to state data, which differs from city data. Mayor Bill de Blasio, citing city data, said the seven-day positivity rate was 8.57%.
New York City had 6,028 new cases, according to the state. The city said there were 4,646 new cases there.
Statewide, another 12,804 cases were reported. It comes after 12,579 were reported on Friday and 13,398 on Thursday. There were 269,350 more COVID tests reported Saturday.
Statewide hospitalizations declined by 181 to 8,176, continuing a downward trend this week.
The number of patients in intensive care statewide increased slightly, by 8, to 1,551. The number of intubated patients also rose by 5 to 1,017.
There were 889 newly admitted patients and 933 hospital discharges.
The state reported another 140 deaths, bringing the statewide death toll since the pandemic began to 35,036, the largest number of any U.S. state.
Cuomo also gave an update on the state's vaccine progress, saying New York health care distribution sites had administered 91% of first doses received from the federal government as of 11 a.m. Saturday.
Of the 1,471,145 doses received, 1,343,729 had been administered, according to data from the state. Of the 671,585 second doses received, 282,513 had been administered. The state's vaccination progress can be tracked at ny.gov/vaccinetracker.
The vaccine allocations for week seven are continuing to be delivered to providers for the upcoming week, Cuomo said.
The governor again urged the federal government to increase its allocations. Some 7.1 million New Yorkers are eligible to receive the vaccine right now, far exceeding the supply of some 250,000 doses a week. The federal government increased the weekly supply to New York by 16% over the next three weeks, but Cuomo said the state has the ability to do a lot more.
"New York's vast distribution network is capable of handling more than 100,000 vaccinations per day, but to actually do it, we need more doses from the federal government," Cuomo said. "While the 16 percent bump in weekly vaccine supply over the next three weeks is a welcome increase, the reality is that we simply need more supply."
