NEW YORK (1010 WINS) – New York state’s seven-day positivity rate continued to decline and is down 51% since the “post-holiday peak” in early January, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said Saturday.
The seven-day positivity rate dropped to 3.90% Friday, the governor said, adding that the rate is down 51% from early January, when the state reached its most recent peak in cases following the holiday season. Friday marks 36 consecutive days of declines.
The statewide daily positivity rate also dropped to 3.46% on Friday, the lowest since Nov. 25. Cuomo has said the seven-day positivity better reflects the state’s positivity since daily rates can fluctuate.
New York City’s seven-day positivity rate declined to 4.63%, the lowest since Christmas Day, according to state data, which differs from city data. Mayor Bill de Blasio said Saturday that the city's seven-day rate was 7.53%.
There were 8,763 new positive cases statewide out of 253,563 tests reported Friday. Of those, 4,581 cases were in New York City.
Statewide hospitalizations also continued to decline. They dropped by 180 to 6,888 on Friday, the lowest since Christmas Day. The number of patients in intensive care declined by 30 to 1,328, while the number of intubated patients fell by 33 to 908.
“Hospitalization and infection rates are continuing to fall statewide and New Yorkers should be commended for all their hard work and sacrifice which helped make this a reality,” Cuomo said in a statement.
Even as New York’s positivity rate and hospitalizations declined, the state reported more than 100 new deaths and 11 more cases of the U.K. coronavirus variant, Cuomo said.
There were 125 more deaths, bringing the state’s death toll to 37,009, according to state data.
The 11 new cases of the U.K. variant, which is believed to be up to 70% more transmissible than the original virus, were found across the state, according to the governor.
Eight of the new variant cases were identified in New York City. Two more were found in Suffolk County and another was seen in Rockland County, that county’s first case.
To date there are 70 known cases of the variant in New York City and other counties across the state, including Nassau, Westchester and Ulster.
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