Albany, N.Y. (WBEN) - Cases of COVID-19 continue to increase across New York State following the Thanksgiving holiday, but not as quickly as in many other states across the nation.
Governor Andrew Cuomo reports the November 28th positive testing rate in all focus areas under the state's micro-cluster strategy is 5.83 percent, and outside the focus zone areas is 3.75 percent. Within the focus areas, 39,323 test results were reported yesterday, yielding 2,294 positives. In the remainder of the state, not counting these focus areas, 117,997 test results were reported, yielding 4,429 positives.
In the Erie County orange micro-cluster seven day rolling average rate is 7.2% The Western New York positivity rate is 6.69%. The entire county seven day average is 7.1% while the daily positivity rate for Nov. 28th is 8.3%.
"Western New York leads the show," said Cuomo as he opened his Sunday update.
#COVID19 new case report for Nov. 28: 500 new cases were confirmed by @ECDOH out of 6,029 diagnostic reports received for a daily positivity rate of 8.3%.
— Erie County Department of Health 😷 (@ECDOH) November 29, 2020
The 7-day positivity rate average is 7.1%.
Total cases through Nov. 28 are now 25,021. pic.twitter.com/KSr1i3thWU
Statewide, Gov. Cuomo reports 55 deaths attributed to COVID while Erie County reports 14.
Cuomo continues to warn of increased cases and numbers as the holiday season unfolds, saying, "I expect you're going to see the rate going up through the holiday season. This is a new phase for COVID — call it the winter phase or the holiday phase or the surge upon surge phase — and we are spending this weekend talking to health officials and local governments about the plan for that next phase."
Gov. Cuomo says information on tactics to deal with this new phase is forthcoming Monday.
