NEW YORK (WBEN) -- New York state reported over 10,000 new coronavirus cases again on Saturday as Gov. Andrew Cuomo warned "if there was ever a time to double down and be vigilant, it's now."
The 10,761 new cases are a drop from the 11,271 new cases reported Friday, but they remain much higher than earlier in the fall.
The state's positivity rate fell from 5.41% to 4.99%, although officials have warned there could be fluctuations in the testing numbers in the days after the Thanksgiving holiday.
The rolling seven day positivity rate for all of Western New York is at 7.44% with the daily Friday rate at 7.6%. The Erie County orange cluster zone rate is at 7.63%, while the Erie yellow zone is actually higher at 8.75%. The niagara County yellow zone is at 8.91%. The daily positivity rate in Erie County Friday was 7.1% with a rolling seven day average of 7.8%.
COVID-19 Case Report for Friday, Dec. 4: 9,913 diagnostic reports were received by ECDOH & 700 new cases confirmed for a daily positivity rate of 7.1%. The 7-Day positivity rate average is now 7.8%. Total cases are now 28,765 as of 12/4. (yes, total is same as reported for 12/3) pic.twitter.com/QAgfbwWSd0
— Erie County Department of Health 😷 (@ECDOH) December 5, 2020
The number of hospitalizations statewide increased by 96 to 4,318. The number of patients in intensive care rose by 30 to 825, while the number of intubated patients grew by 32 to 435.
The state also reported another 69 deaths from the virus, bringing the death toll to 27,089.
Cuomo has warned that he expects the state's positivity rate to climb through December and into early January as more people gather for the holidays and stay indoors amid colder weather. He's also concerned people may be letting their guard down.
"I understand New Yorkers may be feeling COVID fatigue, especially now that we have entered the holiday season and the first batch of vaccines is a couple weeks away, but if there was ever a time to double down and be vigilant, it's now," the governor said in a statement Saturday.
Cuomo said the state is seeing a "troubling" new trend "where the majority of cases are traced to households and private gatherings."
