New York is finally starting to turn the corner from the latest wave of the coronavirus pandemic, Governor Kathy Hochul said Friday.
The Covid positivity rate and seven-day case average, which exploded to stunning new heights amid the spread of the highly transmissible omicron variant, are now trending lower, Hochul said at a news conference in Albany.
“There will come a time when we can say it’s all over,” Hochul said. “We’re not there yet, but boy, it’s on the horizon and we’ve been waiting for this for a long time. »
Hochul reported 177 new Covid deaths and 12,207 hospitalizations, while noting that both measures tend to lag the current trajectory of the virus.
“You’ve all done the right thing, and that’s why we’ll be at the forefront of states that see this long-awaited, long-awaited decline,” Hochul said, predicting that New York is “turning the corner of the winter wave. ”
New York has the highest vaccination rate in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 73% of New Yorkers are fully vaccinated against Covid, and nearly 86% have received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Hochul also announced that the Empire State has obtained 64 million Covid tests, of which 15 million have already been distributed.
The omicron variant appears to be less likely than previous Covid variants to cause severe symptoms, but is significantly more contagious, leading to a significant increase in hospitalizations and deaths.
But omicron’s milder symptoms haven’t led New York’s intensive care wards to become as overwhelmed as they were at the start of the pandemic.
Hochul also thanked the Biden administration for sending medical teams to New York and five other states that had requested help with hospital staffing.
FEMA, the agency that sent the additional personnel, announced earlier Friday that it would expand its policy to provide funding to states that used National Guard members to support hospitals under pressure.
This develops news. Please check for updates.
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