New York’s battle against the Omicron variant continues in the right direction after the state’s dramatic spike in cases in the middle of the holiday season. According to the most recent data, the numbers seem to be stabilizing lately and officials see a possible light at the end of the tunnel.
Gov. Kathy Hochul released the latest numbers on Monday, which showed hospitalizations holding steady on Sunday, hovering below 12,000 for the second day in a row, the first time that has happened in more than a week. The number of ICU patients was down and there were 1,000 more discharges than on Saturday, state figures showed.
As for cases overall, there were just over 204,000 tests done statewide, with a positivity rate of 13.12 percent, according to the state, up slightly from the day before (12.9 percent), but still lower than any other day since Christmas.
The seven-day average of daily new cases has dropped since reaching a record high of 85,000 per day on Jan. 9, according to Hopkins data. Cases doubled over several seven-day periods in late December and early January, but have dropped sharply since last week to an average of 51,500. In New York City, the average number of daily cases has dropped by 31 percent over the past week, data from the state Department of Health shows.
“The COVID forecast is getting better…the COVID clouds are parting,” Hochul said Sunday. “Overall, the outlook for COVID is much brighter than it has been before.”
The city is doing particularly well after dealing with the brunt of the surge. The seven-day average of positive results dropped to 14.28 percent for New York City, the second lowest in the entire state. The only area that exceeds it is the Southern Tier, and just barely, at 14.24 percent. Everywhere in New York it’s above 15 percent, with Central and Western New York currently doing the worst.
New York is still reporting a high level of daily infections, ranking 15th among all states, according to a CNBC analysis of population-adjusted case counts, down from second just a few days ago. New Jersey also recently fell out of the top five, now ranking 20th, as the state has seen a 32 percent drop in average daily cases over the past week.
Deaths, the latest lagging indicator of COVID, remain high, with another 152 reported on Monday.
While the COVID numbers appear to be leveling off in New York, that is not the case across the country. Cases across the country continue to spread at a rapid pace: The US has reported an average of nearly 800,000 cases per day over the past week, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. That’s more than three times the level seen during last winter’s previous record.
Since January 2, it has taken just a day or two to break the next million case mark. On Monday, the US surpassed 66 million cases in total.
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