Covid positivity rate, hospitalization continue to decline in Finger Lakes

Region’s Covid positivity rate remains above state average

Chart from Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Office

The Finger Lakes Region, which includes Orleans and eight other counties, continues to see the Covid-19 positivity rate and number of hospitalizatons from Covid decline.

Local and state health officials want to see those numbers continue to fall. Although the numbers are still high, the downward trend is encouraging for the health officials.

The Finger Lakes had a positivity rate over 10 percent in early January. It fell below 7 percent on Saturday.

That is still more than a percent above the state average. The 6.96 percent positive in the Finger Lakes on Saturday compares to the statewide average of 5.61 percent.

The positivity rate state-wide fell below 6 percent on Friday and Saturday for the first time since it was 5.9 percent on Dec. 26. On Friday, the statewide positivity rate was 5.77 percent (and 7.32 percent in the Finger Lakes).

Hospitalizations

The number of people hospitalized due to Covid in the nine counties was at 752 on Saturday. It was 830 on Wednesday, 919 on Jan. 1 and a high of 964 on Dec. 28.

Statewide the hospitalizations are also going down slightly. They were at 8,771 on Saturday, which was less than the 8,888 on Jan. 15, and 8,926 on Jan. 12. The 8,926 is the most since the cases and hospitalizations started to surge in November. The state reached a pandemic high with 18,825 on April 12.