For fourth straight day, NY sets another record for most Covid cases

New York State made it four straight days of setting a new record for Covid cases. There were 85,476 new cases on Friday, which followed 76,555 on Thursday, 74,207 on Wednesday and 67,090 on Tuesday.

The 85,476 positive cases on Friday are out of 384,365 reported tests for a positivity rate of 22.24 percent.

Those positive tests include 46 in Orleans – out of 427 tests for a positivity rate of 10.8 percent. Genesee has 91 more positives out of 506 tests for a rate of 18.0 percent.

The state’s 7-day positivity rate is at 19.79 percent. Locally the positivity rate over the past 7 days is 14.1 percent in Genesee and 11.9 percent in Orleans.

Only two of the 62 counties in the state under 10 percent: Chenango at 9.6 percent and Tompkins at 8.6 percent.

Long Island has the highest positivity rate at 22.69 percent followed by New York City at 20.56 percent. The nine-county Finger Lakes region, which includes Genesee and Orleans, is at 15.68 percent.

“As we fight the winter surge, we need to keep the most vulnerable among us in mind – do what you can to keep others in your community safe from Covid-19,” Governor Hochul said in a Covid update. “Wear a mask, wash your hands, and take advantage of the best tool we have at our disposal – the vaccine. If you haven’t gotten your second dose, do so as soon as possible and get your booster if you’re eligible. We will continue to make vaccines, boosters and testing more widely available as part of our Winter Surge Plan so we can continue to keep each other safe.”

The state also reported today that hospitalizations from Covid increased by 532 to 8,451. The hospitalizations five days earlier on Sunday were at 5,526. On Dec. 17 there were 3,909 hospitalized from Covid.