Hochul: NY state starting to turn corner in latest COVID wave

Gov. Hochul says the state appears to be turning a corner when it comes to COVID.

In a Friday briefing, Hochul said cases are appearing to slow down, but it’s not time yet to let down our guard.

In fact, while the overall numbers in the state appear to be dropping, the governor’s announcement comes on the same day Albany County reported a record high number of new COVID cases.

The governor noted omicron is still making up 95% of the cases in the state.

She highlighted another 49,027 positive tests confirmed. That’s still a high number, but last week at this time, there were more than 90,000 a day. That was the surge high.

The positivity rate is also dropping down to 16.3% this week. Last week at this time, we were at a surge high of 23.2%.

The Capital Region is actually seeing the highest percentage of patients admitted to the hospital because of COVID, sitting at 72% of those admitted. The Mohawk Valley is trailing closely behind at 71%. Central New York sitting at 70%. Western New York is at 65%, and then Mid-Hudson at 63%.

Hospitalizations are at 12,207, a net decrease of 245 from the day before, with 1,619 patients in the ICU, a net increase of four.

Another 177 deaths are reported.

MORE: New York State Coronavirus Dashboard | Vaccine Tracker