Story at a glance
- The most recent COVID-19 surge due to the omicron variant might be declining.
- New York Gov. Kathy Hochul reported Friday that the state’s positivity rate has dropped to just over 16 percent.
- The governor added the number of confirmed new cases of the virus yesterday was less than 50,000 and continues to decline.
New York state is “turning a corner” on a recent surge in COVID-19 infections stemming from the omicron variant as the number of daily new cases continues to decline, Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) said Friday.
“Here’s the news flash: turning the corner…I’ve been waiting to say that,” said Hochul during a press conference at the State University of New York at Albany.
New York’s seven-day average of cases is starting to decline, the governor added, noting the state saw a total of 49,027 new infections yesterday and a major drop from last week’s peak.
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“That is a very positive trend and I think we’ll be able to keep that forward,” she added.
Like in many other states across the country, the omicron variant has caused a surge in new COVID-19 cases in New York this winter.
State officials detected the first case of omicron in a Minnesota resident who had traveled to New York City in early December. Since then, new infections have skyrocketed with health officials reporting an all-time high of 90,000 new cases in a single day last week and a positivity rate of 23 percent.
Over half of those cases were found in New York City.
But officials believe the surge may be plateauing as statewide COVID-19 positivity rates continue to slide.
On Friday, Hochul reported a statewide positive of 16.3 percent adding the state is also seeing a decline in people becoming severely ill with about 245 fewer people being hospitalized for the virus yesterday than the day before.
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