New York State’s week-long COVID case rate has fallen every day for two weeks and has fallen to its lowest level in more than a month, Gov. Hochul’s office said Tuesday.
The state’s daily case rate on Tuesday fell by about 63% from May 17, according to government figures, with counts falling in all regions of the state.
New York’s hospitalization rate, which is lagging behind the number of cases, has also begun to decline, according to the data.
The latest dive in New York’s 26-month, five-bump COVID roller coaster ride comes with warming weather and widespread vaccination that limits the worst results.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/XW5IG6XPROZ2XGN7B73C2HLOZI.jpg)
But the threat has not completely disappeared. On Tuesday, the state announced 26 more COVID deaths.
The daily death toll had dropped to single digits a few days last month before a spring wave of omicron infections drove deaths up.
Hochul urged New Yorkers to remain aggressive in their approach to vaccines and testing.
“With such great momentum as we enter the summer, it is certainly not the time to become complacent,” the governor said in a statement. “Let’s commit ourselves to continuing to use the tools that keep New Yorkers safe.”
In the statement, she asked New Yorkers to “stay up to date with vaccine doses and boosters” and to “be tested early – and often.”
:quality(70)/cloudfront-us-east-1.images.arcpublishing.com/tronc/PWLQ5K3VM5BJRPPZ5IUTAZZ6KE.jpg)
Fully vaccinated New Yorkers have at least an 85% lower chance of landing in the hospital with COVID compared to those not vaccinated, according to an analysis from the state Department of Health.
About 91% of New Yorkers have received at least one shot of COVID vaccine, according to state figures, but some upstate regions lag far behind the city. A hair below 40% of the nationwide population is reported to have received a booster shot.
In the five boroughs, the number of seven-day virus cases has dropped by about 16% over the past two weeks, according to state data.
New York City continued to have one of the highest incidence cases in any region of the state, and the city’s virus alert level remained at “high.” But hospitalizations and confirmed deaths all went down, the city reported.
