Governor Hochul Updates New Yorkers on State's Progress Combating COVID-19

Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19.

"As we confront the winter surge, it is vital to remember we have come a long way in our fight against COVID with the best defense we have - the vaccine - readily available throughout the state," Governor Hochul said. "We are actively working to bring more tests in for New Yorkers to reduce wait times as we see more people getting tested for the holidays. Get yourself vaccinated along with the booster dose, wear a mask, stay home if you feel sick, and exercise caution when in large gatherings - we have what we need to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe. Let's spread joy, not COVID, this holiday season."

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

• Test Results Reported - 271,290
• Total Positive - 28,924
• Percent Positive - 10.66%
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 8.58%
• Patient Hospitalization - 4,452 (+124)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 766
• Patients in ICU - 828 (+29)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 475 (+5)
• Total Discharges - 224,549 (+587)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 57
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 47,728
  The Health Electronic Response Data System is a NYS DOH data source that collects confirmed daily death data as reported by hospitals, nursing homes and adult care facilities only.
• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 60,689
  This daily COVID-19 provisional death certificate data reported by NYS DOH and NYC to the CDC includes those who died in any location, including hospitals, nursing homes, adult care facilities, at home, in hospice and other settings.
• Total vaccine doses administered - 32,693,260
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 144,541
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 959,247
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose - 88.2%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 80.2%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 94.8%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 82.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose - 76.9%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 69.2%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) - 82.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 71.1%

Each region's 7-day average of cases per 100K population is as follows

Each region's 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

Each New York City borough's 7-day average percentage of positive test results reported over the last three days is as follows:

Yesterday, 28,924 New Yorkers tested positive for COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 3,014,767. A geographic breakdown is as follows:

Given the rate of spread of Omicron, it is more meaningful to now report the percentage of Omicron variants as reported to the public COVID-19 sequence databases, than continue to report counts of individual cases. This percentage can then be related to the total positive COVID case count in the state. This process is consistent with how the New York State Department of Health has reported on all other variants online: https://coronavirus.health.ny.gov/covid-19-variant-data

Data this morning in the GISAID database, the largest repository of SARS-CoV-2 sequences in the world, show the Omicron variant comprised 55.9% of uploaded sequences from NYS between 12/8/21 and 12/21/21. This is another significant increase from the result announced yesterday, which covered 12/7/2021 to 12/20/2021, and is ongoing evidence of the rate of spread of this variant.

It should be noted that similar data reported from the CDC, updated this week, uses a statistical model to project the variant percentages for a more recent timeframe. This projection approach partly explains a higher percentage for the Omicron variant reported by CDC this week.

Yesterday, 57 New Yorkers died due to COVID-19, bringing the total to 47,728. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

All New York State mass vaccination sites are open to eligible New Yorkers aged 12 years and older for walk-in vaccination on a first-come, first-serve basis, with 10 sites open to eligible New Yorkers aged 5 and older. People who would prefer to schedule an appointment at a state-run mass vaccination site can do so on the Am I Eligible App or by calling 1-833-NYS-4-VAX. People may also contact their local health department, pharmacy, doctor or hospital to schedule appointments where vaccines are available, or visit vaccines.gov to find information on vaccine appointments near them.

New Yorkers looking to schedule vaccine appointments for 5-11-year-old children are encouraged to contact their child's pediatrician, family physician, county health departments, Federally Qualified Health Centers (FQHCs), rural health centers, or pharmacies that may be administering the vaccine for this age group. Parents and guardians can visit vaccines.gov, text their ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to find nearby locations. Make sure that the provider offers the Pfizer-BioNTechCOVID-19 vaccine, as the other COVID-19 vaccines are not yet authorized for this age group.

Visit our website for parents and guardians for new information, frequently asked questions and answers, and resources specifically designed for parents and guardians of this age group.

Yesterday, 29,358 New Yorkers received their first vaccine dose, and 15,981completed their vaccine series. A geographic breakdown of New Yorkers who have been vaccinated by region is as follows:

The COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker Dashboard is available to update New Yorkers on the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The New York State Department of Health requires vaccinating facilities to report all COVID-19 vaccine administration data within 24 hours; the vaccine administration data on the dashboard is updated daily to reflect the most up-to-date metrics in the state's vaccination effort. New York State Department of Health-reported data from NYSIIS and CIR differs slightly from federally-reported data, which is inclusive of federally-administered doses and other minor differences. Both numbers are included in the release above.

Percentages are estimates. They are based on self-reported data for 12/14/21. The denominators are active employees reported for 12/14/21 plus the inactive categories above; they do not include workforce fluctuations that may have occurred in addition to these categories above.