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 come home from holiday gatherings, it is as important as ever to take precautions to limit the spread of COVID-19 this season,” Governor Hochul said. “Wear your mask, wash your hands, and if you haven’t yet, get vaccinated and boosted. The vaccine is the best tool we have to keep ourselves and our loved ones safe as we head into the new year. Take advantage of having it readily available and get yours today.”

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

* Numbers with an asterisk were last updated as of Dec. 24 as the HERDS system was down in observance of the holiday.

** Vaccination numbers compiled by the CDC as of Dec. 24.

*** Due to the Holiday, today's report has data from Dec. 24 and Dec. 25, where available.

• Test Results Reported – Dec. 24: 400,030/Dec. 25: 257,325***
• Total Positive – Dec. 24: 49,708/Dec. 25: 36,454***
• Percent Positive – 14.17%
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive – 11.70%
• Patient Hospitalization – 4,891*
• Patients Newly Admitted – 839*
• Patients in ICU – 880 (-4)*
• Patients in ICU with Intubation – 501 (+6)*
• Total Discharges – 226,474 (+676)*
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS – 60*
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS – 47,929*
  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 – 60,751
  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 – 33,105,549
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours – 29,046
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days – 732,953
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose – 88.6%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series – 80.3%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) – 95.0%**
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) – 82.6%**
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose – 77.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series – 69.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with at least one vaccine dose (CDC) – 82.9%**
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) – 71.3**

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, 36,454 New Yorkers tested positive for COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total compiled to 3,184,195. A geographic breakdown is as follows:

Given the extent of spread of Omicron, it is more meaningful to report the percentage of Omicron variants as reported to the public COVID-19 sequence databases, than 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 64.1% of uploaded sequences from NYS between 12/12/21 and 12/25/21. This increase compared to the result announced on Friday, which covered 12/10/2021 to 12/23/2021, and slightly higher than all previous levels, is indicative of the ongoing spread of Omicron in NYS.

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 the CDC.

As of Dec. 24, 60 New Yorkers died due to COVID-19, bringing the total compiled by HERDS to 47,929. Death numbers were not compiled on Dec. 25 in observance of the holiday. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

All New York State mass vaccination sites are open to eligible New Yorkers aged 5 and older, with walk-in vaccination available at all sites on a first-come, first-serve basis for people aged 12 and older. Information on which sites require appointments for children in the 5-11 age group is available on our website. People who prefer to make 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, 6,163 New Yorkers received their first vaccine dose, and 3,407 completed 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.