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

NOTE: Beginning June 24, 2022, the Vaccine data will be updated weekly on Fridays to align with CDC's updated data refresh schedule. For additional information on COVID-19 Vaccination Data provided by CDC, see https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#vaccinations_vacc-total-admin-rate-total.

Important Note: HERDS data collection from health care facilities is not currently required on weekends or holidays. The survey will resume today and the facility/death data will be displayed in tomorrow's report. The numbers below with an asterisk were reported on Friday, August 19.

Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19. Earlier today, Governor Hochul announced updated COVID-19 guidance that aligns with new CDC recommendations as children, teachers and faculty across the state prepare to head back to school in the coming weeks. Among other recommendations, this new guidance specifies that asymptomatic school children exposed to COVID-19 no longer need to quarantine and that isolation is now only advised for individuals that have tested positive for the virus. Presentation slides from the Governor's briefing are available here.

"As we continue to monitor the current numbers, I encourage all New Yorkers to keep using the tools we know that work to protect against COVID-19," Governor Hochul said. "Please get vaccinated or boosted when you're eligible or if you haven't already. Test if you have symptoms, and if you're positive stay home and talk to you doctor at treatment. By remaining vigilant and responsible, New Yorkers will continue to work together to beat this virus."

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

• Cases Per 100k - 16.64
• 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 22.95
• Test Results Reported - 39,820
• Total Positive - 3,251
• Percent Positive - 7.74%**
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 6.18%**
• Patient Hospitalization - 2,365 (-62)*
• Patients Newly Admitted - 419*
• Patients in ICU - 231 (-5)*
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 89 (-4)*
• Total Discharges - 333,567 (431)*
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 26*
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 57,460*

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

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.

Important Note: Effective Monday, April 4, the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is no longer requiring testing facilities that use COVID-19 rapid antigen tests to report negative results. As a result, New York State's percent positive metric will be computed using only lab-reported PCR results. Positive antigen tests will still be reported to New York State and reporting of new daily cases and cases per 100k will continue to include both PCR and antigen tests. Due to this change and other factors, including changes in testing practices, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

• Total deaths reported to and compiled by the CDC - 73,452

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.

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**:

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

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

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and several other factors, the most reliable metric to measure virus impact on a community is the case per 100,000 data -- not percent positivity.

Yesterday, 3,251 New Yorkers tested positive for COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 5,883,619. A geographic breakdown is as follows:

Below is data that shows how many hospitalized individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19 were admitted for COVID-19/COVID-19 complications and how many were admitted for non-COVID-19 conditions:

The Omicron variant now represents more than 95% of the viruses in circulation. For more information on variant tracking, please visit here: (COVID-19 Variant Data | Department of Health (ny.gov).

On Friday, August 19th, 26 total new deaths were reported due to COVID-19, bringing the total to 57,460. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

New Yorkers 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.