March 2, 2023
Albany, NY

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

Governor Encourages New Yorkers to Keep Using the Tools to Protect Against and Treat COVID-19: Vaccines, Boosters, Testing and Treatment

14 Statewide Deaths Reported Yesterday

Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combating COVID-19 and outlined basic steps they can take to protect against the spread of viral respiratory infections that become more common in the winter season.

"I urge every New Yorker to remain vigilant and continue to use all available tools to keep themselves, their loved ones and their communities safe and healthy," Governor Hochul said." Stay up to date on vaccine doses and be sure to test before gatherings or travel. If you test positive, talk to your doctor about potential treatment options."

Governor Hochul is urging New Yorkers to take common prevention measures — like staying up to date on vaccines and practicing proper hygiene — to protect from the flu and COVID-19 and reduce the patient burden on local hospitals. The Governor reiterated these basic steps when she updated New Yorkers on the state's health preparedness efforts this winter.

Last week, the New York State Department of Health launched a new 12-week campaign on television, social media and streaming services to encourage New Yorkers with underlying medical conditions to recognize the importance of getting and staying up-to-date with the recommended COVID-19 bivalent booster to avoid serious illness or death. These conditions including being 65 or older, pregnant, obese, diabetic, or suffering from heart or lung disease, or having a weakened immune system.

Additionally, the Department of Health released its weekly flu surveillance report for the week ending February 18 and showing influenza remaining geographically widespread throughout the state for a twentieth consecutive week, with a total of 315,732 positive cases reported across 57 counties. The report found that confirmed cases statewide decreased 5 percent to 2,471 for the week, while overall hospitalizations were up 3 percent from the previous week, at 144 hospitalizations across the state.

There were three outbreaks in acute care and long-term care facilities, the report determined. There were no influenza-associated pediatric death reported for the week, for a total of 10 statewide.

With flu season continuing, Governor Hochul reminds all New Yorkers that it's not too late to get their annual flu vaccine. The flu virus and the virus that causes COVID-19 are both circulating, so getting vaccinated against both is the best way to stay healthy and to avoid added stress to the health care system.

The Health Department is continuing its annual public education campaign, reminding adults and parents to get both flu and COVID-19 shots for themselves and children 6 months and older. For information about flu vaccine clinics, contact the local health department or visit vaccines.gov/find-vaccines.

Governor Hochul also continues to urge New Yorkers to get their bivalent COVID-19 vaccine boosters. In December, the New York State Department of Health announced new guidance for bivalent COVID-19 booster doses, which are now available for eligible children down to 6 months of age.

The updated boosters are the first to be targeted to the original virus strain and recently circulating variants and are recommended for young New Yorkers and all those eligible. To schedule an appointment for a booster, New Yorkers should contact their local pharmacy, county health department, or healthcare provider; visit vaccines.gov; text their ZIP code to 438829, or call 1-800-232-0233 to find nearby locations.

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

  • Cases Per 100k – 9.99
  • 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k – 7.62
  • Test Results Reported – 52,282
  • Total Positive – 1,952
  • Percent Positive – 3.47%**
  • 7-Day Average Percent Positive – 3.10%**
  • Patient Hospitalization – 1,758 (-66)
  • Patients Newly Admitted – 253
  • Patients in ICU - 189 (-10)
  • Patients in ICU with Intubation - 71 (+1)
  • Total Discharges - 404,195 (+293)
  • New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS – 14
  • Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 61,884

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services 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 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 – 78,690

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:

Region

Monday, February 27, 2023

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Capital Region

9.98

9.45

9.32

Central New York

10.80

11.15

10.67

Finger Lakes

10.14

9.92

10.12

Long Island

7.20

6.80

7.07

Mid-Hudson

8.41

8.02

7.40

Mohawk Valley

10.74

10.13

8.77

New York City

6.06

5.92

5.92

North Country

15.14

14.12

14.53

Southern Tier

13.31

12.68

12.25

Western New York

10.13

9.97

9.60

Statewide

7.99

7.73

7.62

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

Region

Monday, February 27, 2023

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Capital Region

6.03%

5.97%

6.05%

Central New York

6.04%

6.19%

5.89%

Finger Lakes

6.30%

6.16%

6.16%

Long Island

2.95%

2.87%

2.77%

Mid-Hudson

2.34%

1.88%

2.13%

Mohawk Valley

6.12%

5.69%

5.30%

New York City

2.05%

2.02%

1.99%

North Country

8.40%

8.49%

8.19%

Southern Tier

7.08%

6.95%

6.69%

Western New York

9.95%

10.00%

9.63%

Statewide

3.24%

3.06%

3.10%

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services 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 **:

Borough in NYC

Monday, February 27, 2023

Tuesday, February 28, 2023

Wednesday, March 1, 2023

Bronx

2.09%

2.01%

1.97%

Kings

1.59%

1.60%

1.58%

New York

2.60%

2.55%

2.54%

Queens

2.42%

2.31%

2.21%

Richmond

2.23%

2.41%

2.47%

** Due to the test reporting policy change by the federal Department of Health and Human Services 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, 1,952 New Yorkers tested positive for COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 6,624,377. A geographic breakdown is as follows:

County

Total Positive

New Positive

Albany

79,252

37

Allegany

10,858

3

Broome

59,093

28

Cattaraugus

19,368

9

Cayuga

20,612

10

Chautauqua

29,658

11

Chemung

26,797

22

Chenango

11,882

-

Clinton

22,864

38

Columbia

14,016

10

Cortland

13,528

12

Delaware

10,231

2

Dutchess

85,347

17

Erie

270,738

92

Essex

7,784

6

Franklin

12,184

10

Fulton

16,723

7

Genesee

16,686

3

Greene

11,108

9

Hamilton

1,104

-

Herkimer

17,585

4

Jefferson

27,409

5

Lewis

7,400

1

Livingston

14,486

11

Madison

16,931

5

Monroe

193,273

103

Montgomery

15,132

6

Nassau

550,386

146

Niagara

59,935

41

NYC

3,087,516

681

Oneida

69,523

18

Onondaga

143,438

50

Ontario

26,348

20

Orange

140,561

31

Orleans

10,636

3

Oswego

34,878

12

Otsego

13,400

3

Putnam

31,748

5

Rensselaer

42,049

29

Rockland

119,095

29

Saratoga

61,901

15

Schenectady

43,977

23

Schoharie

6,634

2

Schuyler

4,349

4

Seneca

7,728

9

St. Lawrence

26,493

27

Steuben

25,471

13

Suffolk

569,170

184

Sullivan

24,804

4

Tioga

14,151

3

Tompkins

26,791

20

Ulster

43,474

10

Warren

19,050

7

Washington

15,985

12

Wayne

22,047

16

Westchester

336,332

69

Wyoming

9,993

5

Yates

4,465

-

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:

Region

COVID-19 Patients currently hospitalized

Admitted due to COVID or complications of COVID

% Admitted due to COVID or complications of COVID

Admitted where COVID was not included as one of the reasons for admission

% Admitted where COVID was not included as one of the reasons for admission

Capital Region

129

75

58.1%

54

41.9%

Central New York

74

33

44.6%

41

55.4%

Finger Lakes

237

81

34.2%

156

65.8%

Long Island

250

121

48.4%

129

51.6%

Mid-Hudson

178

58

32.6%

120

67.4%

Mohawk Valley

47

27

57.4%

20

42.6%

New York City

551

215

39.0%

336

61.0%

North Country

56

32

57.1%

24

42.9%

Southern Tier

67

18

26.9%

49

73.1%

Western New York

169

71

42.0%

98

58.0%

Statewide

1,758

731

41.6%

1,027

58.4%

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).

Yesterday, there were 14 total new deaths reported due to COVID-19, bringing the total to 61,884. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

County

New Deaths

Erie

3

Kings

1

Monroe

1

Montgomery

1

Nassau

1

Oneida

2

Onondaga

1

Putnam

1

Suffolk

1

Westchester

2

Grand Total

14

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, 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.

Contact the Governor’s Press Office

Contact us by phone:

Albany: (518) 474-8418
New York City: (212) 681-4640

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