March 8, 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

9 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.

The New York State Department of Health recently launched a 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 on February 25 and showing influenza remaining geographically widespread throughout the state for a twenty-first consecutive week, with a total of 317,694 positive cases reported this season to date. The report found that confirmed cases statewide decreased 23 percent to 1,887 for the week, while overall hospitalizations were up 1 percent from the previous week, at 186 hospitalizations across the state.

There were two outbreaks in acute care and long-term care facilities, the report determined. There was one influenza-associated pediatric death reported for the week, for a total of 11 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 - 7.24
  • 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 6.82
  • Test Results Reported - 73,994
  • Total Positive - 1,415
  • Percent Positive - 1.63%**
  • 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 2.62%**
  • Patient Hospitalization - 1,630 (-27)
  • Patients Newly Admitted - 256
  • Patients in ICU - 158 (-19)
  • Patients in ICU with Intubation - 46 (-5)
  • Total Discharges - 405,496 (+266)
  • New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 9
  • Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 61,950

** 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 - 78,809

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

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Monday, March 6, 2023

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Capital Region

8.56

8.49

7.94

Central New York

9.98

10.06

9.65

Finger Lakes

10.17

9.75

9.68

Long Island

6.69

6.70

6.55

Mid-Hudson

6.00

5.96

5.57

Mohawk Valley

7.65

7.57

7.36

New York City

5.27

5.22

5.28

North Country

13.43

12.79

13.30

Southern Tier

12.30

12.12

12.19

Western New York

9.64

9.73

9.26

Statewide

7.00

6.94

6.82

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

Region

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Monday, March 6, 2023

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Capital Region

5.69%

5.75%

5.58%

Central New York

5.30%

5.25%

5.07%

Finger Lakes

5.94%

5.83%

5.85%

Long Island

2.52%

2.44%

2.29%

Mid-Hudson

2.02%

1.89%

1.45%

Mohawk Valley

4.83%

4.80%

5.26%

New York City

1.87%

1.87%

1.66%

North Country

7.27%

7.12%

6.84%

Southern Tier

5.91%

5.82%

5.77%

Western New York

8.88%

9.18%

8.75%

Statewide

2.97%

2.93%

2.62%

** 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

Sunday, March 5, 2023

Monday, March 6, 2023

Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Bronx

1.80%

1.77%

1.72%

Kings

1.39%

1.44%

1.21%

New York

2.58%

2.50%

2.41%

Queens

2.08%

2.08%

1.97%

Richmond

2.16%

2.15%

1.79%

** 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, 1,415 New Yorkers tested positive for COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 6,631,753. A geographic breakdown is as follows:

County

Total Positive

New Positive

Albany

79,384

24

Allegany

10,897

6

Broome

59,266

49

Cattaraugus

19,409

7

Cayuga

20,646

9

Chautauqua

29,721

8

Chemung

26,839

9

Chenango

11,904

2

Clinton

22,935

13

Columbia

14,037

5

Cortland

13,564

4

Delaware

10,243

3

Dutchess

85,465

17

Erie

271,231

98

Essex

7,828

13

Franklin

12,225

10

Fulton

16,747

5

Genesee

16,733

9

Greene

11,129

1

Hamilton

1,105

-

Herkimer

17,611

6

Jefferson

27,460

9

Lewis

7,410

-

Livingston

14,511

6

Madison

16,981

9

Monroe

193,666

75

Montgomery

15,162

4

Nassau

550,850

74

Niagara

60,038

24

NYC

3,089,938

470

Oneida

69,621

32

Onondaga

143,685

48

Ontario

26,414

12

Orange

140,665

19

Orleans

10,653

1

Oswego

34,946

13

Otsego

13,421

3

Putnam

31,773

4

Rensselaer

42,127

17

Rockland

119,187

28

Saratoga

61,972

6

Schenectady

44,052

10

Schoharie

6,645

2

Schuyler

4,360

2

Seneca

7,751

5

St. Lawrence

26,578

36

Steuben

25,552

19

Suffolk

569,678

79

Sullivan

24,834

4

Tioga

14,185

10

Tompkins

26,864

9

Ulster

43,550

9

Warren

19,081

3

Washington

16,017

5

Wayne

22,096

9

Westchester

336,628

54

Wyoming

10,013

6

Yates

4,470

1

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

136

85

62.5%

51

37.5%

Central New York

88

44

50.0%

44

50.0%

Finger Lakes

241

60

24.9%

181

75.1%

Long Island

251

115

45.8%

136

54.2%

Mid-Hudson

153

54

35.3%

99

64.7%

Mohawk Valley

34

23

67.6%

11

32.4%

New York City

454

171

37.7%

283

62.3%

North Country

45

23

51.1%

22

48.9%

Southern Tier

72

21

29.2%

51

70.8%

Western New York

156

68

43.6%

88

56.4%

Statewide

1,630

664

40.7%

966

59.3%

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 9 total new deaths reported due to COVID-19, bringing the total to 61,950. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

County

New Deaths

Bronx

1

Erie

2

Oneida

1

Ontario

1

Queens

1

Rensselaer

1

Schenectady

1

Wyoming

1

Grand Total

9

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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