ALBANY, N.Y. — New York State has recorded the lowest seven-day COVID-19 positive rate since December 1.
Governor Andrew Cuomo made the announcement Tuesday during a conference call with reporters.
The seven-day average positivity rate in NY dropped to 4.38%. Currently, there are 7,875 people hospitalized with a COVID-19 related illness. 138 New York residents died of the virus on Monday.
"Our post-holiday surge reduction is continuing, and that is the direct result of the toughness of New Yorkers who have sacrificed and done what is needed to beat back this invisible enemy. Our infection rate is the lowest it has been since December 1, so we're back to where we started on the holiday surge," Governor Cuomo said. "Now more than ever, it's critically important we stay united and keep the momentum on our side - especially as new variants of the virus threaten to upend the progress we have made. Simultaneously, we also must continue to get New Yorkers vaccinated as quickly and fairly as possible. We've made great progress on that front, but one factor continues to hold us back - the supply. Thankfully, the new federal government has begun righting the wrongs of the past administration and the future is looking bright. If we all just stay disciplined and keep doing what we need to do, we will win this war."
The Western New York Region, which consists of Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties, has a seven-day positivity rate of 4.16% on Monday.
Cuomo also announced the state will receive another 5% increase in vaccine allocation from the federal government. That's on top of the 215 announced earlier.
"The White House did announce a 5 percent increase in vaccine allocation and again announced a three-week projection for that allocation, so the allocation will go up about 5 percent to the state and that will be true for three weeks," he said. "The three weeks is a big deal from a planning point of view because the State did not know what they were getting next week literally until a couple of days before. We would then turn around and tell the counties and then the counties would say, well, I had no notice. I know because I had no notice, but the three-wee projection actually helps that."
"The 5 percent increase doesn't sound like much but remember, that's on top of the first announcement which was 16 percent increase, then the second announcement of 5 percent, so this is a third announcement of 5 percent - 16, plus 5, plus 5, so over the past 3 weeks it has been relatively significant. Again, not proportionate to the need but that has been helpful," said Cuomo.