ALBANY, N.Y. — Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office provided an update Sunday regarding New York State's progress during the COVID-19 pandemic.
As of Saturday, the number of COVID-19 hospitalizations in New York State dropped to 4,486. This is the first time since December 5 that New York's hospitalizations have dropped below 4,500.
According to the governor's office, New York State has seen a 52 percent decrease in COVID-19 hospitalizations since the mid-January peak.
Meanwhile, the number of ICU patients dropped to 927, which is the lowest this number has been since December 7. This number has decreased 43 percent since the mid-January peak. The number of intubations also dropped to 619, which is the lowest this number has been since December 21.
Here in the Western New York region, the total number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 stayed the same from Friday to Saturday at 155. The current number of people hospitalized in Western New York equates to .01 percent of the region's population.
The state reports that 38 percent of hospital beds would be available in the region within seven days under a "surge plan."
The region's percent positive rate saw a slight increase on Saturday. Western New York's percent positive rate increased from 1.64 percent on Friday to 1.76 percent on Saturday.
"The vaccine is the weapon that will win the war and is critical to stopping COVID in its tracks, but New Yorkers should also practice the safe behaviors that have made a huge difference in our ability to slow the spread," Governor Cuomo said.
"We're opening new vaccination sites and getting shots in arms across the state, but we're going to need more supply to reach a bigger portion of the population. In the meantime, New Yorkers should wear masks, wash their hands and stay socially distanced. New York has come a long way in the footrace between the infection rate and the vaccination rate, and although we're making progress every day, we need New Yorkers to stay safe until we defeat the COVID beast."
Sixty-two more New Yorkers died from the virus on Saturday, bringing the total number of deaths to 39,527.