COVID cases and hospitalizations continue to improve quickly in New York, Gov. Kathy Hochul said Sunday, with positivity rates falling sharply from where they had been even a few days ago.
“The COVID forecast is improving … the COVID clouds are parting," Hochul said during a winter storm briefing upstate. “Overall, the prognosis, the forecast, for COVID is much brighter than it had been before.”
Nearly 400,000 tests were conducted Saturday, with a positivity rate of 12.9%. Just one week ago, on a similar number of tests, the positivity rate was almost 20%.
The number of people hospitalized fell for a fourth straight day as well.
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Indicators are improving across the board in New York City, she said, but not improving as quickly upstate. Deaths, the ultimate lagging COVID indicator, are still high, with another 154 reported on Sunday.
Just this week, nearly 1,200 people have died of COVID in the state.
