ALBANY, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) — Governor Andrew Cuomo Thursday said New York State continues to lead the way in COVID-19 testing, with more than 145,000 test results being reported to the state Wednesday. The statewide infection rate remains low, but COVID-19 hospitalizations are on the rise.
Of the record amount of tests results reported Wednesday, only about 1.01% came back positive. This 1.01 COVID-19 positive rate does not include the hot spots in New York, which Governor Cuomo says make up about six percent of the population.
In the hot spots, which are primarily Downstate, the positive rate from Wednesday’s tests was about 5.8%. For the state, including the hot spots, the COVID-19 positive rate was 1.26%.
Statewide, the number of hospitalizations slightly increased Wednesday, with 754 New Yorkers now being hospitalized with COVID-19.
According to the New York State Health Department, from August 20 until September 22, the number of hospitalizations in New York State was consistently below 500. However, during the last 15 days, the number of New Yorkers hospitalized with coronavirus has risen by about 250.
754 COVID-19 hospitalizations is the most the state has seen since July 16.
Complete data provided by the New York State Health Department on Thursday:
- Patient Hospitalization – 754 (+6)
- Patients Newly Admitted – 106
- Hospital Counties – 37
- Number ICU – 172 (-4)
- Number ICU with Intubation – 67 (-5)
- Total Discharges – 77,351 (+84)
- Deaths – 10
- Total Deaths – 25,555
COVID-19 positive rates for all ten regions over the past three days:
| REGION | MONDAY | TUESDAY | WEDNESDAY |
| Capital Region | 1.0% | 0.9% | 0.5% |
| Central New York | 1.8% | 0.9% | 1.0% |
| Finger Lakes | 0.8% | 0.5% | 1.3% |
| Long Island | 1.1% | 1.2% | 1.0% |
| Mid-Hudson | 2.5% | 2.0% | 2.2% |
| Mohawk Valley | 0.6% | 0.4% | 0.5% |
| New York City | 1.4% | 1.5% | 1.2% |
| North Country | 0.3% | 0.1% | 0.7% |
| Southern Tier | 1.8% | 1.4% | 1.3% |
| Western New York | 1.6% | 0.9% | 1.4% |
Since the pandemic began, there have been 470,104 people who have contracted COVID-19.
Breakdown of cases by county:
| County | Total Positive | New Positive |
| Albany | 3,251 | 18 |
| Allegany | 131 | 1 |
| Broome | 2,239 | 108 |
| Cattaraugus | 327 | 11 |
| Cayuga | 237 | 3 |
| Chautauqua | 656 | 15 |
| Chemung | 855 | 39 |
| Chenango | 267 | 2 |
| Clinton | 177 | 4 |
| Columbia | 611 | 0 |
| Cortland | 260 | 20 |
| Delaware | 144 | 1 |
| Dutchess | 5,222 | 8 |
| Erie | 11,953 | 55 |
| Essex | 176 | 2 |
| Franklin | 71 | 1 |
| Fulton | 351 | 1 |
| Genesee | 355 | 3 |
| Greene | 372 | 6 |
| Hamilton | 15 | 0 |
| Herkimer | 355 | 2 |
| Jefferson | 177 | 1 |
| Lewis | 54 | 1 |
| Livingston | 216 | 3 |
| Madison | 505 | 0 |
| Monroe | 6,316 | 50 |
| Montgomery | 242 | 1 |
| Nassau | 47,656 | 140 |
| Niagara | 1,855 | 13 |
| NYC | 248,696 | 696 |
| Oneida | 2,503 | 13 |
| Onondaga | 4,669 | 33 |
| Ontario | 505 | 3 |
| Orange | 12,664 | 101 |
| Orleans | 342 | 2 |
| Oswego | 536 | 5 |
| Otsego | 354 | 1 |
| Putnam | 1,669 | 8 |
| Rensselaer | 958 | 1 |
| Rockland | 16,454 | 198 |
| Saratoga | 1,122 | 11 |
| Schenectady | 1,438 | 6 |
| Schoharie | 88 | 1 |
| Schuyler | 62 | 3 |
| Seneca | 114 | 2 |
| St. Lawrence | 339 | 2 |
| Steuben | 608 | 23 |
| Suffolk | 47,196 | 107 |
| Sullivan | 1,633 | 4 |
| Tioga | 304 | 13 |
| Tompkins | 465 | 7 |
| Ulster | 2,343 | 8 |
| Warren | 427 | 2 |
| Washington | 314 | 3 |
| Wayne | 347 | 8 |
| Westchester | 38,694 | 66 |
| Wyoming | 147 | 0 |
| Yates | 67 | 0 |
At his conference call Thursday, Governor Cuomo continued to ask local governments to enforce the law in regards to COVID-19. The governor reiterated that COVID-19 is a public health emergency and the law must be enforced.
For more local data regarding COVID-19, click here.
