Rochester Reporter

Governor Kathy Hochul today updated New Yorkers on the state's progress combatting 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.

"This weekend, I urge all New Yorkers 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 winter health preparedness efforts in December.

The New York State Department of Health's weekly flu surveillance report for the week ending February 4, shows influenza remaining widespread throughout the state for an eighteenth consecutive week, with a total of 310,653 positive cases across 57 counties reported to date. The report found that confirmed cases statewide dropped 19 percent to 2,374 for the week, while overall hospitalizations were down 48 percent from the previous week, at 196 hospitalizations across the state.

Additionally, there were 6 outbreaks in acute care and long-term care facilities, the report determined. There were no one influenza-associated pediatric death reported for the week, the total remaining at nine statewide.

With flu season continuing and infections remaining widespread, Governor Hochul encourages all New Yorkers 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 - 14.01
• 7-Day Average Cases Per 100k - 11.91
• Test Results Reported - 52,056
• Total Positive - 2,737
• Percent Positive - 4.95%**
• 7-Day Average Percent Positive - 5.04%**
• Patient Hospitalization - 2,176 (-60)
• Patients Newly Admitted - 337
• Patients in ICU - 257 (-7)
• Patients in ICU with Intubation - 95 (-7)
• Total Discharges - 398,994 (+372)
• New deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 21
• Total deaths reported by healthcare facilities through HERDS - 61,545

** 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 - 78,230

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.

• Total vaccine doses administered - 43,747,428
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 24 hours - 6,410
• Total vaccine doses administered over past 7 days - 39,562
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series - 85.5%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 90.6%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 18 and older who are up to date - 15.8%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 with completed vaccine series - 74.5%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 76.2%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 12-17 who are up to date - 6.2%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 5-11 with completed vaccine series - 40.0%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 5-11 with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 40.9%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 5-11 who are up to date - 3.5%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 0-4 with completed vaccine series - 7.5%
• Percent of New Yorkers ages 0-4 who are up to date - 7.5%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series - 76.4%
• Percent of all New Yorkers with completed vaccine series (CDC) - 80.8%
• Percent of all New Yorkers who are up to date - 13.7%

Each region's 7-day average of cases per 100K population is as follows: 

Region	Tuesday, February 7, 2023	Wednesday, February 8, 2023	Thursday, February 9, 2023
Capital Region	13.23	13.21	12.86
Central New York	14.88	16.01	15.60
Finger Lakes	12.31	12.40	12.14
Long Island	11.58	10.74	10.48
Mid-Hudson	13.81	13.08	12.68
Mohawk Valley	14.19	14.10	14.42
New York City	11.99	11.35	10.94
North Country	14.66	15.48	15.51
Southern Tier	11.46	12.03	12.10
Western New York	13.97	14.88	14.29
Statewide	12.59	12.25	11.91

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

Region	Tuesday, February 7, 2023	Wednesday, February 8, 2023	Thursday, February 9, 2023
Capital Region	8.02%	7.66%	7.11%
Central New York	8.11%	8.17%	7.81%
Finger Lakes	6.50%	6.50%	6.37%
Long Island	4.02%	3.74%	3.66%
Mid-Hudson	5.95%	5.77%	5.44%
Mohawk Valley	7.86%	7.48%	7.43%
New York City	4.18%	4.17%	3.96%
North Country	7.66%	7.78%	7.64%
Southern Tier	5.51%	5.58%	5.64%
Western New York	12.48%	12.80%	12.45%
Statewide	5.29%	5.27%	5.04%

** 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	Tuesday, February 7, 2023	Wednesday, February 8, 2023	Thursday, February 9, 2023
Bronx	4.91%	4.69%	4.30%
Kings	3.69%	3.94%	3.62%
New York	4.09%	3.87%	3.83%
Queens	4.54%	4.33%	4.20%
Richmond	4.30%	4.50%	4.54%

** 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, 2,737 New Yorkers tested positive for COVID-19 in New York State, bringing the total to 6,587,338. A geographic breakdown is as follows:

County	Total Positive	New Positive
Albany	78,668	42
Allegany	10,762	6
Broome	58,588	26
Cattaraugus	19,234	9
Cayuga	20,416	12
Chautauqua	29,369	14
Chemung	26,556	12
Chenango	11,800	10
Clinton	22,523	25
Columbia	13,831	25
Cortland	13,314	13
Delaware	10,156	5
Dutchess	84,754	54
Erie	268,526	131
Essex	7,666	5
Franklin	12,056	8
Fulton	16,566	8
Genesee	16,544	6
Greene	10,982	3
Hamilton	1,098	-
Herkimer	17,467	8
Jefferson	27,129	25
Lewis	7,331	7
Livingston	14,348	9
Madison	16,786	12
Monroe	191,601	105
Montgomery	15,031	10
Nassau	547,736	157
Niagara	59,509	25
NYC	3,074,345	1,155
Oneida	69,027	45
Onondaga	142,396	73
Ontario	26,130	10
Orange	139,706	67
Orleans	10,551	6
Oswego	34,596	15
Otsego	13,304	6
Putnam	31,575	10
Rensselaer	41,695	33
Rockland	118,637	56
Saratoga	61,385	26
Schenectady	43,615	25
Schoharie	6,576	4
Schuyler	4,320	1
Seneca	7,650	4
St. Lawrence	26,196	17
Steuben	25,232	7
Suffolk	566,519	166
Sullivan	24,612	13
Tioga	14,003	6
Tompkins	26,478	24
Ulster	43,133	41
Warren	18,864	15
Washington	15,754	11
Wayne	21,839	10
Westchester	334,500	113
Wyoming	9,912	5
Yates	4,441	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	124	88	71.0%	36	29.0%
Central New York	102	54	52.9%	48	47.1%
Finger Lakes	226	60	26.5%	166	73.5%
Long Island	300	158	52.7%	142	47.3%
Mid-Hudson	241	93	38.6%	148	61.4%
Mohawk Valley	51	23	45.1%	28	54.9%
New York City	904	356	39.4%	548	60.6%
North Country	48	24	50.0%	24	50.0%
Southern Tier	46	12	26.1%	34	73.9%
Western New York	134	60	44.8%	74	55.2%
Statewide	2,176	928	42.6%	1,248	57.4%

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 21 total new deaths reported due to COVID-19, bringing the total to 61,545. A geographic breakdown is as follows, by county of residence:

County	New Deaths
Broome	1
Chautauqua	1
Essex	1
Jefferson	1
Kings	1
Lewis	1
Nassau	3
New York	1
Niagara	1
Queens	2
Rockland	1
Schenectady	1
St. Lawrence	1
Steuben	2
Suffolk	2
Westchester	1
Grand Total	21

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.

A geographic breakdown of New Yorkers who have been vaccinated and boosted by region is as follows:

Regional Vaccination Data by Provider Location
	People with complete vaccine series	People who are up to date
Region	CumulativeTotal	CumulativeTotal
Capital Region	910,291	222,670
Central New York	616,555	145,552
Finger Lakes	829,974	234,460
Long Island	2,023,438	367,591
Mid-Hudson	1,574,997	331,678
Mohawk Valley	311,791	67,897
New York City	7,468,635	967,947
North Country	284,894	62,017
Southern Tier	419,990	104,408
Western New York	913,661	223,884
Statewide	15,354,226	2,728,104

Booster/Additional Shots
Region	CumulativeTotal	Increase over past 7 days
Capital Region	819,197	1,520
Central New York	544,935	1,001
Finger Lakes	863,763	1,812
Long Island	1,850,557	2,968
Mid-Hudson	1,510,171	2,857
Mohawk Valley	278,557	528
New York City	4,808,410	12,664
North Country	252,435	409
Southern Tier	388,792	754
Western New York	887,769	2,003
Statewide	12,204,586	26,516

The COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker Dashboard is available to update New Yorkers on the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine. The New York State Department of Health requires vaccinating facilities to report all COVID-19 vaccine administration data within 24 hours; the vaccine administration data on the dashboard is updated daily to reflect the most up-to-date metrics in the state's vaccination effort. New York State Department of Health-reported data from NYSIIS and CIR differs slightly from federally reported data, which is inclusive of federally administered doses and other minor differences. Both numbers are included in the release above.

The vaccination data reported in today's release has been updated to include New Yorkers who are "up to date." Up to date represents the total number of individuals who have completed all COVID-19 vaccinations, including the bivalent booster, as appropriate per age and clinical recommendations (CDC At-A-Glance COVID-19 Vaccination Schedules).

Original source can be found here.