WNY Covid-19 Rate Nearly Double The New York State Average

Western New York has the highest COVID-19 7-day positive average in the entire state, almost double the statewide average. WNY has never been a leader when it comes to stopping the spread of COVID-19, we always seem to have the highest rates.

WNY actually has a rate twice that of New York City, which has significantly more people. According to the most recent information released by the Governor's Office, 34 people died from COVID-19 on January 19, 2023. There is a new variant, XBB.1.5, that is dominating in New York State. It now makes up more than 50 percent of positive cases,

For samples of SARS-CoV-2 collected between January 1 -- January 14, 2023 from New York that are sequenced and uploaded into GISAID, 100% were the Omicron variant. During this time period 1.4% of all sequences were lineage BA.2, 0% were BA.4, 9.7% were BA.5, 4.2% were BQ.1, 20.8% were BQ.1.1, 8.3% were XBB and 55.6% were XBB.1.5, all of which are omicron variants.

As of January 19, WNY has a 7-day positive average of 12.09%. The statewide average is 6.66%.

Here are the 7-day averages for each region:

Capital Region - 7.42%

Central New York - 7.14%

Finger Lakes - 6.23%

Long Island - 6.07%

Mid-Hudson - 7.18%

Mohawk Valley - 9.26%

New York City - 6.18%

North Country - 6.42%

Southern Tier - 6.69%

Western New York - 12.09%

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