Another day, another increase in Western New York's COVID-19 positivity rate. The numbers keep climbing and we seem to be losing our fight to get the spread of COVID-19 under control. New York Governor Kathy Hochul released her COVID-19 update yesterday and things were not looking good. Western New York has exceeded its already-high 7-day average COVID-19 positivity rate. Even with a few minute decreases in the past few weeks, the rate has increased steadily. As of Friday, December 3, 2021, the 7-day average percentage of positive test results for the WNY region is 11.15%. This is currently the highest rate in the state.

RegionWednesday, December 1, 2021Thursday, December 2, 2021Friday, December 3, 2021
Capital Region8.15%8.17%8.05%
Central New York8.12%8.41%7.98%
Finger Lakes10.69%10.89%10.58%
Long Island5.50%5.83%5.90%
Mid-Hudson3.98%4.26%4.37%
Mohawk Valley8.90%9.31%8.74%
New York City2.10%2.23%2.25%
North Country9.36%9.67%9.22%
Southern Tier6.49%6.77%6.50%
Western New York10.92%11.32%11.15%
Statewide4.61%4.85%4.85%

There were 42 deaths from COVID-19 around the state and 6 died in WNY on Friday.  According to Erie County Executive Mark Poloncarz,

COVID-19 Hospital Report for December 3: Erie Co. hospitals had 366 COVID-19 patients (up 13), 70 in the ICU (up 1), 48 on an airway assist (up 2), and 51% of the patients were aged 64 and under. Sadly, 6 people died.

 

In addition to the increasing rate, three more cases of the Omicron variant have been found in New York.  According to Gov. Hochul, they are all in New York City.  The new cases bring the total cases of the Omicron variant to seven in NYC and one in Suffolk County.

Department of Health Commissioner Dr. Mary T. Bassett said,

"The Omicron variant is here, and as anticipated we are seeing the beginning of community spread. We continue to work closely with our partners at the national, state, and local levels. At this time, we do not know how quickly Omicron will spread or how severe the symptoms of Omicron will be. What we are seeing is that the rise of cases across New York State continues to be traced to the Delta variant. We encourage all New Yorkers to use the best preventative tools we have: get vaccinated, get boosted and wear a mask."

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