New York state set a new single-day record, 21,027, for COVID test results on Thursday, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Friday.
The New York Positivity rate is now brought to 7.98 percent. A total of 60 people have died from COVID in the last two days in the state.
“The winter surge in COVID-19 cases is a reminder that the pandemic is not over yet, and we must take extra care to keep ourselves and each other safe,” Hochul said in a statement. “The vaccine is still our best weapon to defeat the virus and ensure we are safe from serious illness. Get the shot if you haven’t yet and the booster if you have, mask up, and wash your hands.”
The state also had 178 confirmed cases of omicron. Because only a small number of positive covid results are sequenced to find out the strain of the virus, it’s likely that there are more than we know about yet.
If a business or venue doesn’t require that people get a vaccine, the state has reinstated its indoor mask rule.
At Johns Hopkins University, data shows that more than 5.3 million individuals have died of COVID-19 around the world. The virus killed about 805,000 people in the United States. This is the most people who died in a single country.
People in New York City want to stop this new surge. Mayor Bill de Blasio came up with a plan on Thursday. Measures will include giving out half a million home tests through community groups, as well as 1 million KN95 masks.
“We have seen a very substantial increase in COVID cases in the past few days,” the mayor said. “It is clear that the omicron variant is here in NYC, in full force.”
“This variant moves fast — we need to move a lot faster,” de Blasio added.
