Covid-19: NY Sees Surge In Hospitalizations, But Fewer Are In ICUs

The number of New Yorkers being treated for COVID has been surging, though fewer people are ending up in intensive care compared to previous waves of the virus, according to the Department of Public Health.

In its latest update, the Department of Health was reporting 11,184 New Yorkers who were hospitalized with COVID-19, though only 1,404 were in ICU, a shift from previous waves of the virus.

Over the past seven days, there have been an average of 49.10 New Yorkers hospitalized with COVID-19 per 100,000 residents in each of the state's 10 regions.

Downstate, Long Island was reporting more than 2,000 COVID-19 patients in hospitals, while New York City boasted nearly 6,000 and the Hudson Valley had approximately 1,200 being treated.

Of those patients, approximately 1,000 were in ICU.

New York, which has become the epicenter of the Omicron wave, has seen the number of new cases surging to record levels for several weeks, however, due to a high vaccination rate, many are reporting mild symptoms, with fewer requiring hospitalization or intubation.

Statewide, there are currently 6,095 hospital beds available, leaving New York with approximately 18 percent available, including 681 ICU beds, though both Long Island and the Hudson Valley are well above 20 percent capacity.

Health officials have said that the majority of patients hospitalized with the virus are either unvaccinated or have not completed the vaccination process.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 95 percent of all adult New Yorkers have at least one dose of the vaccine, while 84.8 percent have completed the process.

A total of 34.08 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered since the program began last year.


“Omicron is the fastest and most formidable variant of the coronavirus we have seen so far,” NYC Health Commissioner Dave Chokshi said in a video posted online this week in which he encouraged people to get vaccinated and boosted, wear a high-quality mask, and get tested.

“We encourage everyone to get both the flu and COVID-19 vaccines to prevent this as much as possible. COVID-19 and flu are both respiratory illnesses and spread in similar ways. Precautions against both are similar, and familiar to New Yorkers: masking, improving ventilation, physical distancing, and staying home when you are sick.”

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