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A total of 654 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Hudson Valley out of thousands of tests administered in the area on Sunday, March 7.
The infection rate in the Hudson Valley rose from 4.19 percent on Friday, March 5 to 4.27 percent on March 7, the second-highest rate of New York's 10 regions.
Statewide, the average seven-day positive infection rate rose slightly from 3.15 percent over the weekend to 3.19 percent.
As of Monday, March 8, there were 490 COVID-19 patients hospitalized in the Hudson Valley, representing 0.02 percent of the region's population and leaving 44 percent of the region's hospital beds still available.
The state was also reporting 396 of the region's 676 ICU beds as occupied by COVID-19 patients, leaving 41 percent available in case of another surge of the virus.
If the Hudson Valley - or any of the state's nine other regions - finds itself in danger of hitting its 90 percent hospital capacity rate within three weeks, New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo has vowed to shut down the entire region.
A breakdown of new cases in each of the Hudson Valley's seven counties is as follows:
- Westchester: 270 new (110,600 total);
- Rockland: 132 (39,805);
- Orange County: 113 (38,307);
- Dutchess: 78 (23,084);
- Ulster County: 26 (10,357);
- Putnam: 27 (8,592);
- Sullivan: 8 (4,899);
- Total: 654 (235,644).
New deaths were also reported in:
- Westchester: 3 (2,128 total);
- Dutchess: 1 (414);
- Ulster: 1 (233);
- Orange: 0 (648);
- Rockland: 0 (694);
- Putnam: 0 (86);
- Sullivan: 0 (60).
- Total: 5 (4,263).
There were 146,456 COVID-19 tests administered in New York on March 7 according to Cuomo, resulting in 5,309 new cases for a 3.62 percent positive infection rate, up from the beginning of the weekend.
Forty-one new COVID-19 patients were admitted into New York hospitals, leaving 4,830 still being treated statewide. There are 1,005 in ICU and 669 intubated.
"The hospitalization and infection rates in New York are declining every day, and New York is now in the middle of a long-awaited reopening," Cuomo said. "As we continue re-opening the valves on our economy and increasing the numbers of shots in arms, we have never been closer to winning this war, but we must remain vigilant.
"New Yorkers know the practices that will keep themselves and each other safe - washing hands, social distancing, and masking up."
"The decline in numbers is in large part a result of our collective actions and together we will work toward seeing the light at the end of the tunnel."
There were 64 new COVID-19-related deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
Cuomo made note that 89 percent of the first COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated to New York have been administered as of 11 a.m. on March 8.
A total of 4,2227,090 first doses have been received, with 3,746,905 administered. New York has received 6,541,110 first and second doses, with 5,640,706 administered.
Statewide, a total of 1,686,478 positive COVID-19 cases have been confirmed out of nearly 40 million tests that have been administered. There have been a total of 39,093 virus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
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