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Only 10 states have a lower per capita COVID-19 case count, though infection rates, hospitalizations, and fatalities are climbing locally and nationwide as the virus surges during its “second wave” over the winter.
According to the COVID Tracking Project, New York has the 11th-lowest per capita case count at 375 per one million people based on the latest data as more than half the country sees an uptick in the numbers.
After “flattening the curve” over the summer, New York has seen a steady rise in every COVID-19 metric as the numbers approach the levels officials dealt with in the spring when the pandemic first began ravaging the region.
There appears to be no end in sight for New York, or other states, as the country continues to see a surge in new cases that derive from holiday gatherings that could potentially continue to cause mounting cases through the middle of January.
“The problem is," Dr. Anthony Fauci said earlier this week, "that you’re going to see the full brunt of the travel and family gatherings with friends from Thanksgiving, which is going to come right up against the beginning of Christmas and Hannukah, so you might not see the full results until about two and a half weeks from the time of the event."
New York recently received praise from Fauci for the state's handling of the pandemic.
"(New York's plan) seems really sound," Fauci said during a special appearance from Washington D.C. during New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's first COVID-19 briefing this week.
“There’s a lot of backup contingencies which I like … New York isn’t going to get caught short-handed on this, that I’m certain of."
In the latest data released by the state, a total of 152,287 New Yorkers were tested for COVID-19, with 4.79 percent testing positive for the virus. There were 160 new COVID-19 patients hospitalized, bringing the total to 4,602; there are 872 ICU patients being treated for the virus, and 477 are intubated after testing positive.
In the state's COVID-19 "micro-cluster" hotspots, the infection rate is at 6.57 percent, and the state's positivity rate not including those focus zones is at 4.27 percent.
Statewide since the pandemic began, 705,827 positive COVID-19 cases have been confirmed out of 20.6 million who have been tested. There has been a total of 27,149 COVID-19 fatalities since the pandemic began.
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