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Since Thanksgiving, there has been a 70 percent rise in the number of new hospitalizations, while the seven-day average number of cases per 100,000 New Yorkers has spiked 58 percent during the same timeframe.
Eighty-nine new COVID-19 patients were administered to New York hospitals, according to the latest update from the Department of Health on Tuesday, Dec. 14, as the total rose to 3,772 being treated statewide.
The governor said the state has slightly more hospital beds available than it did a week ago after she issued an Executive Order banning elective procedures from dozens of New York hospitals as a precaution, but a shortage is still of concern.
Hochul's announcement comes on the second day of her administration’s new indoor mask mandate, which requires all businesses to force patrons and employees to don facial coverings inside.
That mandate will be in place through Saturday, Jan. 15, at which point the state will reassess where New York’s 10 regions are in the fight against COVID-19.
It also represents the one-year anniversary of the first ever-issued COVID-19 vaccination in the US, which was administered to a New York nurse.
Hochul stressed that while New York has done a good job of getting shots in the arms, those who remain unvaccinated against the virus are the ones causing the pandemic to continue.
According to the latest update from Hochul, as of Dec. 14, nearly 31.5 million doses have been administered in New York, including 94,916 in the past 24 hours.
As of 11 a.m. on Tuesday, 93.5 percent of all New Yorkers 18 and older have received at least one dose of the vaccine, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, while a total of 81.1 percent of all New Yorkers have gotten at least one shot.
The CDC is reporting that 82 percent of New Yorkers 18+ have completed the vaccine series, with 70.5 percent of all state residents receiving both shots to complete the process.
“The vaccination has always been our ticket out of this," Hochul said. "If 100 percent of New Yorkers had done it, it would be in the rear-view mirror now. This is a significant anniversary. This vaccination was a turning point in our war against COVID.
“This is a crisis of the unvaccinated," she said. "If I sound a little frustrated, perhaps I am — this did not have to be the case.”
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