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A total of 1,046 new COVID-19 cases were reported in the Hudson Valley in the past 24 hours, according to the state Department of Health, as the seven-day average infection rate dropped from 4.21 percent to 4.10 percent following a weekend spike last week.
Statewide, the average seven-day positive infection rate dipped slightly from 3.53 percent over the weekend to 3.22 percent, the lowest since Nov. 26, while the 2.82 percent daily infection rate is the lowest since Nov. 21.
As of Friday, Feb. 26, there were 577 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 401 of the region's 676 ICU beds as occupied by COVID-19 patients, leaving 42 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: 482 new (106,611 total);
- Orange County: 222 (36,556);
- Rockland: 127 (38,265);
- Dutchess: 120 (22,088);
- Ulster County: 42 (9,940);
- Putnam: 27 (8,271);
- Sullivan: 26 (4,715);
- Total: 1,046 (226,446).
New deaths were also reported in:
- Westchester: 6 (2,086 total);
- Orange: 2 (637);
- Dutchess: 1 (407);
- Rockland: 0 (688);
- Ulster: 0 (227);
- Putnam: 0 (86);
- Sullivan: 0 (59).
- Total: 9 (4,190).
There were 291,189 COVID-19 tests administered in New York on Feb. 25, according to Cuomo, resulting in 8,204 new cases for a 2.82 percent positive infection rate, down slightly from the previous day
Seventy-seven COVID-19 patients were released from New York hospitals, leaving 5,626 still being treated statewide. There are 1,132 in ICU and 771 intubated.
There were 95 new COVID-19-related deaths reported in the past 24 hours.
Cuomo made note that 91 percent of the first COVID-19 vaccine doses allocated to New Have have been administered as of 11 a.m. on Feb. 26.
A total of 2,942,765 first doses have been received, with 2,674,839 administered. New York has received 4,761,410 first and second doses, with 4,170,422 administered.
"Defeating COVID-19 is front and center in New York State, and declining positivity rates and hospitalizations are aiding our efforts to vaccinate more New Yorkers, reopen the economy and get to the light at the end of the tunnel," Cuomo said. "New Yorkers' resilience and willingness to follow the rules got us through the Spring and the holiday surge, and it is getting us through the winter.
"We're vaccinating New Yorkers at a fast clip and expanding our network of distribution sites as fast as we can, but we're going to need more vaccines to address a large enough portion of the population to defeat this pandemic once and for all," Cuomo continued. "I'm confident that we will get there, but in the meantime New Yorkers need to continue social distancing, wearing masks and washing their hands. We wear masks not just to protect ourselves, but to protect each other, and that spirit will get us through the coming months as we work to beat the COVID beast."
Statewide, a total of 1,606,520 positive COVID-19 cases have been confirmed out of 37.25 million tests that have been administered. There have been a total of 38,227 virus-related deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
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