All but 10 of New York’s 62 counties are now at the highest level of COVID-19 spread, meaning masks are recommended to be worn indoors, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
But while the CDC put 52 counties at the “high” level of community spread Sunday, state data showed that the number of new COVID cases in New York dropped slightly over the past week.
New York reported 31,399 new cases of coronavirus in the week ending Sunday, down 1.2% from the previous week.
“As the Delta variant makes its way through communities across the country, it’s crucial we keep doing everything we can to keep each other safe from the COVID virus,” Gov. Kathy Hochul said in a statement Sunday.
“Wear a mask and, if you haven’t already, get your vaccine as soon as you can. The vaccine is the best way to protect yourselves and your loved ones.”
New York ranked 42nd among the states where coronavirus was spreading the fastest on a per-person basis, a USA TODAY Network analysis of Johns Hopkins University data showed.
The state’s COVID seven-day average of percent positive cases was 3.3% on Sunday, up slightly from 3% the week prior.
In New York, 170 people were reported dead of COVID in the week ending Sunday, up from 149 people the week before.
In the latest week, coronavirus cases in the U.S. increased 5.4% from the week before, with 1.1 million new cases reported.
With 5.8% of the country’s population, New York had 2.9% of the country’s cases in the last week. Across the country, 39 states had more cases in the latest week than they did in the week before.
Within New York, the worst weekly outbreaks on a per-person basis were in Fulton County with 339 cases; Tompkins County with 276; and Montgomery County with 272.
The CDC said that high levels of community transmission begin at 100 cases per 100,000 people per week. It recommends indoor mask-wearing in public in counties with substantial or high COVID transmission, regardless of vaccine status.
So only 10 counties fell below that threshold as of Sunday: Clinton; Delaware; Essex; Lewis; Niagara; Schuyler; Tioga; Washington; Wyoming and Yates counties.
New York ranked 13th among states in share of people receiving at least one vaccine shot, with 67.2% of its residents at least partially vaccinated.
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