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NYS: New record-high number of COVID-19 tests reported & lowest hospitalizations since March 16

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Fri, Aug 21st 2020 10:05 am

Erie County has 11% of new positive cases statewide

0.72% of state COVID-19 tests were positive – though Erie County is at almost 0.9%

Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Friday announced a new record-high number of COVID-19 test results – 98,880 – were reported to New York state on Thursday. The governor also announced hospitalizations dropped below 500 for the first time, to 490, the lowest number since March 16. The number of ICU patients dropped to 119, the lowest number since March 15. The rate of positive tests – 0.72% - was below 1% for the 14th straight day. No deaths were reported in New York City yesterday.

The number of new cases, percentage of tests that were positive and other helpful data points are available at forward.ny.gov.

"Part of the reason we were able to tame the beast in New York is because of our aggressive testing strategy. When the federal administration fell down, New York stepped up – and yesterday we raised the bar even higher with nearly 100,000 tests reported in a single day," Cuomo said. "We've been reopening for 14 weeks and our infection rate has actually done down – the positive test rate has been below 1% the past 14 days and the number of hospitalizations dropped below 500 for the first time since March 16. This is proof positive that, when you have the virus under control, more testing does not equal more positives. But my message to New Yorkers remains the same: This is not over, we have to be smart, wear a mask, socially distance and be ‘New York Tough!’ "

Today's data is summarized briefly below:

  • Patient hospitalization – 490 (down 28)
  • Patients newly admitted – 66 (no change)
  • Hospital counties – 28
  • Number ICU – 119 (down 1)
  • Number ICU with intubation – 58 (down 4)
  • Total discharges – 74,485 (up 79)
  • Deaths – 3  
  • Total deaths – 25,278

Of the 98,880 test results reported to New York on Thursday, 709 (0.72%) were positive.

Erie County had 81 new positive cases (11.4% of total) – the second-highest number in the state – out of 9,364 tests (0.87% positive).

Each region's percentage of positive test results reported over the past three days is as follows:

 

REGION

TUESDAY

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

Capital Region

0.5%

0.6%

0.7%

Central New York

0.7%

0.3%

0.8%

Finger Lakes

0.6%

0.4%

0.3%

Long Island

0.9%

0.8%

0.7%

Mid-Hudson

0.7%

0.8%

0.9%

Mohawk Valley

0.4%

0.3%

0.8%

New York City

0.8%

0.8%

0.7%

North Country

0.1%

1.2%

0.2%

Southern Tier

0.6%

0.6%

0.5%

Western New York

1.4%

1.0%

1.6%

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