NYC COVID-19 positivity rate witnesses 5.43% increase
By Moses Kuwema
Mayor Bill de Blasio has said that the citywide seven-day Coronavirus positivity rate for New York City is up to 5.43 percent.
Speaking when he appeared on WNYC Friday morning, Mayor de Blasio however, noted that hospital admissions and ICU admission numbers in the city were doing better than expected.
This was in contrast to the situation across the US where an all-time high in new COVID-19 cases, new deaths and hospitalisations have been reported this week.
The US broke both its records for cases and deaths reported in a single day on Thursday, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. There were 217,664 news cases and 2,879 new deaths.
Thursday’s count of new reported deaths also marked the second day in a row where this record had been broken. Johns Hopkins University reported 2,804 lives were lost on Wednesday-the highest tally at that point.
The COVID tracking project reported over 100,000 concurrent hospitalizations on Wednesday night, and the number continues to increase.
At least 100,667 patients are in hospital for COVID-19 across the US.
In New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo reported 4,222 total concurrent hospitalizations. The statewide positivity rate was measured at 5.41 percent.
Meanwhile, despite the citywide seven day COVID-19 positivity rate for New York City going up, public schools in the city are set to reopen next week Monday when 3K, Pre-K, and K-5 students are expected to return to in-person learning.