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New York Statewide Positivity Rate Exceeded 3% Today, and Hospitalization Rate Highest Since May

New York Statewide Positivity Rate Exceeded 3% Today, and Hospitalization Rate Highest Since May

by Yehudit Garmaise

     Although in early July, New York’s COVID positivity had plunged to 0.52%, unfortunately, that number has today crept back up to 2.86%, and the state’s 7-day average is up to 3.01%, due to the Delta variant and the 42.1% of New Yorkers who remain unvaccinated.

     Also worrisome is that more than 1,300 New York patients: the highest number since May, are now hospitalized with COVID.

    A rabbi who is also the chaplain of a big city hospital told BoroPark24 that the number of COVID patients, almost all of whom were ages 25 to 50 and unvaccinated, doubled last weekin his hospital.

     The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention also is sounding its alarms by saying that its data shows that New York City, like most of the rest of the country, to be an area that currently has a "high" or "substantial" level of COVID transmission.

    In addition, the CovidActNow website deems the residents of Kings County to have a “very high vulnerability” level to the virus.

     "As our numbers tick upward, it is more important now than ever that New Yorkers who are unvaccinated get their shot," Gov. Cuomo said today. "The Delta variant is relentless and the best way to keep yourself and your loved ones safe is to get vaccinated. The vaccine is free, effective and accessible for those looking to get theirs as soon as possible."

     The Delta variant, in fact, is now so contagious, one former health official recently warned that New Yorkers who are not protected: either through vaccination or previous infection, will likely get it.

    Although antibodies do provide some measure of immunity, Mitch Katz, MD, the CEO of New York City’s Heath + Hospitals, pointed out last Thursday that people who had COVID-19 in 2020 only have antibodies that provide immunity to last year’s strain and not this year’s multiple and ever-increasing variants.

     “The combination of vaccination plus having been infected will give you greater immunity, will protect you even more, and perhaps most important, in New York City, most of the people who have been infected were infected last February or March,” Dr. Katz said he tells his patients who have antibodies. “They were infected with the virus that was circulating at that time.

     “The vaccine induces a broader set of immune responses that we think will work much better at protecting people against Delta variant and all the variants that may come.

     “Prior infection is protective, but why wouldn't people want the very best protection from a disease that can kill you?”

(Photo by: Mike Groll/Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)


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