NYC’s COVID Infection Rate Dips Below 5%, Vaccination Effort Going Full Steam Ahead

By Yehudit Garmaise

    City officials, who previously set 5% as the COVID positivity rate that would serve as a dangerously threshold, are breathing a sigh of relief after Friday's seven-day rolling average of COVID positivity was 4.91%. 

   “This is a profoundly good sign,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at his press conference this morning.

     "[The seven-day rolling average positivity rate] is the number we’ve watched the most, [and] this number is now coming down again for the first time, in a long time.”

   The last time the city’s coronavirus infection rate dipped below 5% on a seven-day rolling average was on Nov. 29.

   This week, the numbers of coronavirus-related hospitalizations, which stood at 163 yesterday, and new reported cases, which were averaged last week at 2,384, in New York City are also on the sharp decline.

    In other good news, the city, which has administered more than 5.7 million coronavirus vaccine shots, is continually opening more vaccination sites with more flexible conditions, such as walk-in appointments for New Yorkers who are 50 and older at 30 city-run sites. 

  “Long way to go — not out of the woods yet,” said the mayor, who touted the city’s “all-time record” for a single day of vaccinations on Friday, when the city gave 106,527 New Yorkers shots in more than 600 sites citywide. 

  “If previously you didn't [yet] get vaccinated because it was hard to get an appointment, thank G-d, now it's easy to get an appointment,” the mayor said. “So, now, is the time. If you were hesitating because you thought it was inconvenient, or too much of a hassle, now is the time to go out and get vaccinated.

   “And you can do it – it's straightforward, it's easy. Call (877) VAX-4NYC. Make an appointment today.”

(Kevin P. Coughlin / Office of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo)