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Hochul Reports Positive COVID Cases Drop, Credits Mask Wearing

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Gov. Kathy Hochul extended the state’s mask mandate until at least Feb. 10. She calls it one of the tools that is working, as she reported that the number of people testing positive for COVID in our state dropped 90% since its January 7 peak.


NY GOV Kathy Hochul
NYS Governor Kathy Hochul

“Statewide positives, take a look at that. That is a beautiful sight, down from 90,000 cases just earlier this month,” said Governor Hochul. “And now down to 12,000 cases, which again, a few months ago we would have thought was incredibly high, but I’m putting the perspective of what we just came through.”

Hochul credits masks and vaccinations for much of the success.

“But what you’ve seen in those positives is an 86% drop in three weeks. That is fantastic news,” said Hochul.

As an example, here in the Central New York Region, the 7-day average of cases per 100-thousand people is 114 down 20% over two days.

Cortland County health reports 66 new COVID cases as of Friday and the state reports 42 new cases on Saturday. The county is aware of 164 active cases, including 14 people in the hospital. The percentage of those aged 5-11 who are now vaccinated is not going up.

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