NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) – New York on Saturday set a new record for COVID instances on a day without marriage.
Statewide, another 21,908 people tested positive, surpassing the previous day’s total of 21,027 positives. This is the highest number of COVID cases reported since the start of the pandemic, and has brought the positivity rate to just around 8%.
The average seven-day positivity rate is greater than 6%.
Hospitalizations also amount to just over 3,800, but that’s nowhere near what we saw at the beginning of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, in New York City, more than 5,000 new cases of COVID have been reported, and fitness officials say just over two hundred people have been admitted to hospitals in the area.
COVID-19 VACCINE
However, vaccines continue. City officials say more than 12 million people have been vaccinated.
Health says vaccines are the key to fighting this wave.
Learn more about the sites and how we’re partnering with communities to combat winter surf: https://t. co/v5oRpFJR3M
– Kathy Hochul (@GovKathyHochul) December 17, 2021
With that in mind, Gov. Kathy Hochul announced 40 new emerging COVID vaccine sites across the state, many of which opened Saturday, some in New York.
At Cornnerstone Baptist Church in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, they can get their starting doses of the Moderna or Pfizer vaccine or the Pfizer booster.
This is a component of the state’s plan to combat the winter surge in COVID cases and the spreading Omicron variant, and it is also a component of a week-long effort to increase the number of vaccines in some communities.
“It’s also very important to have trusted other people in the network who are here, to answer questions and have simple access,” said Frances Harris of Choose Healthy Life.
The occasion featured COVID testing and a gift of groceries.
Omicron’s fears and emerging numbers are causing longer queues at city sites. Wait times can be as short as 30 minutes and up to two hours in some places.
“That’s why everyone is getting tested, because the numbers are increasing at an alarming rate and it’s scary,” said Raymond Perez, a deacon with Spain’s First United Methodist Church.
An outdoor cell verification site of the church is open from 8 a. m. M. A 7 p. M. , Seven days a week. Perez says there have been longer queues in recent days.
“We’re looking to make sure they’ve served us this time because we perceive there’s a need for testing right now. And even if other people are vaccinated, you have to get tested,” he told CBS2’s Thalía Pérez.
FIND TEST SITES: Click here for new york city test site locator, cell sites, and home dating
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For other people who plan to travel or see the circle of relatives during the holidays, getting tested is a must.
“I’ve been exposed through several other people over the past few days, so I keep getting tested, just in case,” Kubashky said.
Some sites reported that they were running out of supplies. Many pharmacies also said they were running out of immediate home kits.
Thalia Perez of CBS2 contributed to this report.