Health & Fitness
NYC Nears 23K COVID Cases In A Single Day: Data
The number of COVID-19 cases detected Wednesday is not only a record, it's 5,000 more than the day before, according to data.
NEW YORK CITY — A staggering 23,000 COVID-19 cases in New York City were detected Wednesday as the omicron variant spread like wildfire through the city, according to state data.
The single-day tally released Thursday by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office is the latest in near-daily record-breaking streak of coronavirus case detections this week. It towers over the 8,000 daily cases detected in April 2020, when COVID-19 testing was less widespread.
"We are experiencing the winter surge, and numbers are expected to rise,” Hochul said in a statement.
Find out what's happening in New York Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Experts believe the highly contagious omicron variant is the culprit behind the coronavirus explosion. The variant is estimated to account for 92 percent of cases in New York and New Jersey, according to the CDC.
COVID-19 positivity is also on a sharp increase as the variant spreads and New Yorkers roughly 170,000 tests a day. The most recently recorded seven-day positivity rate for the city, which is from Tuesday, checked in at 11.38 percent.
Find out what's happening in New York Cityfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
To give an idea of how NYC's seven-day positivity rate has risen in recent days, here's more of a breakdown.
- Dec. 16: 8.61 percent
- Dec. 17: 9.54 percent
- Dec. 18: 10.18 percent
- Dec. 19: 10.66 percent
- Dec. 20: 11.24 percent
- Dec. 21: 11.38 percent
The city's tracking of its seven-day positivity rate lags a couple of days behind the current day.
In terms of overall case count numbers, New York state as a whole had another record-breaking day of reported cases Wednesday with 38,835 — about 10,000 more than the previous day.
New York City’s exact case tally stood at 22,808 — which is 5,587 more cases than the day before.
The hospitalization rate in New York City has grown at a much slower rate than the case count.
Here are the numbers for the amount of people ending up in the hospital due to COVID during the same six-day period shown above, according to the city.
- Dec. 16: 1.62 per 100,000
- Dec. 17: 1.69 per 100,000
- Dec. 18: 1.80 per 100,000
- Dec. 19: 1.93 per 100,000
- Dec. 20: 2.21 per 100,000
- Dec. 21: 2.46 per 100,000
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